Tips for UK Visa Application
NOTICE: This article dates back to 2009 and is no longer updated. We recommend you read this guide for info about acquiring UK tourist visa.
If you are traveling for any of the four nations of the United Kingdom, you most likely will require a Visa. This is the worst part of an travel planning, as it takes hours of your time, and consumes several mornings just to get through the process. Another thing is, those Visa forms will vary depending on your purpose of visit, and they keep getting larger and larger in size, exceeding 10 pages of required information. Note that is all per traveler and not per family. Think how tedious the job is.
To know whether you require a Visa for UK, and most likely you do, and to know which type of Visa is required, ukvisas.gov.uk is the site to visit, which will give you all the information you need. Once you know you require a Visa, and know which type, this page will list all the available UK Visa application forms, and believe it or not, another as long document for each form, detailing how to fill it up!
Now before you go any forward, if you are lucky enough, your country will have online visa application, and some even accept online payment as well. If your country i supported, then your job has juts gotten a lot easier. You can now quickly start the online UK Visa Application. The process is pretty smooth and user friendly, and you can stop anytime you want, resume later on from where you started. Nevertheless, have as much information you can as possible ready. The more accurate and specific you are, the more easy your paper processing will be. Keep in mind first time you apply for UK Visa, you are entitled for maximum of 5 years. Next time you apply, you may ask for up to 10 years.
After submitting the application, you will still most likely get a date for interview. So why did you do the online application? First to get this lousy job done online, quickly, easily, and neatly. Second, you get a scheduled interview or at least go through a much shorter online applicants line. The net result is, your process would go much more smoother and faster that way.
When going to the interview, take as much official documents as you can with you. If you have your travel tickets, accommodations, take copies of them with you. It would add much more credibility to the application. In my case in Kuwait, the interview was basically some paperwork and fingerprinting. I did not believe my Visas were ready the next afternoon for collection. Collection ofcourse is another waiting time, but hey, it’s the last time and no more questions asked!
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