Visa Applications to be Simplified for Chinese Visitors

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a three-step plan to streamline the visa application process for Chinese visitors.

The first of the initiatives is a pilot program permitting selected Chinese travel agents to apply for UK visas on behalf of Chinese nationals with the EU’s Schengen visa form, as long as the visa applicants wish to visit both the EU and the UK. The current procedure requires two separate applications, one each for the UK and the EU.

A new 24-hour “super priority” visa service will also become available next summer, although additional details about the service have not yet been announced. The UK already offers an optional five-day priority visa service in China for eligible tourists, business visitors and skilled workers.

Lastly, the VIP mobile visa service now operating in Beijing and Shanghai will expand to all of China. Users of the service do not have to visit a UK diplomatic post. Instead, UK visa teams go to applicants to collect their completed forms and biometric data. This process reportedly takes less than five minutes.

More information on each of these initiatives is expected in the coming months, and Fragomen will provide updates as they become available.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].