The ‘Super Priority’ service is optional and has a fee in addition to the visa fee…reports Asian Lite News
British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis said on August 30 that the United Kingdom has started issuing priority and super priority visas to students again.
He wrote on Twitter: “Update for Indian students travelling to the United Kingdom — Great Britain has now made priority and super priority visas available for students. There is a high demand and we recommend you apply for your visa as early as possible with the required documentation.”
As per the latest ‘UK Immigration Statistics’, nearly 1,18,000 Indian students received a visa to study in the UK in the year ending June 2022 which is an 89 percent increase from the previous year.
According to the British High Commission, the UK continues to be a popular destination for Indian holidaymakers too as Indian nationals accounted for the highest proportion (28 percent) of visitor visas granted. It said more than 2,58,000 Indian nationals received visit visas in the year ending June 2022, a 630 percent increase compared to the previous year when travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic were still in place.
Further, the British High Commissioner said that currently, the United Kingdom is dealing with visa requests in about 15 days. “There is a huge demand. So please, Indian students great that you want to come to the UK. Apply now, get the documentation right,” he concluded.
According to the UK government website, these are the fast ways to secure a visa decision. While the ‘Priority’ service ensures a visa decision in five working days, under the ‘Super Priority’ service, the decision can be announced by the end of the next working day.
Applications submitted on the last working day of the week or the last working day immediately before a public holiday will be available for collection at the end of the next working day, the website further says.
The ‘Super Priority’ service is optional and has a fee in addition to the visa fee.
This comes weeks after Mr Ellis shared a video message on Twitter about the delay in visa approvals. He had “apologised” to people who were affected by it.
Citing the reason behind the delay, the High Commissioner had said there has been an “unprecedented surge in a demand for UK visas post-Covid” and “because of global events, particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
The latest UK Immigration Statistics data, released earlier this month, showed an 89 per cent increase in student visas granted to Indians, as compared to the previous year. It showed that has overtaken China as the largest nationality being issued sponsored study visas in the UK, with 1.18 lakh visas in the year ending June 2022.
Delays and a higher probability of rejection have, meanwhile, been reported from the US and Canada in particular.
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