UK streamlines visa applications

CUSTOMERS applying for
a UK visa in Johannesburg
will benefit from digital
improvements to the
application process, effective
May 8.
Supporting documents will
be scanned while customers
are at the visa application
centre, allowing applicants
to retain their original
documents. Only original
passports will be retained.
The digital documents and
the passport will then be
sent securely to UKVI for
consideration in the usual way.
Susan Thesen from
British T.I.P.S. said the Visa
Application Centre had
been working toward a
more streamlined form of
processing for a while now
and that the new procedures
would make things easier
for the application centre to
keep track of documents and
applications. She said travel
to the UK was quite seasonal,
with the majority of tourists
visiting during the summer
months.
She advised that while
the application centre’s
streamlined processing
would help to speed up its
internal processing time per
application, the effects of this
would not be immediately
noticeable to customers, as
2018 demand for the UK was
already predicted to be higher
than last year. Moreover, she
said during Europe’s quiet
winter months, visa processing
took seven to eight days, but
this tended to double during
the European summer.
To avoid delays, the
application centre
recommends that customers
bring their original passport
and clear A4 copies of
supporting documents to the
application centre. They also
recommend that staples, clips
or pins should be removed
from the documentation
before submission to further
reduce waiting times.