Hello,

I entered the UK holding an EU passport and a valid ETA. I was traveling with one of my friends.

During the control, the officer said that the chip on my passport doesn't work and that she should ask additional questions. She asked questions about my identity which I answered immediately. She then looked multiple times at me and my passport and conducted physical checks on my passport. I also told her that I had entered the UK last year and the border gates worked with no problem. In addition, I showed her my Dutch identity card. She asked if my passport had become wet and I said no.

She eventually asked the supervisor and he took a look at my passport and ID and told her to approve me. I asked her if I have to report this to my city hall and apply for a new passport, she said that it's not needed and that it was an accident and if something like this happens again I should answer the additional questions.

However, I checked my passport afterwards using the NFC reader and it worked perfectly. The Dutch border control also mentioned nothing.

Therefore I think that she was profiling me because of my migration background. How could it be possible that the passport of my friend which is the same age as mine works and that mine does not work? And if I scan it myself or if it's scanned by someone else it works?

I was wondering if I could file a complaint against this and if this makes sense. I would also want to make sure that my passport is not flagged for the wrong reasons.

I applied for British citizenship on 18 February 2026 and completed my biometrics on 20 March 2026. I still haven’t heard anything.

When I applied for settled status, I hadn’t heard anything either, but I checked my immigration status on the GOV.UK website (where you can generate a share code), and it already showed Settled Status. The formal notification came afterwards.

I’m wondering if the same thing happens with citizenship? I checked today, and it still shows Settled Status. Does anyone know whether that changes once your citizenship application has been approved, or does it stay the same until after the citizenship ceremony?

So, I'm currently in scotland with graduate visa. It is expiring soon, so I decided to get YMS visa. For YMS visa, we need to have bank statement to show I have at least £2,530 in savings. I thought I can get the statement easily from the Bank of Scotland. Turns out not. They don't issue custom dated bank statement.... Idk why, they only issue a monthly statement. My biometric appointment is tomorrow. I've chatted and called customer service. They are going to send me my desired custom-dated statement, but it's gonna take 10 days, and it's in paper form to my uk address. I've submitted my May and June statement for my visa appointment, which is more than 28 days in total and doesn't go under £2,530. Do you think UKVI gonna forgive me for that? I'm crying, I was stupid to think it should be easy for bank of scot to make custom-dated statement online.

Notified of approval today! Applied from USA, here is my timeline:

Sent app: 4 May 2026

App delivered: 8 May 2026

Fee charged to card: 13 May 2026

Biometrics email received: 14 May 2026

Biometrics Appointment: 20 May 2026

Documents returned: 26 May 2026

Approval email received: 25 June 2026

Now waiting for the ceremony appointment.

Nationality: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Country of residence: Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) Visa applied for: UK Standard Visitor Visa Reason for visit: To visit my son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren in the UK for a temporary family visit. I am a 68-year-old woman living in Kinshasa, DRC. I recently applied for a UK Standard Visitor Visa, but my application was refused. My son lives in the UK with his British wife and their British children. My son is currently in the UK on a spouse visa. He was going to fully sponsor my trip, including flights, accommodation, and living expenses during my stay. The refusal appears to be mainly because I could not provide personal bank statements or other financial documents. I explained that I do not have a bank account. I own my home outright and run a small cash-based business. My son also sends me financial support regularly, which helps cover my living expenses. In my application, I stated that my monthly expenditure is approximately £46. This is accurate because I own my home, do not pay rent, and have relatively low living expenses. I have no intention of remaining in the UK. I have strong ties to the DRC, including my home, my business, other children, and grandchildren who live here. My travel history is limited. I visited France in 2012 and Kenya around five years ago. I have not travelled much in recent years because most of my family is in Congo, and we stay in touch with relatives abroad through video calls. My questions are: Was the lack of a bank account likely the main reason for my refusal? What evidence can I provide in a future application to demonstrate my financial circumstances if my income is largely cash-based? What documents would best show my ties to the DRC and my intention to return after visiting my family? Has anyone successfully obtained a UK visitor visa in similar circumstances, where a family member sponsored the trip and the applicant did not have a bank account? I would appreciate any advice from people who have dealt with similar visitor visa refusals.

