This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Turkey

5th November 2012

Travelling to the UK: Priority Business Visas

Business is booming between the UK and Turkey. We are well on track to meet the commitment made in 2010 by Prime Ministers David Cameron and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to double trade between our two countries by 2015.

Part of boosting business is getting our visa policy right. That’s why earlier this year we introduced a new Priority Visa Scheme to speed up visas for business travelers to the UK. The scheme is open to anyone applying for a Business Visit visa, and to those with an employer sponsoring long-term employment in the UK. Since May, we have received over 2,100 applications under the scheme.

An application under the Priority Visa Scheme means your papers are given top priority and are normally processed within 48 hours. There is an additional fee of 200TL.

The UK now has five Visa Application Centres, in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Gaziantep. These are designed to help us provide the best possible visa service right across the country. We are constantly on the look-out for ways to improve our service further.

One more tip: we encourage Turkish business people who regularly visit the UK to consider applying for longer-term visit visas. We offer 2 year, 5 year and 10 year visit visas. Over the course of their term, they’re cheaper and easier than constantly renewing a 6-month visa.  Long-term visas can, if necessary, be transferred to new passports.

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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