The British Embassy in Yangon has transferred its task of handling visa applications to an Indian outsourcing firm VFS Global, which will handle the process from a new Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Yangon.
The British Embassy said in a statement that the new visa application centre, which started operations on June 15, will make it quicker and easier for visa applicants in Myanmar to apply for their UK visas.
With the move, visa applications will no longer be accepted at the British Embassy.
The new visa application centre is located on Shwe Dagon Pagoda road in Dagon township. It will be open 8:30am to 3:30pm, Monday to Friday for applications and 8:30-4:30 for the collection of documents
Applicants will also be able to keep up with the status of their visa application through an SMS service, available for $2 on top of the cost of the visa application
There will be no changes to the visa process for applicants, who will continue to apply for their visa and book their visa appointment via the visa4uk website. However, there will be an extra charge to use this user-pay VAC which is $92 on top of the cost of the visa.
Both the visa fee and the user-pay VAC charge will need to be paid in US Dollars when the applicant submits their application at the VAC.
However, visa applications will continue to be processed and decided by UK Visas and Immigration staff. The British Embassy said VFS Global will not, play any part in or influence the outcome of a visa application.
Andrew Patrick, the British Ambassador to Myanmar, “This new visa application centre will make it more convenient for Burmese applicants to apply for their UK visa.
“VFS Global successfully manage UK visa application centres all over the world, and we expect that through having this dedicated facility we will soon be able to deliver more services to our customers.”
