The Visas and Immigration Department of the UK (UKVI) is proposing to launch a latest preferred agency program in India as early as March 2016, with the objective to ease and simplify the process of visa applications for travel agents and their customers. The UK immigration Minister, James Brokenshire believes that the latest scheme would allow the UKVI to work more closely with the legitimate agents who would be responsible for verifying the visa applications.
The UKVI is piloting the scheme with about 50 Indian travel agents in an effort to test the scheme and is also exploring steps to include more agents. It will impart training to the agents so that they can verify the applicants and ensure that the applications being submitted are genuine, thereby ensuring that the overall process is simple and transparent. The qualified and trained travel agents would be provided a designated contact at the UKVI for facilitating the visa processes. UKVI is estimating that a third of the visa applications submitted in India will benefit from the preferred scheme in the near future.
Mr. Brokenshire is said to have quoted, "The new scheme will allow UKVI to work more closelywith trusted agents who will be accountable for the applications they verify. We will train agentsso that they can verify applicants on UKVI's part and ensure the applications they are submittingare genuine. This will ensure the process is clear, competitive and straightforward".
The UK Minister has also confirmed that UKVI is extending the same-day service and the super-priority service for work and student visas as well as first time visitors. This would lead tospeedy decisions on these visa applications, in effect, making the process more efficient and lesstime consuming. Additionally, it has been suggested that a new Visa Application Centre shouldbe opened in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
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