Nomadic Lives Local, Experiential India Travel Blog
Step 4 – Submitting Your Documents & Biometrics
On the day of your appointment, reach the VFS office a little ahead of your schedule and come in with a good meal in your stomach. The actual process takes only 15-20 minutes combined, but the waiting period could stretch on till up to 5-6 hours, depending upon the time of the year. You can’t use a cell-phone in there or a laptop or any other kind of electronic device – so carry a book or something or be prepared to die off boredom! Sign-up for the courier service if you don’t want to come to the center and collect your documents, but remember to sign-up for the SMS service, so you will remain updated of your application status.
Step 5 – Wait, pray and then wait some more
Once you’ve done everything in your human capacity to ensure your application has a reasonable shout for approval, sit back and wait. The website claims first-time applications are usually processed within a time-frame of 8-10 working days, but that timeline fluctuates harder than SENSEX. All you can do once you’ve submitted your moolah, is wait back, relax and pray a lot – if things have gone well so far, chances are you will soon be on your way to an exciting trip to the land that has dramatically influenced your past, present and future!
Free Tip – If like me, you’d like to take advantage of the relationships between the United Kingdom and the neighboring state of Ireland, I’d recommend you make full use of the Short Stay Visa Waiver Program offered by Irish Immigration and give the Emerald Isle a happy little visit too. (well, now you see how them Irish are always such friendly, hospitable folk, don’t you?). The waiver program, allows travelers of several nationalities (including Indian), to visit the Republic of Ireland on a UK General Category C visa – or a short stay Tourist UK Visa; you’re required to clear immigration in the UK though, so people planning on using UK just as a transit point will still require an Irish visa.
Despite the Visa frustrations, your upcoming travels sound great! Can’t wait to hear more!
I thank my lucky stars I have a Canadian passport- I saved about 2 hours in the line at JFK because of that!
Enjoy your trip!
Hi Sanket, Is it necessary to subit documents related to scotland travel when u r applyin for UK visa? I have applied for UK visa, but going to scotland is still not sure.. what should I do…If I have written Scotland in my VISA application but I have not submitted any travel or hotel bills of scotland , then will it still get accepted?
Thanks
Aditya
Hi Aditya,
Thanks for stopping by. To be honest, the UK embassy doesn’t give clear instructions on what documents to submit. You don’t necessarily have to mention you are traveling to Scotland. Here’s what is necessary: you need to prove that if you are in the UK for 20 days, you have enough funds for your sustenance for 20 days. I’d say return flight tickets are an absolute must, because then they know you have a strong motivator to return. After that, you may or may not make confirmed accommodation bookings. The thing with this is – if you make and show accommodation bookings, then your bookings need to match up with the itinerary you are sharing. If not, then you can get away with not showing accommodation bookings but having access to enough funds to be able to book on the go. I’d recommend that you build a simple itinerary to attach with your application, and make fully-refundable bookings that match. Try using Booking.com – you will find many options that are 100% refundable. If you have other questions, feel free to email me.
Also, this article is from some time ago. Please be careful to review current policies on the UK immigration office website.