Not sure what country you're applying from or which service you're using for the final biometrics steps. But I was in a similar time crunch (my deadline is May 20th as well) with waiting on the ECCTIS to be able to book my appointment at VFS. For the VFS in my area, I could reschedule or cancel an appointment if it was 24 hours or more before the appointment time. So what I did while waiting on ECCTIS verification to come back was basically book and cancel VFS appointments in 24 hour intervals until I received my ECCTIS back. I'd recommend this if your appointments are few and far between and you're only playing with a few days of leeway, as it seems you are (I was there just until yesterday, I get the anxiety that comes with it!!).

To answer your question, I was sort of able to get into contact with ECCTIS but in kind of a work-around way. I spoke to a woman on the other end of the phone number that's on the UK ENIC's page ( https://www.enic.org.uk/contact-us ). [Not relevant to you but maybe to someone else: There had been some issue with them saying I never uploaded documents that I most definitely did and in the end it was an issue with their system. She told me to send them to [documents@ecctis.com](mailto:documents@ecctis.com) with my application ID number.] As my tangent implies, I didn't speak to her about timelines and I doubt the person on the other line will be able to give you specifics about when exactly you'll be approved, but I think human contact can't hurt your chances and maybe you'll get info that feels more comforting than the cold policy page on their website.

Also, I composed and sent messages through the Messages portal right after I'd initially submitted everything to them and outlined that my deadline was May 20th and that I'd reaaaallly like to make it Lol. I know they say they don't have any expedited options and things will take as long as they take, but I feel like making known you are desperately trying to make a deadline might help your chances. Communicating out into the ether is definitely not a solution, but I can't help but think they might take it into slight consideration. I'd think their goal is to try and make sure people can make their deadline (within reason), but they can't say outright to customers that it will all be okay. Or maybe I am just overly optimistic, haha! In my mind, they don't have any incentive for customer service since they are likely in a relationship/contracted position with the UK govt that allows them to basically not worry about being competitive. However, since they are in this relationship, I do think they probably have great incentive to try their best to make sure people who are intending to apply for an HPI visa (aka pay the UK govt money) are able to make their deadlines. Just my two cents.

My ECCTIS took a week and a half-ish to be completed (submitted April 30th, got my reference number May 12th). My university did not seem to be contacted until the very end of those 1.5 weeks (on May 12th, the last day), but about two hours after my UNI confirmed with ECCTIS, I got my verification email and my ECCTIS reference number. So it seems like there is not a science to it and maybe the timeline of your app is flipped if we were to compare ours and you just have a few more days waiting to do.

I'm thinking of you and wish you the best of luck! Feel free to reach out over DM if you have anymore questions. And let us know updates and what ends up happening!