How long does a UK spouse visa take?

A common enough question. The application is form FLR(M) if you are already in the UK and are married to a British Citizen. You are not required at this stage to take that silly Life in the UK exam to prove you know English (that comes later). But you do need all the proper documentation to show you're legally married and that you can support yourself and that you weren't here on a Fiancée visa. The resulting visa is one of awful ID Cards. Yeah, that's right, British Citizens don't have to have them, but us foreigners, yeah.

Date application was posted: 11 Jan 2010
Letter stating I had to schedule my fingerprinting for my ID card: 22 Feb 2010
Date of ID Card fingerprinting: 04 Mar 2010
Passports and documentation received back: 29 Mar 2010
ID Card received: 31 Mar 2010

So that's only 2 1/2 months. Not too bad.
I think one reason it may have gone so quickly is that I already took 3 months to get the Certificate of Approval to Marry. That meant that I was already in the system and most of the paperwork was already submitted for the CAM as was needed for the FLR(M).
It also helps that I haven't committed any crimes in any country, so my fingerprinting only took 25-30 minutes. Some sort of record, as the guard said some people are there for 3 hours. Not sure if my non-criminal status helped, maybe it was my nationality, but whatever it is, huzzah! Any sort of response under 90 days from the government is a good thing.

So this is what the ID Card for foreign nationals looks like:

No, I'm not going to scan a copy of my own card, silly! This is the one from the brochure that came along with my card. Most of it is pretty straight forward:

1.Photograph (I look like a zombie)
2. Name
3. Expiration Date
4. Place and time of issue
5. Type of Permit (Spouse/Partner)
6. Remarks (work status) (Work Permitted)
7. Unique number
8. Sample Signature (mine is really small)

9. Biometric Chip (photo and 2 fingerprints)
10. Date and place of birth
11. Gender
12. Remarks (if you get benefits) (No public funds)
13. Nationality
14. Machine Readable Zone (like a passport)

Some other fun things not pointed out above:

• Just to the upper right of the photograph, you can see the outline of a neat hologram. They like those. 
• On the back, the little circle in the upper right corner is another hologram. You turn it one way and it has your photo and the letter U. You turn it the other way and it has the expiration date and the letter K.
• Below that is a little black circle. It's raised like a wart or a ringworm.
• Also raised is a floral design that covers the coloured part of the back. It stretches from above the chip over the place of birth and down across to the black ringworm circle. It's actually quite pretty when you look at it under the light.

The card is the size of a credit card, and of approximately the same material and thickness. Pretty standard, really.

It's just really insulting that while British Citizens don't need one, foreigners do. But then, the US hasn't exactly been nice to foreigners lately, what with the fingerprinting at the border and all.