About our services

UK Visas and Immigration is responsible for decisions about who can come to the UK and who can stay here.


Service standards

If you apply to come to or remain in the UK and we consider your application to be straightforward (for example, we can make a decision on it without asking you for more information) it will be decided within our customer service standards. There is no need to ask us for progress on it.

The service we offer

Our service standard processing times for standard applications (depending on application type) will start when you make an application and prove your identity.

Check if you are eligible to get a faster decision on your application from inside or outside the UK.

When you apply:

  • our staff will be thorough and polite, and will treat you with dignity
  • our information will be in plain language and accurate
  • we will provide you with a detailed response to an enquiry
  • we will keep your personal details confidential and handle information about you in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (we may need to share it with third parties but only if lawful and necessary)

What we need from you

To consider your application within the service standards, you need to make sure that:

If your application is made on a paper form, you should also make sure:

  • it is signed and dated and made on the correct form, submitting the required documents
  • you have included the payment and any cheque is signed and dated for the full fee

If we can’t make a decision within the service standards

If there is a problem with your application, for example, if it is incomplete or complex, we will write to explain why it will not be decided within the normal standard. The letter will explain what will happen next.

If you have applied for the super priority or priority service, we will contact you within the service standard if there is a problem with your application.