UK set to tighten visa rules, to cut tourists visa

New Delhi: If you are planning a visit to the UK on a tourist visa, you could now only get to spend three months there instead of six months.

Proposals to half the UK tourist visa time for people from outside the European Union are expected to be announced this week.

This move is among the measures aimed at further tightening the visa system in the UK.

Families in Britain will have to deposit 1,000 pounds if they want relatives to visit them there. The cash bond would be forfeited if the relative did not leave when the visa expires.

Meanwhile, in order to check cases of identity fraud while applying for visa, the British High Commission is set to introduce biometric data collection procedure.

The new system will help keep the identity of a person through the fingerprints, photograph along with his address. If a person tries to fake his identity, he can be caught on the basis of fingerprint.

In another development, the US has decided to increase the fee for non-immigrant Machine Readable Visa (MRV) from $100 to $131 from January.

The applicants who possess the $100 receipt but failed in scheduling appointment before the prescribed date will be required to deposit a non refundable demand draft of $31 to match the difference, the embassy said in a release.

The fee adjustment is the first since 2002 and reflects some of the additional costs of administering non-immigrant visas services. The hike also correlates with domestic inflation in India since the last revision.

(With PTI inputs)