Joss

I think it was someone quite high up that I spoke to as the first girl just answering the phone wasn't much help. My husband is in the military and already has high level NATO security clearances from previous jobs which should make that part of it easy, even if not everything else is! Anyway, we are not banking on anything and will just see how it goes. I'm not worried about it-we'll get it when we get it

Hi. I spoke to someone at the consulate yesterday in Beirut and they said it wouldn't be anywhere near the ten to fourteen months the UK was quoting, so we'll put it in and see what happens! Interesting that they are saying eighteen months to others. We have no option to do it through London due to our geographical location so we'll just have to hope for the best. Thanks for the heads up though.

Perfect timing then! It's all a bit hard to time anyway with the military aspect isn't it? Obviously we didn't want to do it too early and then have his visa come through while he still had months to serve. We are actually posted back to the UK in July, but only for a few months, so sounds as though Beirut may be the best option anyway going on processing times in London. I'll let you know how we get on. Are you having withdrawal symptoms from the Navy yet?

Yep, he is still in but with terminal, annual and resettlement leave could be finished work by October although his end point is Feb 2016. I will get him to get an official letter from his CO or Chief Clerk stating his end date but that he is on leave etc and hopefully that will suffice in lieu of discharge papers until they come through. Having just spoken to someone at the embassy in Beirut I am feeling a bit less stressed. He indicated that if everything is in order and we have the necessary documents (we are just waiting on a new UK passport for him and marriage certificate extract) their processing time would be nowhere near that of the UK. Also, because we are UK nationals (although I am an Australian citizen by birth and hold both passports) and there is no biometric collection facility in Cyprus, he probably wouldn't need to do that either and we can do pretty much everything online. Not as bad as I first thought!

Has anyone used the Beirut visa processing centre? We are currently living on an RAF base in Cyprus but about to apply for my husband's partner visa. I am worried I have left it too late as we were hoping to be home for Christmas. Any ideas what is the quickest processing time anyone has had for a partner visa? I know the UK is quoting ten to fourteen months. How much can individual circumstances affect the processing time? We have been married twelve years, have no dependents, own a house together in Oz which is almost paid off and he is a qualified helicopter pilot so should be able to get a flying job if required. Any thoughts?! Thanks.