New service standards for applications made in UK
Following feedback from customers and partners, UKVI service standards have changed for applications made within the UK since 1 January 2014.
Processing times for straightforward applications are listed below. If your application is more complex and a decision cannot be made within that time, we will write to you to explain what happens next.
Applications received before 1 January 2014 will remain subject to the standards in force at the time they were submitted.
Processing times for applications made within the UK
| Customers applying to remain in the UK on a temporary basis as: a spouse, workers, Tier 1 General and entrepreneurs, students, and organisations seeking to sponsor a worker | 8 weeks (10 days priority postal and same day premium) |
| Employers applying in the UK to update and maintain their licence details | 18 weeks |
| Customers applying in the UK to remain permanently (or naturalise as British) and applicants from Turkey and Croatia to live, study or work | 6 months |