UK introduces same-day visa for Indians
New Delhi : Britain has introduced a same-day visa for Indians, making it the first country to get a visa to visit UK within 24 hours. The same-day visa service was announced by British prime minister David Cameron during his recent visit to India.
The same-day visa will cost £600 (nearly Rs 50,000) in addition to the price of the visa.Those in Delhi and Mumbai will be able to apply for this service.
The UK home ministry said the ‘super priority’ visa is the first-of-its-kind to be launched ever and there are plans to expand the scheme to Chennai in the next few weeks.
Immigration minister Mark Harper said, “This government is committed to encouraging international business to invest in Britain. India and Britain have a long history of trade and we run our largest visa operation in the world there. We are delighted to be able to launch our first same-day visa service in Delhi and Mumbai, and make our world class visa service even better.”
UK home office added that the service will be available to those who are applying for a six-month or two-year multiple entry visitor visa (excluding student visit visas) and have travelled without difficulty in the last five years to one of the following countries – UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or a Schengen country. Those who are employees of companies that are members of the Business Express Programme (managed by UK Trade and Investment in India) and are travelling as an official business visitor will also be able to apply.
India will be the first country where the new single-day visa will be rolled out following which it will be rolled out in China, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa.
Current cost of a business visa for a short-term (up to 6 months, single or multiple entry) costs Rs 6650. A long term visa valid for up to 5 years costs Rs 42,200 while that for 10 years cost Rs 60900.Over the past five years, on an average, 70,000 business visas have been issued per year to Indians.
India remains the UK’s biggest visa operation in the world, processing around 400,000 applications each year.
British High Commissioner to India Sir James Bevan recently said over 300,000 Indians come to the UK each year.
Sir James Bevan said, “By 2020 we aim to attract 40 million visitors a year. Indian tourists are central to that ambition. As India’s prosperity grows and its middle class expands, more and more Indians are looking to travel abroad. When they get on that aircraft, we are very clear where we want them to come: to the UK. But we never forget that everyone has a choice. There are 193 countries in the world: all of them have something to recommend them.” – Times of India
