Refund of Visa fees for canceled applications - how long does it take?
My family and I applied for UK Visas and we paid the Visa application fees for all of us. However, before we submitted our applications, we decided to make few changes on the application forms.
We canceled the application and requested a refund of the fees we paid. We had not made any appointments at the Visa application centre yet, we had not submitted our applications.
We submitted refund requests and received individual emails in response to our request. We were told to expect an email with to the outcome of the refund request.
Thereafter, we filled out new sets of applications, paid another set of Visa application fees for all of us, and made appointment for our biometrics with the new set of applications.
It's been 2 months since we requested a refund of the first payment and have not heard a word regarding our refund request ever since.
Are we ever going to receive a refund of the fees we paid for the applications we canceled?
Best Answer
So as you mentioned you had not yet submitted the visa applications nor had any interviews, which means you should get a refund as the submission has not yet been processed by the home office.
According to the UK government website, you can either call or email to request your refund, and you should get a response to say they are working on it in two working days, which you did, and you should have a result within 28 working days.
Since you applied for the refund two months ago, that could fall inside the 28 working days (public holidays and weekends not included) therefore they may still be working on it. If it is outside the 28 working days then after an extra week or so you could try getting back in contact with them about this using the following info:
By phone: 00 44 203 481 1736 (Calls cost £1.37 per minute on top of your standard network charges)
By email: Follow this form (Email enquiries cost £5.48. You will not be charged for any follow-up emails about the same enquiry)
Pictures about "Refund of Visa fees for canceled applications - how long does it take?"
Do we get refund on cancellation of visa?
Visa Fees and Legalisation Fees In case You have paid the incorrect visa fee or legalisation fee, then customer will be provided the ability to cancel and seek refund of the wrong fee paid and pay the correct fee. The processing times for visa applications are estimates only.How long does it take for a UK visa refund?
You usually get your refund within 6 weeks of getting a decision on your visa application. It can take longer if you appeal or ask for an administrative review after your visa application is refused.Is visa fee refundable if rejected?
Will my visa fee be refunded? No, the fee you have paid for your visa application is for it to be processed and a decision to be made, regardless of the decision itself.Is VFS service fee refundable?
The Visa Fee, Legalisation Fee, Visa service Fee and optional service fees shall be refundable only if You have paid for a Service. You may request a refund in accordance with the Refund Eligibility Criteria.UK VISA APPLICATION CANCELLATION | LATEST GUIDANCE FROM HOME OFFICE
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Mikhail Nilov, Ron Lach, Brennan Tolman, Yan Krukov