UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You have rejected additional cookies. You are not required to book any travel before you apply or before a decision is made on your application. You should allow enough time before you plan travel to make a visa application.
You will only receive a refund of your application fee if we have not started to process your application. You may be able to pay for a faster decision on a visa application. If you make an appointment at a VFS premium Application Centre to provide your fingerprints and a photograph biometric information , you can submit your passport and supporting documents at that location.
If you attended a visa application centre, you should not visit one until you have been contacted to do so. We will not be able to provide information on the status of your application. Watch our video on understanding processing times.
All UK processing times are measured against agreed customer service standards. Updated to clarify contact process in the following sections: 'When your application processing time ends' and 'When you might wait longer'.
Processing time and service standard for Permitted Paid Engagement removed, as it's now included as part of the Standard Visitor visa application. Clarified the information about short term study visas. To help us improve GOV.
