Misty Albion is perhaps one of the most attractive areas of modern Europe. But everyone knows that visiting the British Isles is not so easy. The procedure for obtaining a visa is quite complicated, because England has begun the process of leaving the European Union. Despite this, an independent visa application is available to every resident of the Russian Federation. Of course, there are failures, but be afraid of the wolf - do not go to the forest.
The most important thing in submitting documents is strict observance of the entire procedure and direct adherence to the rules of the host country.
UK visa regime
When searching for information on how to get a visa to England yourself, you always need to remember that there is no separate visa to this part of the country. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland have a single entry visa. But this news is unlikely to upset the traveler.
Therefore, to visit the London theater performance, and then go to conquer the Shetland Islands or walk through the green fields of Irish land, it is enough to apply for a visa to England, and you can go explore the island territory. This unity applies not only to tourist visas, but also to all other official documents confirming the legal stay of a Russian in the kingdom.
For example, if a person needs to enter England for a business purpose, then a general British business visa will be issued. In case of admission to Cardiff University (Wales), the student visa will also be British. There is a single visa regime in the kingdom.
The only sad thing is the payment. Regardless of whether a visit to Scotland is included in the plans of the tourist, he must pay a "full set." And how much does a visa to England cost, it will be said below, since prices vary from the term of the visa being issued.
Important filing information
Before you start collecting documents, you need to understand that obtaining a visa to England for Russians is a complex process. In particular, this is due to the peculiarities of the approval of the document itself, which allows crossing the border of the kingdom.
What important points do you need to consider when applying for a visa to England yourself? There are four of them:
- Firstly, the tourist should be prepared for the fact that unreasonable refusal will follow. In general, the United Kingdom is in first place in the list of registration difficulties (failures of at least ten percent).
- Submission of documents is carried out in several steps. The main ones are: accurate and correct filling of a very large questionnaire, as well as the collection of a huge number of necessary documents. Most of them can be obtained by having personal contacts in the UK. It can be friends, relatives, employer, and so on.
- Before submitting documents, you need to accurately and clearly determine which visa is needed in England. Because the list of required securities varies significantly depending on its type.
- And most importantly, absolutely all the documents submitted for applying for a visa to England will be checked very carefully, regardless of the purpose of the trip voiced by the tourist (whether it’s a concert of your favorite group or a trip by car on the roads of the country).
Very often people ask the question: “Is a Schengen visa valid in England?” Hoping to cheat. They think they can go straight away, for example, from Italy to look at the famous waters of the Thames. But do not be mistaken, because the answer here is one - negative. For the Russians, a visa to England works in the same manner. That is, it is impossible to visit the countries of the European Union. Therefore, if there is a desire to ride in the Old World in full, you will need to apply for a Schengen visa.
Despite this complexity, the final positive result will pleasantly surprise the applicant. After all, Britain is practically the only country providing a long visa period. Sometimes you can get a visa for a period of ten years! Agree, a very tempting bonus, given how much a visa to England costs, even an ordinary tourist one. Such a pleasant surprise will cover all expenses.
Well, the already mentioned big plus is the ability to stay throughout the United Kingdom.
Step-by-step design
Now we need to figure out step by step how to get a visa to England. In accordance with the UK visa law:
- First of all, you need to determine for yourself the purpose and type of the visa for which the request will be submitted.
- Secondly, fill out an online application form, pay a consular fee on the official website of the kingdom’s representative office.
- Prepare all the necessary documents.
- Submit the requested package of papers to the visa center.
- Provide the necessary biometric data (for example, fingerprints). If the request is submitted for a child under five years of age, then such a procedure is not required, but the mandatory photograph is not canceled.
- The last point is waiting for a decision. Sometimes employees of the UK representative office in the Russian Federation schedule an additional interview, even if a decision has already been made.
