New Delhi: The British ambassador to India, Alex Ellis, took to Twitter to announce that the United Kingdom (UK) has started issuing priority and super priority visas to students from India.
“Update for Indian students travelling to the United Kingdom — Great Britain has now made a priority and super priority visas available for students. There is a high demand and we recommend you apply for your visa as early as possible with the required documentation,” the tweet read.
Under the Priority Visa service, the UK government decides on the student’s visa application within five days. This has been made available to students from India. However, as reported by Mint, certain extra charges are applicable for this.
“If you verify your identity at a visa application centre and the service is available in the country you’re applying from, you can choose the ‘priority service’ when you apply. There will be an additional cost for this service,” the UK government said.
Under the Super Priority service, the passport can be collected by the end of the next working day after submission of the biometric data.
Apart from the normal fees of £363 for student visa, applicants will have to pay an additional £500 for priority visa. For super priority visa, additional £800 will have to be paid, according to official data.
Usually, it takes 15 to 21 days for a student visa from India to the UK to get approved.
Till June 2022, the UK government approved 1,18,000 UK visa applications from India, nearly 89 per cent higher than last year, as reported by Moneycontrol. Ellis said that this year the country is aiming to break the record in 2022.
Once the visa is approved, the applicant can collect it from the UK Embassy. However, if the stay is longer than six months, they need a biometric residence permit (BRP). It can be collected from UK Immigration within ten days of landing in the country. First Post
