New UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services centres open

From today (Friday 2 November), people applying for work or study visas, settlement or citizenship from within the UK will be able to make appointments to use new, modernised and efficient service centres.

The first centre will open in Manchester on Friday 9 November 2018 and will be followed by new centres in Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast and Croydon. In addition, there will be 50 enhanced service centres nationally, which will be available to customers for a charge, and a premium lounge located in London.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-uk-visa-and-citizenship-application-services-centres-open

Futher info about UKVCAS:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ukvis-new-front-end-services-what-you-need-to-know

HaloHalo. Thank you for the information.
We are about to apply online for FLR(2) and then using a Premium Service facility.
What are the contact details of the new Manchester centre?
Regards
Terence Roberts.

These two links may help, I guess you will get the contact details as you go through the application
The first link is the providers website (Sopra Steria)


https://www.freemovement.org.uk/new-visa-application-system-november-2018/

the second link a walk through off the providers website

https://www.freemovement.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/18.11.02-FES-External-Stakeholderpack.pdf

Well they're certainly coining in enough cash now to actually start providing a proper 'service'.

Maybe the offices will be as comfy as those provided for idle gits who prefer to breed rather than go to work.

Looks like I will be visiting Service and Support Centre (SSC) Belfast next year.

Its about time

When is this happening as I don't see anything updated on the Citizenship application pages of the Gov.uk site

I'm not sure how worthwhile this is, really. All it saves you, it seems, is a trip to the Post Office to do biometrics. But counter that against a trip to sunny Croydon and I'd take the Post Office hands down.

Local authorities already do a system where you can pay them to copy your documents in order not to have to send them off (if you really think it's worth paying for that privilege).

It saves the biometrics and you can take all your documents back with you after the visit. The only cost is travelling there. For us It would save a journey to Liverpool to do the Biometrics. We are going Pinas in late Feb so it would have suited to do this prior to that.

I’ll keep checking but the big fanfare with an actual roll-out would have been nice

There is already a Nationality Checking Service in place, which enables you to hang on to your documents.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...england/england-nationality-checking-services

As you say, this prevents a trip for biometrics, and it would appear that the NCS ends on December 31, so this must be replacing it.

The NCS was £75. This could just be an excuse to bump the price up.

Yup. It says the cost here: https://www.freemovement.org.uk/new-visa-application-system-november-2018/

£610.

Yes a bit more detail here, thanks. Interestingly once an application is in process one cannot travel or the application is deemed withdrawn. That sort of negates the return of the passport.

I think we will wait until we come back.

It's not as though there is any time limit now, so you can just do it in your own time.

Either way you have a trip somewhere - either to the post office or to the Service Centre.

In the end, if you are applying as a spouse you may as well do a simple postal/online application. I don't think there is much need for this service for seasoned visa appliers like ourselves. I considered the Nationality Checking Service until I read the guidance notes. It is a very simple application. I'm not sure it's worth paying over £600 for this.

Hardly any documents are required, and even if you don't send them all they will contact you and let you know what is missing. It's not the pressure situation of getting everything right or the application will fail -which is what we have all become used to.

We did a postal application and the whole thing was done, and all the documents returned, within a month. Just waiting for a ceremony now. Where we are they only do one a month, and the wait for that is longer than the actual application took.

Yep the postal application sounds the best option. We have everything ready but we have decided on a short notice holiday. I suppose we could squeeze in an application before but will wait until we come back.

Thanks Graham.

Yeah. No rush at all. We only wanted to do ours quickly because my wife's sister lives in Germany and we want be able to visit there without any visa hassle.

That was my reasoning. A “regular” holiday in Spain or something but Asawa has been missing family so we will be doing the long haul.

Hello Mattecube,
Will the Sheffield Premium Service Centre still be operating the old system in mid January 2019 when we apply for our second FLR(M), as we prefer this system? I.E. book an appointment on line then attend in person.
Many thanks,
Terence Roberts.

Can I ask why you want to use Premium service?

Hello Mattecube,
We used the Premium Service last time, it was an enjoyable experience, and it gets things over and done with in one go.
Terence.

Fair point we just had ours standard service took 7 weeks! Your aware once applied as long as you apply before the visa expires your status stays the same you don't have to leave?