The UKBA are in the process of finalizing a way to process UK visas within 48 hours.
After the 2012 Olympic hosting, the UK received global critism for their “technical” approach to leisure visas. The current visa system is being used as a deterent to foreigners as a means to address future over population.
With the growing need to have technology improve the way visas are awarded, globally there have been discussions of “Electornic Visas” informally known as E-Visas, as the best means to cater for the travelling market.
At this stage, all we have is speculation that the UKBA are going to be rolling out a “Super Fast Track Service” that is going to be the first step towards meeting the needs of the leisure market.
To date, the UKBA currently offer a Fast Track service that operates on a first come first serve basis. Boasting a best 4 day turn around time from the date of submission. This new Super Fast Track service is expected to at least halve that processing time.
Understandably, these Fast Track services have only been made available to Visitor visas. South Africans that have had previous visa refusals in the past 10 years or whom have served prison sentences longer than 6 months as well as those with “character flaws” in terms of internationally security concerns are excluded from being eligible for this value added service.
A change in implementation has occured. The UKBA have decided to implement the Super Priority service in India. More details can be found here.