Understanding the Current UK Visa Application System

By Fidelis Nwagbara 

IMMIGRATION

Over the years, the UK visa application at the UK embassy in Nigeria (and elsewhere) was generalised. Applicants were to complete a uniformed document of application distinguished only by varied questions. In other words, same pattern of form was served to various applicants ranging from tourists to business or students who were seeking permission to enter the UK, the only distinguishing factor being the choice of answers provided, backed by relevant documentary evidence, as the reason for application (Tourism/vacation)

People had capitalised on the loopholes of the old tradition to always apply for tourist/holiday visas even when applicant was going for either a business meeting or training course. This action was propelled then by the difficulty in generating or procuring relevant back-up documents to facilitate business/conference visa processing, as may be required by the Embassy. The delays might cause either postponement or outright cancellation of a scheduled trip. For example, one going for medical treatment is required to produce correspondents between different medical doctors of different sanatorium (here and abroad), with clear and precis detail of ailments, vis-a-vis some other details.

The present system is now a complete detour from the old order. Application forms are systematically structured to suite the exact area of interest. For instance, one going for HOLIDAYS/TOURISM may have to specify if he or she is going to visit family or friends, or staying in a hotel. Though both require tourist visas, the applicants would complete different forms. So also are those going for sponsored training course and the one who is pursuing university education. Both of them have different forms to complete, even though both trips are academic oriented. Failure to complete the required form accentuates lack of understanding of what one is traveling for and is enough to earn one a refusal.

The underlying current here is to capture the whole essence of one's intended peregrination in order to determine on the "Balance of Probabilities" if the applicant merits the visa so requested for. The conditions are rather stifled to regulate the entry and stay of foreign people in the UK; hence they have laid so much emphasis on the onus to prove means of support on the applicant. It is becoming germane for visa applicants, particularly people of African decent, to procure Travel Medical Insurance prior to the submission of their applications or the Bio-metrics as no country, particularly the UK, wants to shoulder the medical responsibilities of foreign people. The overall intention is to checkmate the influx of foreign nationals, particularly of poorer (African) nations who are presumed to be running from the unfortunate economic realities of their countries occasioned by leadership ineptitude.

The present agency styled application submission system does not permit an applicant to have a face-to-face interaction hence decisions are based on the strength of information supplied on the questionnaire (visa application forms). Some people would fall to the temptation of evading some questions, arguing that such questions are irrelevant, particularly those going for renewal. Such actions may have a ricocheting implication since one is not usually there when decisions are taken. As much as possible, one should strive to divulge even the most intimate information if need be, as failure to be honest with the answer is tantamount to risking refusal, causing indelible marks that are usually difficult if not well-nigh impossible to expunge. In fact, the implication is better imagined.

The essence of this treatise is to educate people, particularly applicants for renewal. Sometime in the recent past, what was required to get a UK visa renewed was a completed application form, passport pictures and current international passport. This is where those who have had previous visas in the past are getting it wrong and therefore collapse into the valley of complacency as a consequence of their obduracy or refusal to heed wise counsel. Questions like "this is renewal now I am supposed to send statement of account again" keep reverberating. Presently, renewal is done as if one is applying for the first time. Failure to include just one of the required documents may spoil the day for an applicant. The trend of events now is a pointer to the fact of renewal aberration. It is mandatory therefore for people to begin their applications well ahead of time to forstall incidence of postponement of a schedulled trip, particularly as application takes between seven and twenty one days from date of submission as the case may be to be out.

I must say here without prejudice that the bitter experience of refusal is the greatest challenge that has bereft protocol officers. The predilection of an Embassy visa officer is usually kindled by the sight of a refusal stamp on the international passport and the tendency for recurring denial becomes rife, particularly as one is not usually there to explain the circumstances of the previous denial. Until the basic issue leading to the denial/ refusal is surmounted, expunged and rectified by the same Embassy, the applicant is prone to such treatments by other Embassies, hence efforts should be made at all times to feed them with what they want, as changing embassies would never bring the desired solution.

Nwagbara is of the Protocol Dept., (Visa Matters), UK Embassy, Nigeria

SOURCE: Punch