Guidance

Apply for a UK visa in St Helena

Updated 25 February 2026

To apply for a UK visa in St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha you need to:

• apply online
• pay your visa fee
• visit the Governor’s office to provide your biometrics, documents and passport

Important steps to follow when applying online

You must follow the following steps carefully to apply online for a UK visa in St Helena:

1. Return to the ‘Select a country to provide your biometrics’ page on your visa application form and enter ‘South Africa’ as the country in which you are making your application and wish to provide your biometrics. This is for processing purposes only; you will not need to travel to South Africa.

2. On the next page, ‘Check available biometric enrolment locations’, confirm that you have checked available biometric enrolment locations and can travel to a location in the ‘My selected country’ field. This is for processing purposes only; you will not need to travel to South Africa.

3. Continue with your application as normal.

4. Do not follow the guidance on the ‘Documents’ page about providing your documents with our commercial partner. You must instead follow the steps in the ‘Provide documents and biometric information’ section below to provide your documents to the Governor’s Office in Jamestown.

5. On the ‘Choose a service’ page, select ‘Standard service’ (you must not select any other service option). Other service options will not be available to you and will cause a significant delay to your application.

6. Check your answers, and then pay for your application if it is correct. You will not be able to change any of your answers after you have paid.

7. Do not continue to our commercial partner’s website to provide your documents and biometrics when you land on the ‘Further actions you must complete’ page. This will cause a significant delay to your application. You must instead follow the ‘Provide documents and biometric information’ section below to provide your documents and biometrics. You can still download your supporting documents checklist, download your application form and cancel your application and get a refund.

Pay your fee

You must pay for your visa online to complete your application.

If you are applying for a long-term visa (more than 6 months) you will need to to pay the immigration health surcharge (IHS) fee when you are applying and will be given a reference number for the payment.

Your application will not be complete if you have not paid your visa application fee.

Provide documents and biometric information

You can complete your online application and pay your visa fee. After you have completed your online application, you must phone the Governor’s Office, St Helena to arrange an appointment to provide your documents and biometrics (fingerprints and facial photograph) at the address below.

The Castle
Jamestown
STHL 1ZZ
St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Telephone: +290 22555 or +290 22308

On the day of your appointment, you will be required to provide your biometric data.

You will also need to:

• print out and bring the front page of your application form which is the declaration page that has your barcode on it
• bring your documents checklist
• bring a valid passport and your supporting documents

You can provide photocopies of your supporting documents, but you must bring your passport to your appointment.

Post your documents

Most people who make a successful application for a UK visit visa, and most other UK visa types, on or after 25 February 2026 will only receive an eVisa.

eVisas have already replaced vignette visa stickers for:

• main applicants and dependants applying for work, study and family visas, or for indefinite leave to enter (settlement) on any route, for applications made on or after 30 October 2025
• main applicants on work and study visas for applications made on or after 15 July 2025

Instead, you will need to create a UKVI account and get access to your eVisa before you travel to the UK.

You will be told whether you require a vignette during your appointment at the Governor’s Office.

If you do not require a vignette you will need to post: 

• the front page of your application form which has your barcode on it 

• your document checklist 

• photocopies of your supporting documents and a clear colour copy of your entire passport or travel document - this must include: 

  • the biographic page (with your photo) 

  • any observations page 

  • all pages containing visas or stamps

If you require a vignette you will need to post:

• the front page of your application form which has your barcode on it
• your document checklist
• your passport and photocopies of your supporting documents

Please copy the pages in order and make sure the copies are sharp and clear, so all text is easy to read.

You must post these to:

VFS Global,
UK Visa Application Centre,
The Podium at Menlyn 4th Floor,
43 Ingersol Road,
Lynnwood Glen,
Pretoria

The above address accepts both non-settlement and settlement applications.

Return shipping

If you require a vignette, you must provide a fully addressed prepaid electronic international shipping label and appropriate packaging from DHL so that we can return your passport to you. Put your return shipping label and envelope inside the package and keep a copy of the waybill for your records (this is the receipt the courier company will give you).

If you do not provide a shipping waybill and envelope with your application we are unable to return your passport to your address in St Helena, Ascension or Tristan da Cunha. You are advised to buy a waybill that can be tracked and we recommend you purchase insurance.

You do not need to provide an international shipping label if you do not require a vignette.

Contact us

For any enquiry you can contact our international contact service.

Make a complaint

Letters or emails about decisions to refuse a UK visa will not be treated as complaints. If you do not agree with the decision on your visa application, please use the existing appeals channels.

If you have a complaint about how your visa application has been handled, or the conduct of UK Visas and Immigration staff you should follow the complaints procedure.