New Short Term Travel Vignette Introduced

From March 2015 Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) will be required by non-EEA nationals who apply for visas of more than six month duration from outside of the UK. This new requirement will be rolled out in stages, country by country, over a period of 4 months.

How will the visa process change in practical terms?

The process will remain mainly unchanged (and the visa fee will not be increased as a result of this change), except that the visa vignette endorsed in the passport will only be valid for 30 days instead of the full duration of the applicant’s leave.

The visa will be referred to as a Temporary Travel Vignette ( Sticker). The short term visa takes the same form as the old Entry Clearance Visa or vignette, the difference being validity period of just 30 days.

The successful applicants will be notified to travel to the UK within the validity of their ‘travel’ vignette and collect their BRP from a designated Post Office branch within 10 days of their arrival in the UK.

When completing their applications, visa applicants will need to pay particular attention to their intended date of travel since the ‘travel’ vignette will be issued in accordance with their anticipated date of arrival in the UK.

They will also need to be careful when providing a UK address and postcode as the UKVI will rely on this information to determine which of the branches of the Post Office their BRP should be sent to to be collected.

Potential problems

If the applicant does not travel to the UK within the 30 day validity of the ‘travel’ vignette a new application for a replacement short-term visa will have to be made. Details on the process for obtaining a replacement of the ‘travel’ vignette,  such as costs or whether the applicants will have to re-enrol their biometrics are yet to be published by the Home Office.