Tourist Visa
Like any other country, the UK offers a choice of several types of visas, however, they still have their own subspecies, divided by intention to enter. The most common request is for a General Visitor. This tourist visa to England has the least pitfalls at registration.
In order to be sure that you can apply for it, the applicant must have exclusively tourist goals (Tourist Visitor). For the same type of visa, a citizen of the Russian Federation has the right to visit his friends or relatives (Family Visitor).
Most often, the first visa is issued to a Russian citizen for six months, but with the possibility of multiple visits to the state. A person can remain for six months in the foggy Albion without a break, this will not be a violation. The second time, by submitting documents, you can ask for an annual one, and then a visa can be issued for two years, then for five, the end result can be a ten-year tourist visa. The only caveat: a tourist trip should not exceed six months, this is the maximum period of stay in one visit to the country.
To achieve such brilliant results on the issuance of a long-term visa, it is necessary from the very beginning of the submission of documents for the first of them to comply unconditionally with all the required rules. For example, it is forbidden during a tourist visit to marry a citizen of the United Kingdom, enter a higher educational institution, try to officially find a job, and even undergo treatment. Such pedantry is associated with a clear division of visas according to their purpose.
How much is the pleasure
And the most important financial information, how much does a visa to England cost for a tourist trip:
- For six months - 89 pounds (at the current rate of 7,100 rubles.).
- For a year - 89 pounds (7,100 rubles).
- For two years - 337 pounds (26,900 rubles.).
- For five years - 612 pounds (48,850 rubles).
- For ten years - 767 pounds (61,200 rubles).
Payment of the consular fee is an irreversible process, that is, it is irrevocable, regardless of the decision to issue a visa.
Documents required for a tourist visa
To obtain the right to travel, a tourist needs to collect a lot of documents. You need to contact the specialized visa centers in the UK.
What documents will be needed:
- A completed application form in an online format on the official website. Filling out a visa application form for England should be exclusively in English, but for those who do not know it well, it is possible to peek into the translation of questions. This option can be obtained by translating the site’s language into Russian, then all sentences in English will be duplicated in the native language of the placeholder. It is immediately necessary to pay for the consular fee, and print the received electronic check and subsequently attach it to the rest of the documents.
- In the case of a visa for children (up to five years), two color photographs of the child (3.5 x 4.5 cm) taken over the past six months will be required.
- A passport with a validity period of at least six months at the time of application.
- Copies of pages of a foreign passport where there is any information.
- Previous foreign passports.
- Printed hotel room reservation or other accommodation options with official evidence.
- Paid round-trip tickets and a designed travel route. Tickets for a concert, a theater, or any other event can serve as evidence and a route.
- A special letter from the place of official work, a big plus will be the provision of a document that confirms payroll - 2 personal income tax.
- If the applicant’s salary is below the amount of fifty thousand rubles, he must provide a sponsorship letter written by an individual (any relative) or legal entity (employer). In this case, evidence of the financial stability of the sponsor is attached: a certificate of his salary, with a specified minimum salary of fifty thousand rubles, a bank statement that indicates the balance (at least seventy thousand rubles), and for individuals, a personal income tax certificate 2. Also requested is the reason for providing financial assistance, the total amount of financial support and the bank details of the organization, if the guarantor is a legal entity.
- Information from a bank account (the balance should not be lower than seventy thousand rubles).
- Copies of the main securities for the possession of movable and immovable property.
- Copy of marriage certificate (if you have a spouse).
- Consent to the processing of personal data of the applicant.
- A printed document stating the time and date of application for a visa.
Additional documents for certain categories of persons
Now you should not be surprised at how much a visa to England costs, because that's not all. The following documents are categorized by requesters:
- For friends and citizens who have family relations with residents of the UK, you must additionally provide an invitation in writing, a copy of the host’s identity card (passport, proof of permanent residence, certificate of naturalization, a UK visa and a copy of the passport page containing personal information with photograph), a document on the financial condition of the host party, a document confirming family ties, if the visit has this purpose.
