Verified against official sources — 30 Oct 2026

How to Apply for a UK Visitor Visa Online: Steps, the Visa Centre Appointment and Decision Times

NEW Published 30 October 2026

Illustration of a traveller completing an online form on a laptop with a passport beside it

Apply up to 3 months before you travel, prove your identity at a visa application centre, and usually hear within 3 weeks — the process as GOV.UK publishes it.

The visitor application is an online form, a fee, and one appointment. There is no interview stage in the standard process and no paper route for visa nationals. This guide follows GOV.UK's published sequence exactly — including the family rules, what happens to your passport at the appointment, and what a successful decision actually gives you (an eVisa, not a sticker).

Quick answer

Apply online before you travel — the earliest is 3 months before your trip. The standard visa costs £135 (long-term and special-purpose fees are in the complete guide). You then attend a visa application centre appointment to prove your identity with your passport and give fingerprints and a photograph; you get your passport back the same day. GOV.UK says you will usually get a decision within 3 weeks, sent by email. If approved, you receive an eVisa to access through a UKVI account. Every family member applies, pays and attends separately, though you can apply on behalf of a partner or child who cannot apply for themselves.

SECTION 01The process, step by step

RULE — Step 1: Check you need a visa. Use GOV.UK's official checker for your nationality before starting; some visitors need an ETA instead, and some need neither.
RULE — Step 2: Complete the online form. The specified form is "Apply for a UK visit visa" on GOV.UK (Appendix V, V 2.1). You can save the form and complete it later, and sign back in to continue. The form asks for your travel dates, where you will stay, your estimated trip cost, home address, parents' details, income and any offences, plus the circumstance information in our documents checklist.
RULE — Step 3: Pay the fee. £135 for the standard visa; no health surcharge is payable for a visitor visa.
RULE — Step 4: Book and attend your visa application centre appointment. Allow time to attend — GOV.UK warns the centre could be in another country. At the appointment you prove your identity with your passport or travel document, have fingerprints and a photo taken, and provide the documents that show you are eligible.
RULE — Step 5: Wait for the email decision. Once you have applied online, proved your identity and provided your documents, you will usually get a decision within 3 weeks. GOV.UK notes you can check whether you can pay to get a decision faster — it publishes no price for this on the visitor pages, so treat any third-party "priority fee" figure with caution.

SECTION 02Applying with family

RULE — Each person has their own application and pays the fee; each attends their own appointment at the visa application centre.
RULE — You can apply on behalf of your partner and child if they cannot apply for themselves.
RULE — Children travelling with an adult must identify them in the application (up to 2 adults; their names appear on the child's visa).
RULE — Right of abode warning. Your application will not be accepted and you will not get a refund if you have the right of abode in the UK (for example, you are a British citizen) — you need a certificate of entitlement instead.

SECTION 03Your passport and documents at the appointment

RULE — Passport back the same day. You will get your passport or travel document back on the day of the appointment.
RULE — Other documents may be kept by the visa application centre while your application is processed; you will be told what they need when you apply.
RULE — Certified translations are required for documents not in English or Welsh.

SECTION 04The decision — and what success looks like now

RULE — The decision comes by email, explaining what you need to do next.
RULE — Success means an eVisa. You will get an eVisa — a digital record of your identity and immigration status. To access it: create a UKVI account, confirm your identity, and link the account to your eVisa. GOV.UK says you can usually access it straight away once linked, but it can take up to 24 hours.
RULE — Multiple entry within validity. The Rules (V 1.2) provide for multiple entries within the visa's validity unless it is endorsed single or dual entry; each stay is capped at the permitted length (usually 6 months).
RULE — Changing or cancelling. If you need to change something after sending, contact UKVI. You can ask to cancel your application; the fee is refunded only if the application has not been processed yet.

How early can I apply?

Three months before you travel is the earliest. Applying earlier is not possible; applying later compresses the usual 3-week decision time against your travel date.

Is there an interview?

Not as a standard stage. The process is the online form, the fee, and the visa application centre appointment for identity and biometrics. (GOV.UK's extension pages mention interviews in complex in-UK cases; the entry application process it publishes has no routine interview.)

Can I get a faster decision?

GOV.UK says you can check if you can get your visa decision faster when you apply. It publishes no visitor priority price on its Standard Visitor pages, so the figure — if one is offered — is the one shown in your application, not one quoted elsewhere.

Will I get a visa sticker in my passport?

GOV.UK's current process gives successful applicants an eVisa — a digital status accessed through a UKVI account — rather than describing a vignette. Set the account up and link it before you travel, and travel with the passport linked to it.

Editorial note: This guide deliberately avoids the step-by-step form screenshots and field-by-field walkthroughs other sites publish, because GOV.UK does not publish the form's internals and they change without notice. What is stated here is the process GOV.UK itself describes, checked on the date above.

Official references and verification status

Every step, fee and timing in this guide was checked against GOV.UK's Standard Visitor application pages and Appendix V on 30 October 2026. Decision times are GOV.UK's "usually" figures, not guarantees; complex applications can take longer, and GOV.UK says you will be contacted if yours will.

If a detail here ever disagrees with GOV.UK, GOV.UK is right — and please tell us via the Contact page so we can correct the guide.

General information only. This guide is based on official sources publicly available and checked on the date shown on this page. Visa rules change, and consular and USCIS officers decide every case on its own facts — nothing here is a confirmation or a guarantee for your individual case, and this is not legal advice. Always confirm the current requirement on the official page linked in this guide before you act, and consider a qualified immigration attorney for your specific situation.