5 steps to get a UK visa on your own

Step 1. Preparation of a package of documents

There is no strict list of documents today. Submit to the visa center those that you consider necessary.

Based on our experience in obtaining visas, we have prepared documents confirming financial security, family ties, air tickets and hotel reservations.

Photos were not taken. Firstly, it is not required now, and secondly, if required, all visa centers have a photo booth. It turned out that the photo is not needed.

As a result, our package of documents looked like this:

• Copies all pages valid international passports
• Certificate from the place of work - a copy (Andrey has) / Sponsorship letter - the original with a signature (I did not work for me at the time of applying for a visa)
• 2-NDFL - copy (Andrey has)
• Bank statement for the last six months - a copy (how much money is in the account, their movement). I have submitted my credit card statement. Passed...
• Marriage certificate - a copy (together with a sponsorship letter, it looked organic)
• Birth certificate of the son - a copy (in the questionnaire they indicated that we were going to him)
• Certificate of ownership of an apartment in Moscow - a copy (we show that we are not going to emigrate)
• Air tickets for travel dates - printout from the Internet
• Hotel reservation for the trip - printout from the Internet

All documents, except for the first and the last two, must be translated into English. Translation can be free, notarization is not required. Translation templates for some documents are in the article just below.

Step 2. Filling out the application form, paying for the visa and registering at the visa center

Filling out the questionnaire online

Before you start filling out the questionnaire, it will be convenient to open information about the hotel being booked on your computer, prepare a document on the change of surname (if any, a date will be needed). It is necessary to remember which educational institution they graduated from, there will be questions of such a plan.

It is most convenient to use the service visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/home/welcome (over the past 4 years, a visa has been issued 3 times). Intuitive interface, you can choose the Russian language for prompting questionnaire questions. Do not forget to periodically save the information. Despite the fact that we have already used this service, the data is not saved, it disappears after two weeks of inactivity, so we register again every time.
Go!

Page 1. Passport data and personal data.

Here is just a question about different old surnames. We are not embarrassed. We fill. If the reason for changing the surname is marriage, then even more so, because then there will be questions about the parents and their surnames.

Page 2. Personal details and travel history. Here, get ready to enter information about your travels for the last 10 years. To the countries of the United Kingdom, to the countries of the European Union and in general around the world.

Page 3. Family details. Questions about parents - you need to enter their last names, first names, patronymics, places of birth and dates of birth. And no one is interested in whether they are alive.

Page 4. Questions about work and income. To the question "Do you have private property?" it is better to answer no if it does not bring you income, if you do not rent it out, but live in it yourself.

Page 5. Relatives in England. Write as is. If not, then no. If there is, it is better to put documents confirming family ties in the package of documents to be submitted.

Pages 6 and 7. Medical and other information. In the medical they wrote that we were not going to be treated during the trip. In the "other" - that we want to travel, see the sights.

After filling out the questionnaire, it is possible to edit it if necessary. Then you need to sign the questionnaire and wait until the file is generated.

If it has already become scary just from filling out the questionnaire, and a visa to Britain seemed an unattainable dream, you can always turn to the help of professionals - specialized agencies. For example, to the British visa agency VISA4UK.

For the brave and not afraid of difficulties, we continue.

Registration at the Visa Application Center

Here you just need to carefully follow the proposed actions. Select the location of the Visa Application Center, the date and time of the visit. Visiting times are given in half-hour intervals.

Visa payment

I warn you right away, the cost of a visa is not encouraging. The prices at the moment are:

A Standard Visitor visa costs £89. The fee for a long-term visit visa depends on its length:

• 2 years - £337
• 5 years - £612
• 10 years - £767

It is clear that we have issued a visa for six months. In terms of dollars, the cost was $ 122.

The payment process is familiar and simple.

That's all. Now you need to print out the application form and the documents that you are going to submit to the Visa Application Center. You can do this later by logging in and using the menu on the right.

For your convenience, we have provided translations of some documents to the website. You can download them fill in your details.

• by bank card account

Step 3. Registration on the website of the Visa Application Center

It's better to do it right away.
We did not. I had to waste time in the Visa Application Center itself, squirming at a special terminal and skipping the line.

