Changes to the UK visa service in Mongolia
UK visa application centre in Ulaanbaatar will move to new premises on 31 March 2014.
On 31 March, the UK visa application centre in Ulaanbaatar will move to new premises and customers will be required to pay an additional fee to use the service.
The move follows a global review and restructure of UK Visas and Immigration services to increase the number of visa application points and improve services globally, through commercial partner contracts.
The new visa application centre will be run by UK Visas and Immigration’s commercial partner, VFS Global, who already successfully operate UK visa application centres in most countries across Asia Pacific. The new service will provide customers access to extended opening hours and a variety of value added services such as translation, photocopying and a courier service.
The move to a user pays visa application centre is so that UK visa customers in Mongolia continue to have access to a local service which would otherwise be cost prohibitive to provide. This is in line with our new global model of charging in low volume locations around the world to ensure customers have the option of a convenient service. The Visa Application Centre will move to:
1st Floor
Peace Avenue
1st Khoroo
DHL Building 1015
Sukhbaatar district
Ulaanbaatar
The fee to use the visa application centre will be £59 ($USD100). This will be in addition to the visa fee and will be charged at the point of booking the appointment and will cover the cost of providing the application submission facilities in Mongolia. Appointments at this Visa Application Centre will not be honoured if this fee is not paid.
The centre will be open from 9:00am to 3:00pm Monday to Friday, offering increased availability over the current service.
We will work closely with VFS Global to ensure continuity of service during the transition period. Applications will continue to be assessed by UKV&I staff and there will be no change to our standard processing times.
Visa decision making moves to Manila visa hub
To further improve efficiency, the decision making of applications received in Mongolia will move from Beijing to our high performing visa hub at the British Embassy in Manila. This move will cut courier transit times by 1 day (1 day quicker on return), reducing the end to end processing time for Mongolian applicants.
With increased pressures on the China operation, the move to Manila will also ensure applicants continue to receive their visa decisions within our target processing times.
New global contact centre for visa enquiries
From April 1, customers in Mongolia will also have access to a new global contact centre for visa enquiries. This will be operated by Hinduja Global Services from their contact centres in the United Kingdom and be available during Mongolian working hours. This will replace the current limited enquiry service and offer a range of enquiry options including a free recorded service, a premium call service for those who wish to speak with a customer service officer, a web-chat service and a free email enquiry service. Further information and contact details of the new contact centre will be made available in due course.
Further information
Further information on changes to our global visa service are on the UK Visas and Immigration website and information on the new visa application centre and added value services will be available on the new VFS Mongolia visa application centre website in March.
- The new visa application centre will be located at:
1st Floor
Peace Avenue
1st Khoroo
DHL Building 1015
Sukhbaatar
Ulaanbaatar
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Information on VFS Global is available on their website: www.vfsglobal.com
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The change is part of a global shift to new commercial partner contracts to deliver a more streamlined application process to more customers in more locations around the world. The new contracts will offer increased value for money, the necessary flexibility to support current and future services and provide a first class customer experience.
The UK Visas and Immigration visa hub in Manila processes applications from 12 countries across Asia Pacific and consistently exceeds target processing times.