UK Visa for Indians 2026: Fees, Processing Time and Documents

Published 2026-10-25 · 8 min read · By the Travlys visa team

Indians need a UK Standard Visitor visa, not an ETA. Here are the 2026 fees, processing times in India, VFS centres, the documents that help, the common refusal reasons and what the India-UK trade deal changes.

Indians need a UK Standard Visitor visa, not an ETA. In 2026 a 6-month visa costs £135, and long-term visas cost £506 (2 years), £903 (5 years) and £1,128 (10 years). A decision usually takes about 3 weeks after your biometrics appointment, or about 5 working days with the £500 priority service.

At a glance: 6-month visa: £135. 2, 5 and 10-year visas: £506, £903 and £1,128. Standard processing: about 3 weeks. Priority: £500 extra, usually 5 working days. Super priority: £1,000 extra, usually by the end of the next working day. Earliest you can apply: 3 months before travel. Longest single visit: 6 months. Visa format: eVisa only, since 1 July 2026. ETA: not for Indians. Where you apply: VFS Global centres across India.

UK visa fees for Indians in 2026

The Home Office raised fees on 8 April 2026. Current visit and transit visa fees for applications made from India are:

• Standard Visitor, up to 6 months: £135 (was £127).
• Long-term visit visa, 2 years: £506 (was £475).
• Long-term visit visa, 5 years: £903 (was £848).
• Long-term visit visa, 10 years: £1,128 (was £1,059).
• Direct Airside Transit visa: £41.50.
• Visitor in Transit visa: £74.50.

A long-term visa lets you visit many times, but each stay is still capped at 6 months, and you must still show that you visit only occasionally. You pay online in rupees, so the exact amount depends on the exchange rate on the day. The fee is not refunded if your application is refused.

Processing time in India: standard, priority and super priority

• Standard: GOV.UK lists about 3 weeks for visit visas applied for outside the UK, counted from when you give biometrics and documents.
• Priority Visa: £500 on top of the visa fee. Most applications get a decision within 5 working days.
• Super Priority Visa: £1,000 on top of the visa fee. The aim is a decision by the end of the next working day, depending on when you give biometrics.

VFS Global offers both paid services at its Indian centres, including Ahmedabad. Availability can vary by centre and date, and you see the options when you book. Paying for speed does not change the decision. Complex cases can take longer than the target, so do not book non-refundable travel on the assumption that you will get a decision in 3 weeks.

UK visa application centres in India

VFS Global runs the UK visa application centres. As of October 2026, its standard centres are in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Goa, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai (North and South), Mysuru, New Delhi, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram. Most open Monday to Friday. Jaipur, Lucknow and Thiruvananthapuram open on fewer days.

Premium application centres, which cost extra, operate in cities such as Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Indore, Kottayam, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Noida and Visakhapatnam, often on limited days.

VFS also sells optional add-ons. At Ahmedabad, for example, self-upload of documents is free, document upload assistance is ₹2,400, UKVI account creation help is ₹1,200, a Prime Time appointment is ₹5,950 and the Premium Lounge is ₹6,050, including GST. None of these affects the visa decision.

After you apply: an eVisa, not a sticker

At your appointment you give fingerprints and a photo, and you get your passport back the same day. Since 1 July 2026, UKVI no longer issues visa stickers to new applicants. If you are approved, you get an eVisa, a digital record that you view in your UKVI account. Sign in before you travel and check that the passport linked to it is the one you will carry. Visa stickers already issued stay valid until they expire.

Documents that actually matter

The only mandatory items are a valid passport and certified translations of any document not in English or Welsh. Everything else is evidence that you are a genuine visitor. These carry the most weight:

• Bank statements showing where your money comes from. Statements more than a year old count for less. Be ready to explain any large recent deposit.
• Employer letter on letterhead stating your role, salary, length of service and approved leave. If you are self-employed, show business registration and recent invoices.
• Student letter from your college confirming enrolment and leave, if you are studying.
• Old passports showing travel to other countries.
• Sponsor evidence if someone else pays: your relationship, their funds and, if they live in the UK, their immigration status.