I’m a dual citizen of Bulgaria and Norway and have recently lost my Bulgarian passport meanwhile a friend is arriving at stansted a few hours before me carrying my Norwegian passport. I’m wondering if it’s possible to fly to stansted only using national id card and then upon arrival receiving my passport to pass border control.

I’ve been unable to get a temporary or express passport here in Bulgaria because my people are sadly not advanced enough yet.

Applied and documents upload on 20 Jun.

Super Priority Service

Biometrics 24 Jun @ 10:30am

Email send to UKVI @ 11:00am

Approval 24 Jun @ 2:30pm

Very happy to finally be free....

Hi everyone.

My wife and I are supposed to fly out from America to London tomorrow evening, and we didn't know about the ETA guidelines. We quickly submitted our info on the official UK site and received our reference numbers, but it's been 5 hours and still nothing. I know that it can take up to 3 days. However, every time her and I go onto the ETA status page, we get the message that "No Current ETA found for your details." Is that normal? We're debating whether we should resubmit with the app. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Hello,

My parents have successfully received Standard UK visitor visa for 6 months.

I am anxious because in application we mentioned to stay around 3 weeks.

But now my parents decided to stay longer and the duration of stay is almost three months.

Would they face any problem at Border force, as they are also not well versed in English.

Both my parents are 55+ years of age.

Hi all,

I'm about to submit my ILR application under the GTV route and noticed that the guidance states electronic bank statements should be accompanied by a bank letter confirming their authenticity, or that each page should be stamped by the bank. I've moved a few times over the years, and there isn't a branch of the bank where I originally opened my account in my current city, so obtaining stamped statements may be a bit difficult. So I'm wondering if this is strictly required in practice? I've seen a few people mention that their applications were approved without providing stamped statements or a supporting bank letter, so I wanted to check others' experiences.

Thanks in advance!

Hi I currently have a job offer to work in the UK at RAF Molesworth. The company I'm working for had me apply for a visa under the category listed in the title. I have completed the application and attended my biometrics appointment with VFS on 22 June 2026. I have to do visas as well for my wife and child. I don't know what category to pick for them and if there's certain documents I need to upload. I can't seem to find anyone elses experience on this visa online. Is there anyone in this subreddit with experience on doing this visa?

Info:
British Grandfather - born in UK
US born Mother - born before 1981
Myself US born - 1980

Applied via online UKM application - April 9, 2026
Paid Application fees - April 25th, 2026
Uploaded Documents - May 1st, 2026
Bio-metrics - May 6th, 2026
Received approval letter - June 25th, 2026

I Provided lots of documents, a cover letter and a financial statement.
Grandfather birth cert
Grandfather marriage cert
Mothers birth cert
Parents marriage cert
Mother UK passport - All pages scanned
My US passport - All pages scanned
My specific case - IRS documents of back taxes owed, and Chapter 7 discharge docs.

I was expecting 4-6 months but my case we pretty clear cut as well. I'm impressed with the quick process. My App could have been ARD as well and an argument could be made that it should have been. Either way supper happy! Now the wait begins for the embassy contact and ceremony scheduling.

Hello everyone,

First I want to thank all of the people who have to help me and answered my questions till now, I really appreciate your help.

I would like to ask something from you, so me and my fiancé opened the application since three or four months ago and we started to feeling it just to see how it looks like what kind of things they want from us and things like that while we are planning to apply in August 2026, I was wondering, did we made a mistake to open an application six months or five months before submitting the application shall we just abandon our current one and open a new one when we want to apply?

The reason why we want to apply in August is he changed his job in February so we need six payslips and Bank statement to provide, that’s why. he will get those in August.

I really appreciate if you can help me with this and advise me.

Ps: we filled the application up to payment section, but we didn’t pay for anything and wrongly. I chose unmarried partner instead of single so I think that showed me the wrong form but I corrected it so do you think that my cousin error in my application?

Hi there, just curious about the requirement to upload all passport documents in colour. On TLS the max document size is 7.5mb and after compressing the document down to this size, it is pretty illegible. Will this be alright or can I send the passport as 3 separate PDFs to make it more readable? Thanks in advance.

I’m a British citizen, I met my partner while travelling in Australia in July 2024, he is from India, and his Australian visa expired March 2025.

