When applying for a UK visa, most staff from the embassy would base their decision on the submitted documents that comes with the application. However, applicants may still be asked to attend an interview personally of visa through telephone or personal appearance. If this is the case attend the appointment at least 15 minutes before the interview and bring and present the following:
- Visa application and supporting documents (if a student bring enrollment forms, receipts; if tourist, bring hotel booking, airfare, insurance, etc)
- Payment for the application fee if you haven’t yet
- Biometric information
- Valid passport and previous issued passport if any (Note: passport should contain at least one blank page on both sides in order for your visa vignette to be appended)
- Latest passport size photo
- Signed application printout
- GWF reference application number
- Demand draft
- Official financial support sponsorship (if any)
- Original and photocopies of education, identity and address proofs
- Test report for tuberculosis from a British High Commission approved clinic or hospital
If you are applying for a student visa, the following would be some of the reasons why it could be rejected
- Discrepancy in the provided information
- Fake documents
- When important information is not divulged to the interviewer
- Inappropriate answers to the questions asked
- Inappropriate attire and exhibiting of unhygienic behavior
- Failure to fund education and living cost
- Poor academic scores
- Lack of information to their chosen institution
- Failure to meet the required English standards
- Failed the TB test
Upon application, your passport will be kept by the Embassy until they have made a decision on your application. If you decided to collect your passport from the Embassy your application would be withdrawn. It is important to remember that your application fee is non-refundable when you decided to apply for a visa; you have to go through another application, submit all the necessary documents when needed and pay the visa fee.
If your reason for applying for a visa is for urgent and compassionate reasons, the application would be considered for immediate processing as long as you provide proof for the following cases:
- Terminal illness or death of an immediate family member
- Emergency medical treatment which includes people travelling with a carer
If you are not in the urgent and compassionate case usually, the Embassy process 90% of non-settlement application in 3 weeks, 98% in 6 week and 100% in 12 weeks of the application date. If ever there have been any delays in the process, the Embassy would publish about it on their official website to explain the reasons of the delay. If the Embassy has failed to process non-settlement visa within 15 working days and has not been able to publish a statement, emailing the VFS call center will forward your concern to the Embassy. The Embassy should be able to correspond to the enquiry if they are contacted the time elapse.
