How to contact the – UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) -Home Office
UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration) used to be the UKBA (UK border Agency). But now they have been renamed as UKVI.
If you have any queries about visa applications (I do get quite a lot of questions about these!) then please read the below and contact accordingly. Just remember calling them either from the UK or abroad is going to cost a lot of money ! So try to Email them first unless your query is time critical or urgent (like travelling to the UK to receive medical treatment). Always try to use a Land Line to call them, because calling using a Mobile phone will cost a lot more!
Before you Call / Chat / Email
Have all the details (reference numbers like GWF, date of birth, credit/debit cards, ) ready before you call the UKVI. So that the call or the chat will be shorter and will hopefully cost you less!!!.
When should I contact them ?
If it has been more than 6 months since your submitted the application then You should Contact UKVI because the targeted processing time for all citizenship, naturalisation and nationality applications is within 6 months or about 24 weeks. But as I said earlier if your situation is critical then contact them immediately.
If you are inside the United Kingdom (UK)
There are 2 ways you can get in touch with the Citizenship and nationality enquiries
- Email = ukbanationalityenquiries@ukba.gsi.gov.uk
- Citizenship and nationality enquiries Telephone: 0300 123 2253 Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm, Friday, 9am to 4:30pm
(If you are calling from a landline the cost is 9p per minute, but if you are calling from a Mobile the cost can go up to 40p per minute !!! but still this is cheaper compared to the premium call rates, if you are calling form abroad.)
If you are outside the United Kingdom.
There are 3 ways you can contact.
You can Phone (Paid!, very expensive !!! This is the most expensive option!) or Email (Free) or Chat (Paid!) with the international enquiry service for Citizenship and nationality enquiries, for non specific questions about applying for a visa from abroad.
Contact options for UKVI for general information :
- Live webchat –https://ukvi-international.faq-help.com/ £4 -Yes There is a fee of £4 !!! for the live webchat
- Telephone –visit https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-outside-uk and select the country you are calling from. You will be given the option of calling a direct UK number or a local number in your country. This is a very expensive premium service with a cost of £1.37 UK Sterling per minute (on top of your standard charges from the telephone operator). You need a Credit or a Debit card for payment (MasterCard or Visa). You will be charged (premium fee) only once you are connected to an adviceser. Calls are recorder and monitored for “Training” purposes.
- Email = > visit https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-outside-uk Click on “Start Now”and select your country from the menu at the bottom. Then you will be given the option to Email. Use this to your advantage , because this is the only Free way to contact.
Can the contact centre staff speed up/ approve my application ?
Contact centre staff don’t have access to your personal information. They can’t give you advice about your personal circumstances. Also don’t expect the staff handling the calls to have any influence over your visa application. They simply do not play any part or role in the decision making process for visa! They are simply not involved in the decision making process. So they cannot influence you application in any way!
If you have any technical problems
like being unable to login, or crashing while booking, or payment issues then UKBAIG.ServiceIntegration@fco.gov.uk
As always double check before you submit, especially the numbers that you have entered (Like income, expenses, number of days of free treatment at NHS etc) because these are critical in the decision making process to offer you a visa. So take you own time and check at least 3 times, before you make the final submission. Also keep in mind that once you submit the application, you will not be allowed to provide additional supporting material if they are not listed/include in your original application. So the decision is made based purely (ONLY) on the evidence that you submit with your original application! Here is a more detailed article full of information about Visa4uk
As always get in touch with us, by leaving a comment, Emailing (james@lifeuk.info) or via Skype (JamesHall.uk) if you need any free help or advice. We are here to help.
James Hall