Embassies & consulates

Who decides UK visa applications

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is the part of the Home Office that makes decisions about who has the right to visit or stay in the UK. It processes applications across the different visa routes and issues the immigration permission. Your application is assessed by UKVI caseworkers, not by staff at an embassy or consulate.

You apply online, not at an embassy

The application itself is completed online on GOV.UK. You use the official service to check whether you need a visa, complete the application form, and pay the relevant fees. There is no step where you hand in a paper application over the counter at an embassy for a decision.

Before you can book an appointment at a visa application centre, you first have to apply for your visa online. The application comes first; the in-person appointment comes afterwards as part of proving your identity.

Where you give your biometrics

• As part of applying from outside the UK, you usually attend a visa application centre to prove your identity and give your biometric information.
• Biometrics means your fingerprints and a photograph.
• GOV.UK provides a directory of visa application centres by country so you can find opening times, addresses and contact details. Many centres are run by a commercial partner (VFS Global) rather than by the embassy itself.
• If your country does not have a centre, you may be able to choose one in a different country.
• People applying from inside the UK use a different service — UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) — instead of an overseas visa application centre.

What British embassies and consulates actually do

British embassies, high commissions and consulates provide consular services — for example, support for British nationals abroad. They are the UK government's diplomatic presence in another country. They are not the place where foreign nationals lodge or have visa applications decided, and turning up at an embassy will not get a visa application processed.

After you apply

Once you have applied online, paid, and attended your biometrics appointment, UKVI reviews your application and issues a decision. Modern UK immigration status is increasingly held digitally as an eVisa (an online record of your status) rather than as a physical document. Processing times vary by route, so check the official processing-time guidance for your specific visa before you travel or make plans.