i to sent mine to Birmingham as usual 2 weeks ago and am still waiting. just tried ringing but no-one answers.

Should I be getting worried as we fly on the 9th of Feb

Postmans just come and delivered the passports and visa's took 11days . i was gettin worried.

bigbaddad... i suggest you log onto http://www.royalmail.co.uk and use the trace and track service. If u sent it by special delivery u should have a reference number and it will tell u if it has been delivered to Birmingham.

Hope this helps

Thanks Yummy (good name by the way), just checcked and it shows them receiving the pack on 13/01/06, just rang and got through but the "Postal man" is not in today so call tomorrow.

I am now trying to apply Goa'n logic in order not to worry.

You shouldnt have too long to wait if they received them on the 13th. Have a good holiday. Is this your first time?

No its our third, my in laws live there for 6 months during our winter, had a small bungalow built for £5000 or so.

Fingers crossed eh.

lucky u , this will be my 4th. second time with my child. The first time he was only 6 months old so me and my husband took it in turns to hold him - he was asleep for most of the flight there and back :).
This time ive got a funny feeling it will not be like that as he is nearly 3, and it is an afternoon flight. 1.30pm from manchester. Wish me luck
Do u know of any good trips? We've not really done much trips , just been to Old goa, croc trip, and shopping in the capital.

Thanks

Just got visas back (no questions about the £2 handling fee) and in 6 working days,still can't understand why there is 2 forms that can be downloaded though.

Well folks as mentioned previously I am still waiting for visa's and we fly on the 9th so getting very worried now.

I have tracked the letter and know they received it 3 weeks ago, was told on the phone it would take 15 days and have now done this for 3rd year on the trot with no previous problems.

The phone at the Birmingham consulate never gets answered ( TRIED ALL OPTIONS) so what do I do. Is it worth me travelling to Birmingham and trying to get them to find my applications or does anyone have a different phone number for this place.

Help please

hello how far are you from birmingham? if your not too far i suggest you go and complain, ask them what the hells going on. If you don't get any luck that way why don't you go to your local citizens advice office, they might be able to help you in some way, as you said you fly on the 9th so it is getting short of time. My friend works for royal mail, as a customer service guy so i could ask him to track it for you and see if birmingham visa office has sent it yet. I will need the postcode of birminghams visa office and your reference number. PM me if you need anymore help .

Thanks Yummy for the offer,

I have just found an alternative number and got through to a very helpful chap, they had inputted the wrong date of departure on their system. He has promised to let me know if they will be posted before weekend, or I can go and collect which is a bit of a way from sunny Bolton.

If anyone wants the number for future when dealing with Birmingham then its

(0121) 236 1556

Dont bother with any of the other numbers cos they wont answer.

Fingers, toes and anything else now crossed.

I sent my visa off on the 12th, I tracked it on the Royal Mail website and it did get there, we've still not recieved them and we're off on 11th Feb, should I ring the number or wait a few days?

Lefthandside

You can try ringing the number and see if they have sent it off yet , but mine took 11days so you should expect yours in a few days.
Nothing to worry about, have a good holiday

F.Y.I

Birmingham visa office have sent 100's of people home each day this week as they are only issueing tickets for 200 people per day.

At 06:45 there was already 25 people queing the outside door opens at 08:00 and only about 40 people can get iside the entrance everyone else waits outside and its none to warm & without cover from the rain.
At 09:00 entry is allowed to the waiting room and at this point the allowed No of tickets are issued when reached "tough luck" I heard several people arguing but it will not get you anywhere.

3 people in the front of the que had been there 3 times in the same week,

When your number is called you handover your application & money and are given a receipt and told to come back after 3pm mine was processed at 09:30 so 5 1/2 hour wait (I came home as I live 1/2 hour away)

this is the same as last year so:- Be early, be prepared for a wait, be prepared for the cold, take change to feed the meters, only one person needs to go for multiple visa's (the unlucky one)

(Cafe out door turn left 500yds, turn right at t junc, 500yds on left)

Mids

We posted our Visa to London (wasn't aware that you could post them anywhere else) with the £2 and they took seven days to get back to us.

We just got ours back, 7 days after posting to London. We were surprised as there're postal strikes in some parts of N. Ireland (where we live) at the moment but obviously it didn't affect our turn around time. As far as I can remember our visas took around 2 weeks to come last year so perhaps (in some cases) the service has improved.
Gail

Posted our visa forms to The High Commission in London and they came back today, only took 5 working days - is this a record ???

Well just to update on the saga of our visa's.

As reported earlier eventually got to deal with a chap call Saurebh More (he said it was ok to mention his name) at the Birmingham office. After initially promising me a call on Weds to confirm my visa's had been sorted I had to ring him. After 1 or 2 tense exchanges he suggested I email copies of our tickets confirming date ,which we did. As a result visas came on Saturday morning thankfully.

I notice they are dated to start 24/01/06, so where have they been for over a week and why did I have to go through all this bother.

Advice is in future dont send postal ones to Birmingham but if you do make sure you follow it up with a phone call.

4 days and counting

what a relief for you. another good ending ,enjoy youre holiday .you need the chill mode now

That's great that you got your visas on time, bigbaddad.
Have a great hol.