THE IMMIGRATION AND NATURALISATION SERVICE (IND)

Hi Cynic,

We have not received any decision up until now.
It has been almost 180 days. The zwolle team handling our case and the latest news from them is they said they have sent the decision on 5th october but then up until now we dont received it in our mail box.

Can you give us any advice on what should we do since we have been trying to call and meet them and cannot do anything else as for now.

Thank you

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

You've not provided us with much information, but based on what you have said, you claim the IND have exceeded their statutory responsibilities in not responding to you in the required time and you'd like to know what you can do about it?

Not all visas have a 90-day limit, some can take up to a year.  To check whether they have exceeded their responsibility, you can check on their website; the statutory dates are all described on this page (link).

If it is late, you have 2 options:

You can complain; this link will take you to the information regarding making a complaint.

If you wish to force them into making a decision, then this link will explain the process you have to use.

However, you do say they have told you they have made a decision and sent it to you on 5th October, perhaps a little bit more patience is required.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic,

Apologise for the limited briefed i have said previously.
I was applying for the spouse visa - MVV on May 2018.
They did not send the letter for the payment to be made in a month so we have called them and nade an appointment and did the payment directly in IND office. So we count by the time the payment has been received and start on 1st of june.
I was resigned already and prepare for my departure in august- considering there is no letter for the missing documents etc.
we have seen on the website the decision period is only for 90 days so we are getting ready.
And then on september we were calling them again since we havent received the letter yet. And we found out that they need to have my husband salary slip for may june july and august - since we were applying on may we only submit until april.
So he sent again everything the next day and followed up on couple of days later.
And then they found out that my husband has his own company and does not have any contract. He has his salary also the profit every year and its a way bigger than the minimum salary that the sponsorship needs to have.
He made an appointment in IND office and meet hans from zwolle team and one of his person.
Long story short since they have been doubting that he can pay for me later so he agreed to send all the salary slip, the assets and also all the related document for them to proof that he can sponsor me from the time the company has been built.
We have sent everything the next days and just on 2nd of october we called them again and mentioning about the fine that IND has to be made because it is more than 90 days and no decision yet.
And then Hans told us he made the decision and everything has been sent.
We called them again on friday 5th but then they said the letter just out on 5th october and we confirm again this week.
Up until now we havent received anything.
Not even a single letter and notification, the missing document is only when my husband called them so we dont have any proof  that everything has been sent on may and its been almost 180 days for the whole process ( maybe only their system )

I will check on your reply and will try to follow up soon.
But then if you said that the mail process is taking longer - more than a week so we will try to wait a little bit more.

Thank you Cynic!

Hi again.  I can understand your frustration; if it makes you feel any better, the regulators in other countries that I help with are no different.  In fairness, the Dutch system is probably the best one to work with because they actually provide information on what to do when it doesn't work as planned.  That doesn't excuse what they have done to you and when you finally get there, I would definitely follow it up and make an official complaint.

Historically, we used to have immigration professionals dealing with these matters in Government departments; now we have what are basically untrained people who are just ticking boxes on a computer screen and at the end of the day, the person you talk to has no power until the right box is ticked.  This is the reality and we're not going to change it any time soon.

I wish you and your husband all the best for the future.  If you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic,

Thank you and I will discuss with my husband on what should we do onwards.
Since there is no way for IND to send the decision on email , we want to figure out what can we do to have the letter.
We are desperately need the visa since our wedding anniversary will be at the beginning of november and my husband will have important boxing match that he needs to play-inn on november as well in NL. Also livin’ separately for a year as husband and wife is the hardest thing to do.

We were thinking to re-submit the documents and also will try to make holiday visa for myself.
Since we have read that making complaint is another months to be proceeded.

Thank you for all the advices and will do contact you if i have any queries and share things later here.

Have a good day!

Hi Cynic,

May i know if anyone here is having a same problem with me. After 11 months, IND has not answering our application not approved nor rejected.
Now we are hiring a lawyer and processing to the court - we booked the date and it will be on 18th March
Is anyone here know what will happened in/after the court - how long is the process?
Any advices also much appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi.

It is highly unusual for anybody to wait more than 90 days to hear anything from the IND, even if it's a request asking for further information; they provide contact information on their website to enable you to contact them by both phone and e-mail if you wish to ask questions; they also have a twitter feed where you can ask general questions.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team