World news story

Changes to the visa application centre service in Al Khobar

UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) has announced a change to the Visa Application Centre service in Al Khobar

UKVI

UKVI

From 1 September, customers wishing to apply for a UK visa at the application centre in Al Khobar will be required to pay a fee of £52 in addition to the cost of their visa. The fee will be charged at the point of paying for the visa application and will cover the cost of providing the application submission facilities.

Under the new arrangements the fee enables customers who would usually apply in Al Khobar to continue to have access to a local service, which would otherwise be cost prohibitive to provide. This is in line with our global model of charging in low volume locations around the world, to ensure customers have the option of a convenient service.

There will be no additional charge to use our centres in Riyadh or Jeddah and customers can travel to these centres rather than pay the additional fee if they would prefer. Customers can also use the centre in Manama, Bahrain if they would prefer not to pay the additional fee.

Al Khobar is one of a number of centres around the world that will be converted to a user pays VAC on 1 September. The UK already operates nearly 100 User Pays visa application centres worldwide

Published 24 August 2015