Visa processing in the UK can be more involved depending on which country you are arriving from. The red tape involved can be made easier by starting your visa application in enough time before travel.
There are two methods for applying for a UK visa or UK naturalization. You may either submit your UK visa application through the Border and Immigration Agency of the Home Office services, or you can submit it through a UK consulate/High Commission/Embassy abroad, depending on the category of visa you want to apply for. The table below explains which applications immigration and naturalization services can be processed through each method, the processing times and the visa fees where applicable. Keep in mind that EU/EEA citizens and their families do not have to pay visa fees.
| Husband, wife or civil partner | £826 |
| Fiance(e) or proposed civil partner | £826 |
| Unmarried or same-sex partner | £826 |
| Armed forces dependent | £810 |
| Child (under 18) dependant | £826 |
| Adopted child dependant | £826 |
| Child coming to the UK for adoption | £826 |
| Parent, grandparent or other dependant relative | £1,850 |
* – Processing times can vary depending on Embassy or Consulate.
Theresa May the current UK Home Secretary, revealed that she will revamp Britain’s visa system to make the country more appealing to corporations. The restructurings will decrease the amount of visa types free to foreign business travellers and performance artists from 15 to just four from April onwards.
Luckily, the changes will decrease red tape and speed up processing times. For the first time, professional travellers will also be approved to take a holiday in the UK alongside meetings. In the past, two visas were required, but many argued that the difficulties of the visa system are hurting Britain’s monetary recovery.
For non-business travelers who want to get visas into the UK, the processing is a little more difficult. The inbound travel industry is in favour of lifting visa limitations to increase the amount of Chinese visitors to the UK. These aims have caused Government procedures to proceed in allowing Chinese visitors to use an Irish visitor’s visa for travel to the UK without requiring them to get a separate UK visa. These measures will also allow people from the UK to travel to China without requiring visitor visas as well come autumn.
With regard to marriage visas in the UK, the UK Border agency has recently announced that there are new financial requirements, which are creating hardship for thousands of couples looking to reunite with their partner in the UK.
From the time when new financial limits for sponsoring a non-EU/EEA fiancée, partner or spouse for a UK settlement visa arose in July 2012, thousands of citizens and UK permanent residents have found that they cannot reach the income level required to bring their foreign partner or family member to live and work in the U.K. It has been reported that thousands of couples have been unable to reunite in the U.K. due to not meeting the new financial requirement introduced by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) just a little over a year ago.