The Home Office guide lists hotel bookings, flight bookings (unless you are transiting), credit card statements and photocopies of bank cards as unhelpful. Do not buy non-refundable tickets before you have a decision.

Common refusal reasons (V 4.2)

Most visitor refusals cite paragraph V 4.2 of the Immigration Rules. It says you must leave at the end of your visit, not live in the UK through repeated visits, have a genuine reason that is a permitted activity, not do anything prohibited such as work, and be able to pay for your trip without working or using public funds. In practice, refusals often come from:

• Funds that do not fit: a trip cost that looks too high for your income, or money that appeared just before you applied.
• Weak reasons to return: no clear job, business or study to come back to, or no leave letter.
• Unclear purpose: a vague itinerary, or a plan that looks like work.
• A sponsor without proof: someone paying for you without evidence of their funds or your relationship.
• Inconsistencies: dates, salary or family details that do not match across forms and documents. False documents can lead to a refusal and a ban on future applications.
• Undeclared history: not mentioning an earlier refusal from any country.

There is no right of appeal against a visit visa refusal. Read the refusal letter, fix the specific points it raises, and reapply with better evidence.

Do Indians need a UK ETA?

No. India is on the UK's visa national list, so you need a visa. The Electronic Travel Authorisation, which costs £20 from 8 April 2026, is for visitors who do not need a visa, such as US, Canadian and European travellers. If you hold a UK visa, you do not need an ETA. Ignore websites that offer you an ETA for an Indian passport.

Transit through the UK

Indian passport holders normally need a Direct Airside Transit visa to change planes in the UK without passing through border control. You are exempt if your onward flight leaves the same day from the same airport and you hold one of these:

• A valid visa for the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, even if you are not flying there.
• A permanent residence permit from one of those countries, such as a US green card.
• A residence permit issued by an EEA country or Switzerland, or a long-stay (category D) visa for one of them.
• A valid Irish biometric visa (BC or BC BIVS), if your destination is not Ireland.

A Schengen short-stay (C) visa does not exempt you. Electronic visas from other countries are accepted for airside transit only if your airline can verify them. If you must pass through border control, for example to change airports, you need a Visitor in Transit visa and must leave within 48 hours. You are exempt only if your onward flight leaves before 23:59 the next day and you hold a valid US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand visa for a journey to or from that country, or one of the residence permits listed above. E-visas do not count for this. A Standard Visitor visa covers transit too.

What changed in 2026

• Visit and transit visa fees rose on 8 April 2026.
• Visa stickers stopped on 1 July 2026. Approved applicants now get eVisas.
• The ETA fee rose to £20, but this does not affect Indians.
• The March 2026 visa brake on student visas covers four other nationalities, not India.

The India-UK trade deal and business visitors

The India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement came into force on 15 July 2026. It does not remove the visa requirement. Indian business travellers still apply for a Standard Visitor visa. In the deal, the UK commits to let short-term business visitors stay up to 90 days in any 6 months for meetings, sales negotiations, trade fairs and after-sales installation or repair work, without a work permit and without UK pay. This is a minimum the UK has promised, not a new visa. The visitor rules already allow stays of up to 6 months.

The deal also covers longer work stays. Contractual service suppliers and independent professionals in listed sectors can stay up to 12 months in any 24, with up to 1,800 places a year for Indian chefs, classical musicians and yoga instructors. These need work visas, not visit visas. A separate social security agreement, in force on the same day, lets workers on temporary assignment pay contributions in one country only.

How Travlys helps

Travlys is an Ahmedabad-based visa consultancy. We have filed 5,000+ visas with a 98% approval rate. Our UK visa service starts from ₹12,950, with government and VFS fees extra. We fill your form, check your documents against V 4.2, book your VFS appointment and set up your UKVI account. WhatsApp us on +91 82009 18967.

Last checked: These rules were checked on 25 October 2026 against the sources listed below. UK fees, VFS services and processing times change often. Always confirm on GOV.UK and the VFS Global UK India site before you apply.