The UK Standard Visitor Visa from India
Three weeks to a decision, one visa covering tourism, family and business — and a long-term option that most applicants misunderstand before they pay £1,128 for it.
One visa, several purposes
The UK merged its old visitor categories into a single Standard Visitor visa. The same visa covers a holiday, visiting family or friends, business meetings and conferences, private medical treatment, a short recreational course of up to 30 days, and certain permitted paid engagements.
It does not permit employment, claiming public funds, marrying or registering a civil partnership, or — importantly — living in the UK through repeated visits.
Every Standard Visitor visa allows a maximum of six months per visit, whatever its validity. A ten-year visa does not mean ten years in the UK; it means ten years of being able to come for up to six months at a time.
Fees for applicants in India, 2026
| Visa | GBP | Charged in India |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Visitor, up to 6 months | £135 | ₹18,060 |
| Long-term, 2 years | £506 | ₹67,693 |
| Long-term, 5 years | £903 | ₹120,805 |
| Long-term, 10 years | £1,128 | ₹150,905 |
The rupee column is not a currency conversion — it is the Home Office's own fixed rupee price for applicants in India, and it is what your card will be charged. It is revised periodically and sits a little above the mid-market conversion.
VFS Global service charges are separate and paid at the application centre. Optional extras — prime time slots, lounge access, courier return, form-filling assistance — are optional in the ordinary sense of the word. None of them influences the decision.
Is the long-term visa worth it?
Arithmetic first: two years costs roughly what four six-month visas would, five years roughly what seven would, ten years roughly what eight would. On price alone the long-term visas only pay for themselves if you genuinely travel often.
Two things are worth weighing beyond price. A long-term visa is cut short by your passport's expiry, so a ten-year visa in a passport with three years left is a three-year visa. And the caseworker must be satisfied you have a credible reason to visit repeatedly over that period — family in the UK, an ongoing business relationship, a pattern of past travel. Asking for ten years on a first application with no travel history invites the caseworker to doubt the whole file, not just the duration. A refusal costs you the entire fee.
Timing and the priority services
You may apply up to three months before you travel, and UKVI's standard service is a decision within three weeks of your biometrics appointment. In practice UK decisions from India have been among the more predictable of the major destinations.
Two paid upgrades exist in India: Priority, around ₹66,891, targeting five working days, and Super Priority, around ₹133,781, targeting the next working day. Both are added on top of the visa fee. They buy speed, not sympathy — a weak application decided in 24 hours is refused in 24 hours. If your file is complete and you have three weeks, the standard service is the correct choice.
You do not need a UK ETA. The Electronic Travel Authorisation is for nationalities that can travel to the UK without a visa. Indian passport holders need the Standard Visitor visa, and holding one means the ETA does not apply to you.
What you actually have to prove
The UK rules ask a caseworker to be satisfied of three things: that you are a genuine visitor who will leave at the end of your stay, that you will not make the UK your main home through frequent or successive visits, and that you can meet the cost of your trip without working or drawing on public funds.
Everything you submit is read against those three tests. A passport, photographs and the completed online form are the mechanics; the substance is bank statements covering six months, proof of employment with sanctioned leave or of a business with filed returns, income tax returns, your itinerary and accommodation, and — where someone else is paying or hosting you — their invitation, their status in the UK, and their finances.
The UK weighs a cover letter more usefully than most systems do, because the decision is made on paper by a caseworker you will never meet. There is normally no interview. A short, plain letter explaining who you are, why you are going, who is paying and when you are returning does real work, particularly where something in the file needs explaining — a career break, a large deposit, a previous refusal.
We publish a complete, current UK document checklist — every document in the order to assemble it, what each has to show, and a cover-letter structure that addresses the three tests directly. It is a ₹500 download, and included when we file on your behalf.
How the process runs
Apply online on the official GOV.UK service, pay the fee, then book a biometrics appointment at a VFS centre in India. Upload your documents — either yourself or at the centre — attend the appointment for fingerprints and a photograph, and hand over your passport. The decision follows, typically within three weeks, and the passport is returned with the visa vignette inside.
Two practical notes. Book the biometrics appointment early, because the three-week clock starts there rather than at payment. And upload documents as clean, correctly named PDFs or images — a caseworker who cannot read your bank statement treats it as absent.
Why UK visitor applications from India get refused
- Finances that do not support the stated trip, or funds that appeared without explanation
- A sponsor whose own position is unevidenced — an invitation without proof of status or income
- Weak evidence of return — no sanctioned leave, no business, nothing anchoring you here
- A pattern that reads as living in the UK — repeated six-month stays with short gaps
- Discrepancies between the form and the documents, including dates, addresses and employment
- Undisclosed immigration history — previous refusals, from the UK or elsewhere
- Deception, including documents that cannot be verified, which carries a long re-entry ban
A UK visitor refusal generally carries no right of appeal, only the option to reapply. The refusal letter does, however, set out the caseworker's reasoning in some detail — which makes a considered second application genuinely worth making, and an identical one worth nothing.
In closing
The UK is one of the more transparent systems to apply to: the fee is published, the timeline is reliable, and the tests you must meet are written down. Answer the three questions the rules actually ask — genuine visitor, not living here, can afford it — and answer them on paper, because nobody is going to ask you in person.
If you'd rather not do this alone
Our desk files UK Standard Visitor visas end to end — document review, the online application, the cover letter, the biometrics appointment and submission. We'll tell you honestly if your file looks thin, and whether the long-term visa is worth it in your case, before you spend the fee. If you only want the paperwork sorted, the UK document checklist is a ₹500 download.
This guide is for general information and is not immigration advice. Visa rules, fees and processing times change without notice. Always confirm current details on gov.uk before applying. No agent can guarantee a visa approval — the decision rests solely with the Home Office caseworker.