- For private businessmen, it is necessary to enclose in the general package of documents a copy of the paper on registration of his business, a copy confirming registration with the tax authorities, copies of all tax returns, a personal IP form with information about self-employment.
- For pensioners, you need a copy of the pension certificate, a letter from the sponsor and his documents on material status (if the trip is paid by an outside party).
- Preschool children. A copy of the birth certificate, a letter from the sponsor, accompanied by documents on its financial situation and supplemented by an extract from the parent's bank account. If the child travels unaccompanied either with third parties or with one of the parents, then a notarized consent to export is required. In the case of a single parent, an appropriate document must be provided.
- For schoolchildren and students, the main list of papers is supplemented by a copy of the birth certificate or a copy of the passport, a certificate from the educational institution, any language course certificates, student ID card, a letter from the sponsor with his financial statements and a statement from the parent's bank account, as well as the original and a copy of the exit consent if the child has not reached the age of majority.
Do you think this is the end? Not. Additional information on the preparation of a package of documents states that all Russian-language documents must be translated into English or Welsh by a special translator. All extracts and certificates in Russian and English (or Welsh) must have copies, notarization is not required. If the applicant has perfect knowledge of one of the listed foreign languages, he can do the translations himself, indicating this on each of them.
All documents are then examined in a scanned form, so it is better to immediately make copies in color. Most often, waiting for a decision takes from a week to twenty days.
But there is the possibility of express petition. This is called an urgent visa to England, a decision on it is made for a minimum period: up to five days. Such an option would cost the applicant an additional one hundred pounds (almost 8,000 rubles), and the document drawn up would be valid only for a year or six months. True, an urgent order applies only to those who have a good visa history. Tourists with a blank passport or who have been denied visas to First World countries are usually also denied a British visa.
Where to go?
Documents for applying for a visa to the United Kingdom are accepted at visa centers in the UK. Such offices are available in several Russian cities and are called TLScontact.
They are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg. Submission of a package of documents is carried out by appointment, which is carried out on the official website of the visa center. All paper work must begin about three months before the start of your voyage.
Of course, there are other visa centers ready to receive the applicant. You can also apply for a visa through an accredited travel agency. But all final decisions are made by diplomatic missions, so no one can give a 100% guarantee.
Transit
Of the other types of visas, transit visa obtained in case of a flight through British lands is of interest. But if a tourist stays in the kingdom for less than a day, has tickets to his final destination, and also does not need to cross the British border in order to get his luggage, then you can not issue a visa. In all other cases, it is required.
A transit visa is issued for forty-eight hours, and at a cost it is slightly lower than six months (70 British pounds or 5600 rubles). Opening it is as difficult as the usual one.
Other types of visas
In addition to the popular tourist and guest, there are also such:
- Business. The design principles are similar to General Visitor, but instead of an invitation from a relative or friend, a letter is attached from a business partner (there are many options). The applicant also provides evidence of a partnership with a British national.
- Work visas are divided into several types. TIER 2 is popular. It is issued to employees who have confirmed their qualifications and received an official invitation for employment in a British company. The main documents for the petition are: a work permit issued by the British Directorate of Immigration, and a signed labor contract that has all the details of providing a job to the applicant.
- Visa for study (TIER 4). Here you need the fact of confirmation of admission to the educational institution, a certificate of financial stability (to pay for tuition and accommodation). You will also need to pass a special exam to determine your level of English.
- The visa of the bride or groom is issued for obvious reasons. There is a very meticulous process of providing evidence of love for the kingdom filed. Checks will be conducted for fictitious relationships. After registration of the marriage (within six months after entry), the newlyweds must submit documents for a visa for the spouse.
Another equally important check is carried out for tuberculosis, if it is intended to obtain a visa for a period of more than six months. Help is attached to the rest of the documents. In general, the registration of any British visa is quite complicated.