United Kingdom: Priority Services to be Reintroduced for New Entry Clearance Family Settlement Applications

UPDATE FEBRUARY 21, 2023: Priority service has been reintroduced as detailed below as of February 21, 2023.

A contact at the Home Office has confirmed to Fragomen that Priority Services will be reintroduced for new Entry Clearance Family Settlement Applications starting February 20, 2023. Priority Service availability was suspended for such cases when the war in Ukraine started. The Home Office plans to publish notice of the re-introduction on February 19, 2023. Applications using Priority Services (which require an extra fee) benefit from a faster government processing time. In the case of family applications, individuals using the reintroduced priority service will benefit from a 30-business day (six-week) processing time, which is significantly shorter than the standard processing time of around 60-business day (12-week).