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

Sure - post back and let us know how it goes.

Spoke to my brother today, he informed me that he has had his visa back from Hayes using the postal application option. Arrived yesterday. 9 - 10 working days turnaround.

Asmithee I can confirm what you said in your reply to Laney, these are correct timings at the moment.

That's good news. I guess that's pretty much what they advertise, so it's not bad.

I know Hayes are pretty swamped with mail at the mo, but they seem to be turning stuff around and getting it back to people in a reasonable time - save for those applications that have to be rejected for errors.

Personally I think they should make it a 15 day processing period for postal - even though it may take less than that, in case they get really busy it would be a more accurate and realistic turnround time.

You will get a refund for your online payment.

Asmithee, can you advise under which circumstances payments are refunded?

a few words of warning for any fellow worcestershire residents-
the official line (VFS & consulate general) is that if you have a WR postcode you must apply for your visa in LONDON.
DY (kidderminster etc.) and B (redditch, bromsgrove etc.) postcodes within worcestershire must apply in BIRMINGHAM.
having pleaded with higher powers at the consulate i was only then able to hand in my application at VFS on thursday-
i now await the outcome, thursday being the mooted collection day.

That is extremely vexing, as the WR5 postcode is only 30 miles away.

Shame that VFS do not bother to mention this on their website, which clearly states that counties in the West Midlands should submit applications to the Birmingham office.

How did you contact them? I thought they referred all queries to VFS and refuse to have any discussions with applicants.

You can get a refund on what you have paid so far as long as the application is not processed - once it is processed by VFS they will not refund.

In this case they should be able to refund what you paid for a 5 year visa, and make a new payment for another application.

It does clearly state this information on their website.. it lists the counties which can apply in Birmingham and as you will see Wocestershire doesnt fall under this category.

granted, mr. jones- if only it were that simple!
worcestershire is generally considered to be a part of the west midlands- redditch, kidderminster & bromsgrove undoubtedly are.
however, WR postcodes stretch as far west as tenbury wells (near to the welsh border) and south to strensham (near tewkesbury).

as i understand, in dividing the country up for visa office allocation, a horizontal line has been drawn through the midlands-
anywhere north of this line heads to birmingham while anywhere south of this line heads to london for their indian visas.
this works well for any counties north or south of this line- worcestershire, however, falls in between, hence the confusion.

Jack, ArneWarm is correct, Worcestershire is part of the West Midlands. Not a part of Worcestershire, all of it.

Asmithee, I believe that you know more about the London offices, if I sent a visa application there, would it be sent back with a note saying "Worcestershire is in the West Midlands" or is this "ruling" known in London too?

Haylo, it's not that VFS would send it back, but the HCI might. Entirely up to them.

In practise I have seen very few sent back for that reason, but it happens occasionally.

Just a bit of information, if for some reason it is necessary to return to the centre with additional documentation or something, do not queue up again, instead inform them at the door and they will see that you are attended to fairly swiftly.
This works at the Victoria branch.

Or better still go to the enquiries counter and they can usually arrange it there.

The general policy in all of the centres is that if you have queued up once and waited already to submit your forms etc, not really fair to make you queue again. Most of the time you will be sent back to the person you originally dealt with, better for continuity.

The only slight downside to that is people coming back to the counter can sometimes hold up others still waiting in the queue and add to the general waiting time. But as long as not too many people do it, it's usually fine.

Haylo - I didnt state anywhere that 'Worcestershire is not in the Midlands'. I said going by what it says on their website, people who live in those counties listed can apply in Bham and Worcestershire is not there. Although it seems logical they should apply in Bham, however dont go by logic, go by whats on the website and the rules. good luck