Apply for a UK visa in St Helena
Updated 25 August 2022
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In line with official guidance in response to coronavirus (COVID-19), a number of UK visa application centres in St Helena are closed until further notice. For the latest information and to find out if your visa processing centre is affected, contact the Governor’s office.
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:
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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.
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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.
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Continue with your application as normal.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Collecting your passport and other documents
After you have provided your biometrics and documents at the Governor’s office, you will be responsible for sending your documents and passport to the United Kingdom Visas and Immigration (UKVI) office in South Africa, where a decision will be made on your application. The Governor’s Office will advise how you can do this.
Your passport will not be available to you, during the visa application process.
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.