Hi,

I have just signed up to this forum, and this is my first post, although I have been reading it for the last year or so and have found no end of extremely helpful information. With the help of information on here we managed to get a UK visitors visa for my fiancee to come to vist me in the UK last summer (successful on the second attempt). And then we managed to negotiate all the complications of getting married in the Philippines last month. So thanks to everyone on here for their help.

Now we are in the process of applying for a UK spouse visa for my wife. She has submitted the online application form and paid for it and so we are now trying to make an appointment at VFS in Manila. Since she has done this twice before, we are reasonably familiar with the process. In the past, and when I checked a few weeks ago, there has always been a two week window of available appointments. So I was quite shocked when I tried to book the appointment and it now says "no dates are available". It says this as soon as I select "manila" and "visa type - other" before I even fill in any details of her application. It doesn't say this for Cebu, but Cebu is a pain for her to get to.

Has anyone else found this problem? Does anyone know if it just a temporary glitch in their website or have they really got no apointments at all?

I tried calling them, but the number for the call centre says it is for PLDT and Smart subscribers only - which seems a bit unbelievable, but I can't get it to work from here in the UK. I have also emailed their VIP appointments email address vip.ukph@vfshelpline.com which is the only email address that I could find, but no reply yet. That email address worked in the past for booking a last minute VIP appointment.

Any help welcome. I am not panicking just yet, since we are wanting the appointment on 18th March, so there should be plenty of time yet, but it is another unexpected hiccup along the way.

Thanks,

Martin and Aileen Lea