UK launches ‘Beat the Peak’ visa campaign in India

IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? The United Kingdom has said that it will allow Indian nationals applying for standard visitor visas in India to postdate their visas by up to three months as part of a campaign to encourage people to apply for visas during the low-volume months of January and February.

What does the change mean? Effective immediately, Indian nationals applying for visit visas in India will be able to obtain postdated visas by providing their intended dates of travel during the application process. Visas will be dated one day before their planned date of departure. U.K. officials also stress that applicants are likely to experience quicker turnaround times now than they would during higher volume parts of the year.

• Implementation time frame: Immediate and ongoing.  
• Visas/permits affected: Standard visitor visas (for tourism and business travel).
• Who is affected: Foreign nationals applying for U.K. visit visas in India.
• Impact on processing times: Applying for visit visas in January or February may save applicants time in the visa process because there are more appointments and the workload is lower at this time of year.

Background: The U.K. announced its “Beat the Peak” campaign earlier this month at the Destination Britain India event in Pune. The British high commissioner to India, Dominic Asquith, said in a statement that by making it easier for visitors to apply for visas early, the U.K. hoped that “even more Indians will choose to come to visit the UK to see our world class heritage sites, enjoy our beautiful countryside and experience the vibrancy of our cities.” Additional information is available on the UK’s VFS Global India website.

BAL Analysis: The option of postdating visas broadens the appeal of applying for visas in January and February and could save applicants significant time in the application process.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group in Singapore. For additional information, please contact singapore@bal.com.

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