Visa from UK Cost confusion

stepmac

Has anyone recently applied for a tourist visa from UK?
We are off to India in one month and need to hurry eith our Visa. I have had a look on the India High Commision websites and they seem to state two amount those being £30.00 and £60.00 any ideas?

seventies'hippy

Tourist visa £30 valid from date of issue for 6 months,,,,,,,,,,,,

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lonefemaletraveller

I just got mine and yes, its £30. I sent application by post. You have to send postal order and special devliery envelopes, so ends up costing about £45. Cheaper than some of the fees charged by agencies. Was delivered back within 10 days. No problems

shere

Download the forms. They used to have the price on the back of the form. It was still £30 for a 6 month tourist visa a few weeks ago.

goangoangone

http://hcilondon.net/service-fee.html#visa

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sanjmeister

If you are in close proximity to a 'Little India' or an area with a high concentration of South Asians, you can normally arrange for a travel agent to obtain your visa for you. For example, I went to Delhi in Jan 2005, and I live in East London. I went to one of the bigger Indian run agents, and they charged me just £10 on top of the visa fee to obtain a visa.

As you can see, I saved versus a postal application, and though I may have saved about £5 by visiting The High Commission in Aldwych personally, the hassle factor was way too much for me.

Of course, this avenue isn't open to everyone, but if you do live near such areas, it's worth pursuing. You need to allow a week, sometimes less - it really depends on the frequency with which they send an employee to the consulate.

On a side note, you should try such agents for tickets too - when I got my flight, I saved about £50 versus the ebooker fare. God knows how they can compete against a company like that, but they managed.

Regardless, when you go, make sure you take a completed application form and:

1. Passport, valid for a minimum of six months.
2. Two photographs.
3. Relevant supporting documents (depends on your status).
4. Non-UK passport holders must produce proof of stay of at least one year.

Use the yellow pages to call around first - some places will charge different fees. As a rule of thumb, the busier the place the more likely your fee will be lower.

Incidentally, UK visa fees are:

Transit Visa GBP8
6 month multiple entry (Business/Tourist/Other) GBP30
1 year multiple entry (Business/ Other) GBP50
5 year multiple entry (Business/ Other) GBP90
Student Visa 1-5 years GBP55
Emergency Fee GBP25

Non UK Residents must pay an additional GBP10. Processing takes 3-5 working days. Also, US Nationals are required to pay an additional GBP15 to the above fee schedule. The emergency fee is charged if you need a visa asap, for example a relative's health has rapidly deteriorated. In such circumstances, get in touch with the embassy directly, never use agents or rely on postal applications.

HTH

sanj