Changes to UK visa application process

On Friday a new British visa centre, where applicants in Uzbekistan can hand in documents and give their biometrics for UK visa applications, opened in the Tashkent Plaza. It’s run by Teleperformance, who won a tender last year to operate Visa Applications Centres on behalf of the UK visa authorities throughout Europe and Central Asia. This is the first time an office like this has operated in Tashkent, but similar centres have been operating for at least ten years in other parts of the world. It’s part of a world-wide change in the way the UK visa system operates: UK Visas staff making the decisions on visa applications are concentrated in a small number of hubs to which applications are couriered from the Visa Application Centres, in our case to Istanbul.

I visited the centre on Friday, and the operation looked very professional. We will do everything we can to ensure it provides an efficient service for applicants in Uzbekistan. But we will welcome feedback, positive or negative, to help us improve the service still further.

I strongly encourage all applicants for visas to put their applications in in good time before they are due to travel. UK Visas are committed, except in case of applications for settlement, which can take longer, to returning passports to applicants within 15 working days of the date on which the documents are handed over. Applicants should make an appointment with the visa centre when they complete the application form on line.

The purpose of the visa system is to enable people to travel. I would like to see more people travelling from Uzbekistan to the UK and vice-versa. I hope that the new visa centre will help to make applying for the visa an easy and convenient experience.