Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application
Getting a refund of your priority or super priority fee
The rules for getting a refund depend on whether you’re cancelling your visa application or not, and what stage your application is at.
If your application is refused, you will not get a refund.
If you’re cancelling your visa application
You may get a refund of the priority service fee if you cancel your visa application. It depends on how you were told to prove your identity and whether or not you have already given your fingerprints and photo (biometric information).
If you were told to prove your identity in person
You will get a refund if you have not given your fingerprints and photo.
You will not usually get a refund if you have already given your fingerprints and photo.
The refund will not always be paid automatically - you may need to ask for a refund.
If you used the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to prove your identity
You will get a refund if both of the following apply:
- you cancelled your application before the deadline you were given for uploading your evidence
- you have not selected ‘confirm and upload’ in the app - either to upload your evidence or confirm you do not have anything to upload
The refund will not always be paid automatically - you may need to ask for a refund.
If you are not cancelling your visa application
You will not usually get a refund of the priority service fee if you are not cancelling your visa application. Each case is considered individually.
You will not get a refund if you do not get a decision in time because the Home Office needed more information or evidence to make the decision.
The Home Office may give you a refund if they could not give you a decision in time because of something outside their control, for example a technical problem.
How to get a refund
You’ll automatically get a refund when you cancel your visa application if you have not given your biometric information and you’re either:
- in the UK
- outside the UK and you paid the priority service fee at the same time as you paid your visa application fee
Otherwise, you’ll need to ask for a refund.
If you paid VFS Global directly before you attended the visa application centre, you can request a refund in your VFS Global account. Select ‘services’ then ‘cancel services’.
If you paid TLScontact at your appointment, email the priority services refund requests team and explain why you think you should get a refund.
Priority services refund requests team ukvi.visa.pvspv.customerrefundrequests@homeoffice.gov.uk
When you’ll get your refund
Your refund will be paid into the same bank account you used to pay the priority service fee.
It can take up to 28 days to get your refund.
If you have not received your refund within 28 days
Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help if you do not get your refund within 28 days of either:
- getting your refund confirmation email
- cancelling your application - if you did not get a refund confirmation email