We understand that many of you are understandably concerned about the news regarding the UK immigration process, specifically about the ECAA applications changing terms of services, and the state of COVID19 effects on your business. Together with my partners and colleagues, we have decided to create a monthly email newsletter to keep you updated with the latest information and to address your concerns. In this way, you can be more cautious about ‘hearsay’ information and news you hear from your close circle or in online forums. If you have any questions or issues that you would like us to add to our monthly newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact us.
About the opening of our offices:
Although we have been working at our homes during the COVID19 pandemic, we would like to announce that we reopened our office on a part-time basis on June 8, 2020. We will be present as a team in our office on İstiklal Caddesi/Beyoğlu between 10:00 am and 17:30 pm every weekday. We would like to emphasize that we comply with all necessary instructions and take all measures in order to ensure the safety of both our employees and visiting clients in our building and office, and to protect public health.
For our clients who have not yet attended their biometrics appointment;
As TLS Contact published on its website yesterday, application centers in Turkey will open as of June 23. With this news, we will be focusing on booking your appointment. We, therefore, kindly ask you to complete all the required documents to enable us to move on to the appointment process as soon as possible.
If you contact us about the situation, we can set up your appointment before the booking slots are full.
For our clients who have made their application but have not yet received the result:
We hope that our clients who have completed the application process will get results by the end of June – the beginning of July.
For our clients who have received their results but have not yet been able to travel:
Our clients, who have obtained their visas during the last pandemic period but could not travel, can contact us in the last week of June or in July for their 1-month vignette/re-entry requests, which will be renewed as previously announced by the Home Office, so that we can reschedule their appointments in the following months.
COVID19 Travel Restriction
You might have traveled outside the UK just before or during social isolation and you might have not been able to return to the UK before your valid visa expires maybe because you simply did not find traveling safe. While we understand that this is an issue for some of our clients, the Home Office has yet to provide clear instructions or explanations on how to proceed with applicants who have not returned to the UK before their leave expires. We kindly ask our clients to contact us to provide more information. We would like to remind applicants who have been granted a 30-day vignette visa and cannot enter the UK that the Home Office requests that their visa must be renewed after the application centers outside the UK reopen.
Service Times
Currently, we see that ECAA applications are concluded between 2 and 3.5 months from the submission of online forms. However, due to COVID 19, visa application centre can be attended less often than usual, which means the evaluation period starting ‘from the day of online application’ may vary. For this reason, we would like to remind you that the application deadlines stated in the different posts you see on social media should not be intimidating.