1. On this page, you must enter your email address and password. You will receive confirmation of registration.
2. From there you will need to print confirmation of the appointed time to visit the Visa Application Center.
3. There it will also be necessary to monitor the fact of the readiness of documents.

Healthy. And, as it turned out, it is necessary. It is necessary, upon coming to the Visa Application Center to submit documents, to show the invitation to security for this date/time.

Step 4. Visiting the Visa Application Centre. Submission of documents

You can arrive a little early, or you can arrive right on time. I suspect some are even late. The guard asks, before starting the next batch, "is anyone late?"

Having waited for our turn to enter, we present the notorious invitation and a questionnaire to the guards. They check. Let's go.

The next frontier is checking the GWF number. This is where we got stuck, skipping "step 3". I had to go to the terminal and register.

After we were allowed into the holy of holies - the waiting room - it remains to wait for our number, entered in the electronic queue, on the monitor screen.

It took no more than 10 minutes to wait. We pass into the booth indicated on the monitor.
An employee of the Visa Center forms a package of documents according to his internal rules. Scans. Returns everything except the first sheet of the questionnaire. When scanning, a checklist is generated. Gives him away too.
We return to the waiting room. Now we are waiting in line for biometrics.

Not even 5 minutes have passed. They called. And everything would have ended quickly if there hadn't been an error in my application form - I missed a number in my passport number!!! The correction took time, but this is not critical - the documents were accepted.

If the error had not been discovered, it would have been very bad - the visa would have been slapped with an error, and at the airport I would have probably been turned up at the border control.

If there is no error, the biometrics procedure is extremely simple:

• There is an identification of the subject - in the camera you need to say your last name, first name, patronymic, date of birth.
• Attach 4 fingers of the right hand, 4 fingers of the left hand, both thumbs at the same time to the scanner.
• Take a picture while looking at the camera.
• Sign on the tablet.

Taking into account our two "jambs" - the lack of preliminary registration at the Visa Application Center and the mistake made when filling out the questionnaire - the time of our stay there was 50 minutes. I think it's a good indicator. All employees are kind and friendly.
It remains to wait for the result. By law, the processing time for an application is 15 business days.

In fact, having submitted the documents on 17.11, we received passports with visas on 01.12. Exactly 2 weeks. Or 10 business days. It is noteworthy that the visa date is 11.29.

Step 5. Obtaining passports with visas

For us, it was nothing special. The letter informing about the readiness of the documents that came from the Visa Application Center indicated what to take with me.

I went with two Russian passports, copies of the first pages of passports and a marriage certificate. Received. He is looking for documents for different names in different boxes))) I checked it especially carefully, because my profile was with an error. That's all. You can gather.

But someone will remember the receipt of documents as an unpleasant moment. If you did not pay attention to the obligatory presence of a copy of a Russian passport, keep in mind that there is a copier there, but it accepts banknotes up to 100 rubles. and a copy of one page will cost 80 rubles.
The frustrated girl was confusedly holding five hundred in her hand ...

Visa to England on your own. Summary

As they say, the devil is not so terrible as he is painted.

When I described my first trip on Otzovik, sharing my impressions of a trip to London in 2013, I repeatedly had to convince readers in the comments that everything was not so scary. If you're going to go, go. After all, if there is a desire, it will certainly come true.

What to keep in mind.

• Show that you are well off here too. You are traveling solely for the purpose of tourism and "you do not need the Turkish coast." That is, certificates from the place of work, bank statements, documents confirming the ownership of movable and immovable property.
• Show that you are responsible and prudent. Round-trip tickets have been bought, the hotel has been booked, medical insurance has been issued for the period of the trip.

Do you know what's fun? Compared to how documents were submitted in 2014, now it’s just a fairy tale - there are no strict requirements, what you think is necessary, then you provide - there are no minimums or restrictions. But the girl accepting documents at the Visa Application Center did not hide the fact that a more voluminous package of documents makes it easier and faster to make a decision. The same availability of medical insurance (pay attention to the banner of Ingosstrakh on the left of the site and buy a policy at a discount :)) ... "More paper - cleaner ass." As usual.

Easy visas for you and pleasant travels!