Panicking about WHV application - sent to wrong address!

I've done something rather stupid.

My husband and I recently sent off our applications for a UK WHV. We were rushing to get them done as we are swiftly running out of time - our flights out of Australia are booked for March 6 (yes, we probably should have given ourselves more time and yes, we probably shouldn't have booked non-refundable flights until we had our visas, all I can say is we've had a lot going on the last few months which made it difficult to get the applications done sooner). I finally posted them by express post two weeks ago (Feb 6). Last week I was looking around on the British Consulate website and realised that the address I sent the applications to was the Consulate section, and not the Visa section. They are the same address, so obviously the same building/offices in Canberra, but two different departments and two different locked bags.

My question is - has anyone else done something similar? How bad is it? I'm going by the assumption that someone would have opened the mail, realised that it was a visa application and sent it off to the correct office - I can't imagine them going 'oh well, wrong department' and throwing them in the bin, passports and all. And since they have not been returned and no-one has contacted us, I'm assuming they've gotten to the right place. What I'm mostly worried about is how much extra time this has added to the processing of the applications, as, like I say, we are running out of time as it is.

I know the website states that you can't receive a status update until 15 working days has passed, but I'm wondering whether under these circumstances, if I called and asked whether they did receive them to the right department, would they tell me?

On a related note, does anyone know how long applications are taking at the moment to be processed - is this a busy time for them or anything?

Ring them

Don't you now have to go to Canberra for the biometric interview thingee? no time to waste. They could say that they are unsympathetic as it was your fault (which you admit) so plead nicely with them.

Good luck. but ring them.

Not the wrong address but wrong section. Can you not track them on-line??

Thanks for the replies - just wanted to update and say that all is well, got an email today saying that our visas were approved and will arrive well in time for our departure. Hooray!

sneaker-fish, no you dont have to give biometric data in Canberra, you can do that at any consulate office in the country, thank goodness that was the easy part done ages ago!

awesome!!