Re biometric appointments I just got some clarification from my lawyer who says that -
The agenda has re-opened but only for those who submitted their application between April & September 2021. They were able to obtain close to 300 appointments. SEF notifies them and gives them a small window during which they can book appointments.
The agenda was open (… here I assume she means for booking appointments for clients who submitted April to September 2021 …) up to the end of December 2021.
She says - ‘This was last Friday and they still had appointments’ (… I didn’t fully understand this bit, perhaps she means they still have available appointments for any of their clients who booked between April & September 2021 … )
She says that most likely when the time comes (…. for the next round? … ) they will be notified by SEF and they will call me straight away to book an appointment according to my own agenda.
So she felt all in all it was good news.
I am surmising that maybe the next ‘round’ of booking will be for those who applied Oct 21 to (say) Mar 22. I guess notifications should then be sent to those who applied during this period (and I assume who’ve also been pre-approved).
So it appears from this that appointments are based on when you submitted your application, not when you were pre-approved.
I would assume that even if one had applied solo and not through a lawyer they would also be sent a notification from SEF based on their submission date. If not I don’t know if there is a way for them to contact SEF to find out.
Anyway hope this is helpful.