Super priority visa service opens up to students in China
A service which aims to process UK visa applications within 24 hours is to be expanded to student applicants, it was announced today (1 August).
Super priority visa service opens up to students in China
A total of 100 super priority appointments will be made available each day to Tier 4 applicants who choose to attend the UK’s Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai visa application centres between 8 August and 14 October.
During the peak application period, UKVI is likely to receive up to 800 Tier 4 applications per day across China. The number of daily slots may be increased in the future depending on demand and the 10 week trial could be made permanent if successful. Students will also continue to have access to the 3-5 day priority visa service at all 15 visa application centres.
Dominique Hardy, Regional Director for UK Visas & Immigration, Asia Pacific, said:
The UK continues to welcome the brightest and best students from China who wish to study at our world-class institutions. The expansion of our super priority visa service to Tier 4 applicants is the latest in a series of changes we have made to create a quicker, easier and even more convenient process for our customers.
The UK is committed to delivering an excellent visa service in China. In year ending March 2016, UKVI received around 118,000 applications through the 3-5 day priority visa service. In the same period, it received around 3,000 super priority visa service applications.
In response to increasing demand in China, UKVI has opened three new visa application centres in Changsha, Kunming and Xian in June and July, bringing the UK’s visa application centre network to 15. Its existing visa application centres in Beijing and Guangzhou were also enlarged in preparation for the peak application period.