New UK Visa Application Centre inaugurated in Manila

A new UK Visa Application Centre hopes to provide better services to customers.

Photo from UK Embassy in PH

Upgrading UK Visa application experience

On March 8, a new UK Visa Application Centre was launched in Manila. The event was led by Alistair White, British Deputy Ambassador to the Philippines, and was also attended by Julian Salisbury, Assurance and Integrity Manager for Asia Pacific, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), and Kaushik Ghosh, Head-Australasia, VFS Global.

The new facility is located on the 6th Floor of the Makati Circuit Corporate Tower Two. This aims to offer customers a more comfortable and relaxed visa application submission experience. It was also equipped with modern amenities and services to be able to process a higher volume of applications per day.

This new and improved visa application centre (VAC) located at the city center is easily accessible by public transportation, providing our customers with added convenience to ensure they have a smooth start to their journey to the UK, whether that’s to visit, work or study at one of our world-leading institutions, White said.

The envoy said that in 2023, the UKVI issued around 77,500 visas to Philippine nationals, up a 24 percent increase from 2022.

As always, we're excited to welcome more travellers this year, as the UK stands as a key travel destination for many in the Philippines, White said.

The facility is in a 3,300-square-foot area that features 10 submission counters with a capacity to process over 300 applications per day. There is also a “state-of-the-art” Premium Lounge as one of the optional services for UK visa customers.

This centre in Manila will play a crucial role in effectively catering to the growing demand for travel to the UK. We are confident that this new Visa Application Centre will enhance customer experience by making the visa application process even more smooth and seamless, thereby helping us better serve travellers to the UK better, Ghosh said.

Other services provided by the application center are Premium Lounge service for end-to-end personalized assistance throughout the application process, Prime Time Appointments to allow submission of visa applications beyond regular working hours, and the Keep My Passport service to allow applicants to retain their passports while their applications are being assessed, and only submit them once a visa decision has been reached.

On top of these, there is also the Courier Return service that facilitates delivery of the processed documents to the registered address, while SMS Notifications can help in giving updates at each step of the application journey.

UK visa customers can also apply for their visa from any preferred location–home or office–through the On Demand Mobile Visa (ODMV) service.

VFS Global operates UK Visa Application Centres across two cities in Philippines–Cebu and Manila. This new Visa Application Centre in Manila will cater to UK visa applicants including study, travel, business, and others.

VFS Global, which has been a partner of the UK Government since 2003, won the global contract for overseas UK visa and Citizenship services last year. As part of the contract, during 2024, VFS Global will deploy 240 Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres for the UK in 142 countries across Africa & Middle East, the Americas, Australasia & Europe, China & Taiwan, and Asia & Asia Pacific regions. These will accept all categories of visa applications as well as UK passport applications in some locations. Combined, these new centers are estimated to process 3.8 million applicants every year.

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