Uk Visit Visa

[RAZZELL]

Hopefully, in the next week or so my g/f will be applying for a UK visit visa.

How long will it take before she get's an answer and her passport back?

We just want to make plans as want to go on holiday

RAZZ

Edited August 16, 2008 by RAZZELL

[thaimate]

if she has got it straight away.

[RAZZELL]

if she has got it straight away.

I'm asking for a timescale. 1 day? 3 days? 1 week? More?

Even if we don't get the visa we're going away on holiday, for which she'll need her passport

RAZZ

[the scouser]

The current timescale appears to be approximately one week in relation to visit applications. However, someone else that I know has already waited 2 weeks for a settlement application to be considered. Apparently, the visa section has not even looked at it yet.

Scouse.

[FRM-BKK]

Hopefully, in the next week or so my g/f will be applying for a UK visit visa.

How long will it take before she get's an answer and her passport back?

We just want to make plans as want to go on holiday

RAZZ

Hi Razzell,

You may get various responses to your question, as there is no firm answer. My experience with the Visa Application Center have been as follows:

We applied for a visitors Visa for my friend (Thai). We filed the application on-line and made the appointment to submit the application on-line.

Day one was the submission of the application at Regent House.

Day five (working days) the passport was back. Visa refused!! No attempt by the embassy to call in for an interview or otherwise.

We applied again within two weeks, a fresh application. Again same process, completed the application on-line, booked the appointment for submission on-line etc.

Day one submitted application.

Day five (working days) the passport was back. This time the visa was granted. Again, without any further communication from the embassy.

Other people will try and tell you that a quick turnaround is a refusal. The embassy may decide to call in for interview, in which case you are looking for a much longer waiting time, as appointments for interviews seem all booked up very quickly.

So, not really a very helpful answer to you original question.

What I would advise though, in order to smooth the process, is to make absolutely certain that your application is complete, in fact over-complete! Do not make any assumptions, just hand them everything you can find in order to support the application. Leave nothing out of the application!

If you file and present it all in a logical order, you are more likely to succeed, bearing in mind of course that all the primary requirements are in place. By that I mean financial, sponsor and other basic requirements.

The Visa Application Center's web-page does state that they are working on a turnaround of between 2 and 5 days for applications where no interview is required. If an interview is required they aim for within 15 days for non-settlement and within 12 weeks for a settlement application. The embassy recommends to apply at least one month before the anticipated travel date in case of non-settlement applications.

I wish you all the best and good luck!

Frm-Bkk

[RAZZELL]

Hi Razzell,

You may get various responses to your question, as there is no firm answer. My experience with the Visa Application Center have been as follows:

We applied for a visitors Visa for my friend (Thai). We filed the application on-line and made the appointment to submit the application on-line.

Day one was the submission of the application at Regent House.

Day five (working days) the passport was back. Visa refused!! No attempt by the embassy to call in for an interview or otherwise.

We applied again within two weeks, a fresh application. Again same process, completed the application on-line, booked the appointment for submission on-line etc.

Day one submitted application.

Day five (working days) the passport was back. This time the visa was granted. Again, without any further communication from the embassy.

Other people will try and tell you that a quick turnaround is a refusal. The embassy may decide to call in for interview, in which case you are looking for a much longer waiting time, as appointments for interviews seem all booked up very quickly.

So, not really a very helpful answer to you original question.

What I would advise though, in order to smooth the process, is to make absolutely certain that your application is complete, in fact over-complete! Do not make any assumptions, just hand them everything you can find in order to support the application. Leave nothing out of the application!

If you file and present it all in a logical order, you are more likely to succeed, bearing in mind of course that all the primary requirements are in place. By that I mean financial, sponsor and other basic requirements.

The Visa Application Center's web-page does state that they are working on a turnaround of between 2 and 5 days for applications where no interview is required. If an interview is required they aim for within 15 days for non-settlement and within 12 weeks for a settlement application. The embassy recommends to apply at least one month before the anticipated travel date in case of non-settlement applications.

I wish you all the best and good luck!

Frm-Bkk

Many thanks

It look's like it might be easier to go on holiday first and then apply. It will also give us a bit more time to complete everything.

RAZZ

Edited August 16, 2008 by RAZZELL

[seewee65]

The current timescale appears to be approximately one week in relation to visit applications. However, someone else that I know has already waited 2 weeks for a settlement application to be considered. Apparently, the visa section has not even looked at it yet.

Scouse.

I don’t know if you are referring to myself, but I spoke to u about a weeks ago over the phone.

My wife submitted her application Vaf4 on the 22/07/08. Still no news, but I sent an email to the embassy and application centre on the 6/8/2008, not sure which one phoned my wife but they told her they were still looking at applications that had been handed in on the 15/07/2007. No other information given, only does your application involve a death if so we can forward it.

Not sure how true but that’s the information they gave my wife. BIG thanks to scouse

[seewee65]

[not sure which one phoned my wife but they told her they were still looking at applications that had been handed in on the 15/07/2007.

Sorry 15/07/2008

[figuar]

Hopefully you have got an answer by now, but if not, this may help...

My girlfriend handed in her application on 08/08/2008, and the passport was ready on 19/08/2008.  Note that 12/08/2008 was the Queen's birthday, so nobody was working.  (Thankfully the visa was granted, and I'm sure the information on this forum helped)

When my gf went to collect it on the 20th, she got to the VAC at 2pm and was able to go straight in to get it, even though they clearly state that collections are only allowed from 3pm to 4.30pm.  One of the officials there said things were very quiet at the moment, as there had been less applications that normal recently.

She tried calling for status updates a number of times, but it would often take an hour or so to get connected.  Checking on the internet was a lot easier, so I checked a couple of times a day, then phoned to let her know when the status changed.