US woman condemns 'profiteering' Home Office after 5 month visa delays

However despite paying almost £5,000 for applications to live in the UK, the 24-year-old from Oregon told of how she was repeatedly fobbed off by Priti Patel’s department – until the Herald stepped in.

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The usual turnaround time for a spouse visa is eight weeks, however Mrs Abercrombie was waiting for 19 before the Herald contacted the Home Office last night.

She paid out £2700 to gain her spouse visa, and £2200 for a fiancée visa to join her now-husband David Abercrombie in South Lanarkshire in August.

While waiting, Mrs Abercrombie has been unable to work, and could not receive any medical treatment without having to pay extortionate fees, despite living in Scotland.

She was also unable to leave the country, even when restrictions allow, as it would automatically have cancelled her application.

She said: “The whole process has been completely awful. I can’t work, I haven’t seen my family and even if I was able to travel, I wouldn’t be allowed to because it would just cancel out my visa.

“I’m completely in limbo with this, and it seems like a completely unfair system.

“If I got sick, I wouldn’t be able to afford the costs of healthcare because it would be thousands of pounds, but if I had my spouse visa, which I’m entitled to, I wouldn’t have to pay for that. It’s not a nice feeling during a pandemic, trying to ensure nothing at all happens.”

Having worked as a classroom assistant in her home country of the US, the young professional has been looking for similar positions in South Lanarkshire, where she now lives.

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However without hr spouse visa, she is unable to work which has been “incredibly stressful” for the newly-married couple.

She said: “ It is worrying as I’ve gone for job interviews but even if I am offered it, it depends on my visa. They’ve told me that without the visa they can’t give me a job.

“It’s also a worry because it could put employers off even offering me a job if they think there could be a problem with my application to live here.”

At the end of March, Mrs Abercrombie said the Home Office opened up a priority lane to allow people to have their applications processed quickly.

However this route would cost an additional £800, on top of the thousands of pounds it costs to apply for a spouse visa, and was only available to new applicants.

Mrs Abercrombie said: “It appears that people who applied from February 21 have now received their decisions, and the Home Office have now reopened ‘priority applications’ since the end of March 21, meaning that people who applied from then can pay a fee and receive a quicker decision.

“This wasn’t available as an option at time of my application, and seems very unfair, when there is still a backlog of applications, such as mine - dating back to late 2020.

“It feels like they are just trying to make money from people who are in a desperate situation, and if you can afford to pay these huge amounts then you could get lucky, but if not you’re just put to the back of the queue.

“I have contacted them several times, and been told that my application hasn’t been processed yet. They’ve not been able to give me a timeframe as to when it will be, and how long I have to wait. It’s getting quite desperate now honestly, as I didn’t expect this sort of delay.”

After waiting for 19 weeks for her visa, Mrs Abercrombie received a call from the Home Office last night - just two hours after the department was contacted by the Herald - to say her application had been granted.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Coronavirus caused delays in processing some cases and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused Ms Borden. The visa has now been granted.

“Applications being submitted now for marriage applications are being processed within service standards.”