Applying for an Indian Visa in the UK: Your Questions and Experiences

Not directly, but when I visited the Birmingham office, there were a LOT of people waiting there, all clutching numbered tickets with very high numbers.

I am glad that I DID book an appointment, as because of this I was given a ticket from a completely different series of numbers (mine was eighteen I seem to recall) and I only had to wait a couple of minutes before my number was called.

Unless there's a really good reason for not booking an appointment, I'd do so. When I booked mine, pretty much any time on any day was available, even though (possibly due to an error on my part) I ended up with one for the following morning, which I couldn't change as it was past 4pm on the day before the appointment!

It's worth checking the apointment times before you leave for the VFS office, while you can't change an appointment after 4pm the day before, you may be able to book one at short notice to match your expected arrival time!

Thank you Haylo.

An updare on my situation, I finally spoke to someone at Birmingham on Monday. My visa has arrived this morning, and my boyfriend had his passport back yesterday, so we are going to vfs London on Monday to do his visa (managed to get an appointment).

Just reporting my experience in London. I "applied" online on Monday, was unable to get an appointment at Victoria on Tuesday (and you can't change the office e.g. to Goswell Rd. once submitted) but got one at midday Wednesday. I arrived at 11:15, and like everyone else ended up in the queue system. I got out at 12:30, which is hardly great when they say 15 mins turnaround for pre-booked "appointments" (the explanation being given out was a computer glitch).

There are several ticketed queues (with different number ranges) so it's possible pre-booked appointments were being processed faster than the queue for people just turning up. Hard to tell. Turning up early in the morning to grab a low-digit non-prebooked ticket probably works best though. There is no priority/fast-track processing option.

The website status page notified me that it was ready for collection about 10:30 on Friday. Which fits with their ETA of 2-3 days. Took half an hour of another ticketed queue to collect (ticket issued on first floor, desks on second floor).

I applied for a 1 year business visa (any duration up to 1 year is now £115 including charges), with no problems having had three prior 6-month tourist visas.

Overall I'd say this new facility is better if you don't mind waiting 2-3 days. They need to reduce the queue waits though. Apparently bug fixes for the website (e.g. allowing punctuation such as "LONDON, UK" instead of just "LONDON UK") are imminent.

That sort of "bug" means no-one tested the software.

I have neither the interest or ability to check, but I bet it isn't secure.

It's more likely that they tested the software and found they couldn't handle certain punctuation marks. The special characters could, for example, curtail data fields, which would then crash the form. It's easier to simply reject the form than find a way of handling them which takes a bit of effort and skill and therefore money. I haven't looked at the form to see what hints they give but the minimum they should do is state that the form only accepts alpha-numeric data. The acceptance of special characters is something they can play with behind the scenes as time allows, and this is a new-ish site. However, I would admit that electronic form-handling is something VFS should already be expert at. Sending them a complaint with the suggestion that they read IM may speed up the fix!

Oh Oh!

I had no idea that outsourcing had begun. I am a UK citizen with a UK passport. I will not be in the UK until the 28th of October (currently in Greece) and fly to Goa on the 6th of November. That gives me more or less one week to sort the visa out.

1) Are visa surgerys still taking place in Glasgow and Edinburgh?

2) How long are people generally waiting for Visa to arrive by post?

3) Do you have to send off the original passport?

All three questions are crucial to me, if i don't get the answers i need then the trip is off and i will need to cancel flights and rebook elsewhere.

Hi Nikos, I can't answer all of your questions as the outsourcing service is still pretty new and hopefully should have improved by the time you need your visa, unfortunately you will be hitting the busy period.

Visa surgeries have stopped so you would need to visit one of the outsourcing agent's offices in London, Birmingham or Edinburgh. They are quite strict on the jurisdiction so if you live in Greece all the time then you should probably apply to the London one.

The visa is a sticker in your passport, so yes, they will need to have your passport to process the visa.

It should take around 2-3 days if you apply in person so, in theory, your timescale is do-able.

Hi Nikos,
Why don't you apply from Greece itself? I understand if you are resident in a country different from the one you are citizen of, then you can apply from there too. Most embassies send your application back to your native country and that usually takes a few weeks. It is certainly worth trying.

i would try that as well , im in turkey and going next week to see about a visa here , ive already rung them and they seem to think its not a problem , but it will take 4 working days as they have to contact the uk to verify everything
colin

Mod Note

I changed the thread title from "Begins in UK" to "Your Experiences"

Might refine that a bit further, but felt it needed to show that this is now about ongoing, not about new news.

My friend aplpied for my visa in person on thursday. The lady said it would be posted back to me the following wednesday next day delivery.

Now when I managed to speak to them on teh phone (I know, it was a bleeding miracle), they said it would be posted back to me the day after it was recieved.

I fly out on saturday mornign and am getting really panicky. The online tracker says it has been sent to the general consulate of Birmingham on Friday. Anyone any ideas how long it takes after this?

Mine was back in the VFS office just under 48 hours after I handed it in, and I doubt much has changed in the last couple of weeks.

However if you are very concerned, it might be worth making fallback plans to get to their office to collect it on Friday, just in case it does get back to them by Wednesday. Presumably they would let you pick it up in person if you need to fly out the next day.

Oh, and congratulations on speaking to VFS. You must be the first!

Blimey...bribing indian officials...never heard of such a thing!! thanks for making me laugh especially you Nick...one wonders who's being naive here...anyway, this bribery behaviour will DEF not work in London although ya never know!! seriously tho..I was a bit irritated at first by the change,and unnescessary middle man situation, but hey it takes the strain off the high commission I guess..and only took a few days..although I do wonder how it would work for emergencys....pay more prob..a bit of legal bribery perhaps..lol

Just completed the online application - no problems at all UNTIL I tried to reschedule my appointment......

Was given one on the date I chose(next Monday) but time not good (can't get to London in time). So, I pressed reschedule/cancel in a bid to do just that. I tried to reschedule but it didn't allow me to chose the same day so, maybe stupidly, I cancelled it in the hope of rebooking the same day at a later time.

What it doesn't tell you is that you are then GIVEN a rescheduled date/time that you CANNOT reschedule/cancel again. (Unless I am missing something.)

''Already cancelled appointment cannot be rescheduled or cancelled''

Thought this may be helpful to anyone trying, like me, to outsmart the system!

Email being sent now - cannot go tomorrow! In middle of a course and dates don't work unless i submit after the weekend.

ho hum!

As an aside, got this immediate reponse to my email.

''Thank You for your query. We will revert within 24 hrs Monday to Friday''

Revert to what? Actually how do you revert WITHIN??!!

(I know it's revert ''within 24 hours'' but it's early and it made me smile!)

One step closer to India - feeling happier already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!