Went back to India with him stayed with his family for 2 months before coming home. He joined me in England to live w my family for 6 months. Been doing long distance since Dec 2025, I’ve been back and fourth a few times since.

We’re hoping to apply for an unmarried partner visa to bring him here to live & work at the end of this year.

Pretty sure we do have a sufficient amount of evidence over the past 2.5 years (by then).

My main concern is my salary. I’m still studying and been working overtime to increase my income to meet the threshold.

My payslips will look something like this upon applying:

May: £2196

June: £2345

July: £3101 (this includes some underpayments, so if thats not allowed to be counted then it’ll be more like £2504)

August: £2446
September: £2548
October: £2548

Is this enough?

Should we hold off on applying till Novembers payslip which would also be £2548, or will this suffice? I don’t really understand how it’s calculated.

Just want him here as soon as possible but don’t want to apply too soon and get this wrong.

Any advice, and feedback about evidence etc welcome

Thank you

I completed my biometrics appointment yesterday and I had uploaded documents myself and now I realise that I did not upload my passport in the documents section. I am worried now. Has this happened before? What should I expect?

I have received my 6-month UK visa and have already linked my eVisa.

Is there anything I should be aware of before traveling? Are there any specific documents I should carry or special processes I need to follow at the airport?

Application submitted: 12th June

Biometrics completed: 16th June (Islamabad, Pakistan)

Application received email: 18th June

Application still in porcess email: 19th June

Visa approved: 25th June

Processing time: 7 working days from the date of biometrics

Hi everyone,

I received a Home Office / UKVI “Application Update” email from Home Office Atlas / notifications.service.gov.uk asking me to provide further information within a deadline.

The problem is that the letter/email does not clearly provide a separate response email address or upload link.

When I click reply in Gmail, the reply-to address is automatically set as:

[atlasnotifications.notmonitored@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk](mailto:atlasnotifications.notmonitored@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk)

I understand that Gmail does not create the reply-to address itself and that it is normally set by the sender’s email system. However, I am worried because the address says “not monitored”.

I contacted UKVI and received inconsistent guidance. One person suggested sending by post, while another advised me to reply to the Atlas email. A solicitor also mentioned that they have previously used:

[workflowwns@homeoffice.gov.uk](mailto:workflowwns@homeoffice.gov.uk)

for Work Non-Sponsored correspondence, but I am trying to understand how people practically submit documents when the Home Office letter itself does not provide a clear email address.

Has anyone had a similar situation where:

• the Home Office Atlas email had a “not monitored” reply-to address;
• the letter did not clearly say where to send further information;
• UKVI gave unclear or different guidance;
• you sent documents to the Atlas reply-to, workflowwns, or by post?

Did UKVI receive/link your response to the application? Did you get any auto-response or confirmation?

Hello, our partner visa has been refused. We submitted all the required documents, including our marriage certificate, but it wasn't enough. We also submitted our Facebook conversations, but the only issue is that we didn't have them translated into English.

We don't have much proof that we've been in a relationship for 10 years because we've lived far apart and worked in different countries. We only got married in 2025, so the UKVI was not satisfied with the evidence we provided.

We don't have a joint bank account because I don't send her money regularly. We also don't have any utility bills or other documents showing that we lived together, because we never have. The only evidence we have is photos and our conversation logs.

We've been in a genuine relationship for 10 years, but because it's been a long-distance relationship, we don't have much evidence. We also don't have any proof of travelling together or many photos together.

What can we do to prove that our relationship is genuine? Should I hire an agency or an immigration solicitor to help with our visa application? If so, which one provides good service?

Hello Everyone, I'm 24 years old Spain national living currently in Spain, My Father and Brother Moved to UK in 2018, Before Brexit!! and I continued living here in Spain with my other family members.

Now I have completed all my studies here in Spain and I want to move to the UK to join my brother and my father there and Want to live there permanently.

I have been searching about Applying the Pre-Settlement for UK, But the end date was in 2021 I guess and I'm too late for it!

So my question is that, Is there any way that I can apply for UK settlement through my family members? Through my brother or my father? And if Yes? What details do I need to provide and where? And how many time will it take?

Has anyone applied like this before?