This refers to UK visit visa application.

After paying the fee and completing the online application, I assume you can then try to book an appointment with the VAC to take in the supporting docs.

But how soon (realistically) can you get an appointment? A few days, 1 week, more than a week ?

What are your experiences ?

Depends on how busy they are and that can be seasonal, ie. getting visas before summer vacations or school term begins, etc.. My wife has done 3 successful applications and I recall that when she went online to make the appointment, they already have the first-available date range pop up first. I think there were dates that were too early for her plans (like next week) and she was able to select something about 3 weeks ahead that better fitted her plans.

You need to logon and check to see what the current status is. Or maybe someone from one of the visa agencies will have real-time experience if they have recently assisted an applicant.

While last year we got an appointment the next day for her visit visa application, we just submitted her first settlement visa application last week and couldn't get an appointment sooner than 7 days later. Maybe they're busy, or maybe due to the type of visa there's a longer period before an appointment can be made, not sure but we're off there on Thursday. Remember with Songkran holidays they'll be closed for a number of days.

Just checked the VFS website and they are closed on 14th and 15th for Songkran, and closed on 18th and 21st for Easter.