New UK Visa Application Centers In Mumbai

14 Mar 2014

To ease application rush in Mumbai, the United Kindom has opened two new visa application centers (VACs) in the city at Nariman Point and Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).

British High Commissioner to India, James Bevan, opening the new visa application center at Bandra-Kurla Complex said, the two new centers are part of its improved relationship with VFS Global  to provide the visa services in India and South Asia. This contract will enhance services in India, and would provide an improved experience for visa applicants in India.

The UK also stated that passport pass-back service will be made available to all Indians that allows visa applicants to retain their passport while their visa application is being processed, to support business travelers in the interim period. It is a paid service and rolled out for primarily for business travelers.

In the year 2013, a total of 4,00,00 visas were issued to Indian nationals, which is a 5% increase compared to 2012, and there is an 7% increase in student applications in 2013. There is a 10% increase in the number of Indians travelling to the UK in the year 2013 than 2012, according to visa application center officials.

A press note from the high commissioner stated that the usual time taken for issuing visa was only eight days and India is the first country to get the visa service on the same day.