UK tourist Visa wait times
Me and my wife are traveling to the UK from USA on Sep 18th. We have a biometric appointment with Seattle consulate on Aug 29th. In total there are roughly 13 business days before we travel. Looking at standard Visa wait times, it's roughly 15 days before confirmation, so there can be a risk. I wanted to check what people have done in the past for this situation.
- Should we convert it to priority visa?
- Should we go through a local agent?
Best Answer
Here are the processing times from the GOV website:
I have not been in this situation, but just in case I recommend applying for priority. But as there is a 55%+ processing rate, it is your choice.
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How fast can I get a visa to UK?
For Priority Visa applicants, the process takes 3\u20135 days, while for Super Priority Visa applicants, this speeds up to a single business day. Super Priority Visa Service is available at VFS Global's UK visa application centres in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.How long does UK visa appointment take?
Your application for a Standard Visitor visa should be made no earlier than 3 months before you intend to enter the UK, and it will generally take no more than 3 weeks for the visa application to be processed and a decision made after your appointment.Does UK tourist visa get rejected?
Each year thousands of applications are rejected. At times applicants worry about what possibly could have been wrong with their application. In 2019, the UK visa rejection rate went up to 13%. Bangladesh, Ghana and Algeria were amongst the countries that faced visa rejections up to 40%.Is UK visitor visa difficult to get?
UK visa application is the most strict and highly scrutinized visa process. The UK Visas and Immigration receives thousands of visa applications every year that do not meet visa requirements. Once you have a UK visa refusal, it remains permanently in the records of the UK Home Office.UK Tourist Visa / Visitor Visa Processing Time 2022 ! UK Immigration ! How to Apply |UK Visa Updates
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Answer 2
In my opinion, you are cutting it a bit close for comfort. Did you make sure that there are no other holidays in the 13 business days for the UKVI office? You should also account for +1 or 2 days for your application to start processing after the bio-metric appointment and to get your passport back after the visa decision. It can also happen that you don't get your passports back together on the same day - in our case, the family passports came 5 days after mine just because they were dispatched in separate lots.
I would advise to go for the priority processing just to secure your visit and be on the safer side - I assume your tickets are already booked.
Answer 3
The aim is to handle all applications within 30 days of submission however this is natually subject to case-by-case basis. In my personal opinion, a visa application I oversaw took about five weeks to be decided, in which it was granted. This was primarily due to previous immigration trouble six months earlier.
If your tickets are already booked then it really is playing it risky as the official UKVI website specifically encourages travellers not to book tickets or reservations until the issue of their visas solely for the reason that not all visas can be handled within the specified time frame.
There's not a lot many of us can tell you other than to check the estimated processing times posted above and to just wait for them. Chances are you'll get them quickly but these are always subject to change.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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