During the last 2 years, Gov.UK was developing an internal system to fill in all visa application forms.
At the same time, Visa4uk.fco.gov.uk website was available to choose any type of visa and fill in UK application forms. During these two years, the Gov.UK was experiencing a lot of failures: starting from the fact that the service worked only for visitor visas, to the fact that most of the applicants had problems with visa fee paying system.
For a while, Visa4uk.fco.gov.uk will continue to work for certain UK visas types. If you need a UK visa, you can visit Gov.UK website, and the system will automatically forward you either to the Gov.UK page or to Visa4uk.fco.gov.uk website. You can still fill in the following visa application forms on Visa4uk.fco.gov.uk:
- Parent Tier 4 child;
- Tier 1 Work Visas;
- Spouse visa, fiance visa, unmarried partner and child of a settled person;
- EEA Family Permit;
- Visas for diplomats.
For all other visa application forms you should visit Gov.UK.
What are the disadvantages of filling out the questionnaire on Gov.UK:
- When you fill in your visa application, you have to calculate the number of days / weeks / months of your trips abroad. Moreover, based on the questions, the conclusion is that british officers are more interested not in your trips to Schengen zone and to the USA, but to other (and even visa-free) countries.
- Frequent discrepancy between the English version of the question and its Russian translation.
- In the case when the payment of the visa fee can not be made because of website technical problems, you will have to start over your visa application.
What are the advantages of filling out the form on Gov.UK:
- You choose the period of your visa at the end of the visa application. This means that you can change the decision on the visa period at any time before paying the visa fee.
- The number of financial questions has decreased.
