The United Kingdom on Friday announced that the visit visas for Indians travelling to the country will now be allocated within 15 working days. “Good news for those travelling from India to UK – visit visas now within standard time of 15 working days (with a small number of trickier cases taking longer),” said Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India, in a video message.
However, there are still “a few cases which take longer, very complex ones and that’s right that they do”, Ellis said in the message posted on Twitter, adding: “But this enables new people to move to India and the UK with much greater ease.”
A UK Standard Visitor visa is applicable in case of visiting family or friend; business trip; vacation; and a short course of study. There is also a priority visa option, which now has a turnaround time of five days, the UK said, adding that they have a big intake of student visas for the session starting in January 2023.
“Two months ago, I said that our aim was to get back to processing India to Great Britain visa applications within our standard time of 15 days by the end of this year… now, we have achieved that,” the message said.
Over the last few weeks, both countries have taken steps to ease visa issues for applicants on either side. Ellis called it “good news for the living bridge”, as people can move between India and the UK with much greater ease.
Earlier this month, Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami had announced that India is all set to resume the e-visa facility for British citizens travelling to India.
