Extended
visitor visas
for Chinese tourists
26 October 2015
The UK government has announced the extension of the standard visitor visa for Chinese tourists, along with other measures designed to encourage Chinese tourism and benefit the UK economy.
It has been unveiled that from January 2016, new visitor visas for Chinese nationals will be valid for two years instead of the usual six months.
This is four times the length of a current visitor visa and as such, increases the number of times the visa holder can visit the UK within the visa’s extended validity. It is hoped that this will encourage more Chinese tourism to the UK and increase the already noteworthy economic contribution of £500 million a year, which the industry currently brings to the UK.
It is important for Chinese visitors to note, however, that visitors to the UK will still only be able to visit the UK for a maximum period of six months within each 12 month period for which their visa is valid. This is to avoid any possible abuse of the system and should any ‘suspicious’ visiting activity be noticed by UK border control, the holder could be refused entry to the country despite holding a valid UK visa.
David Cameron has also announced his intentions to extend the new two-year validity of the visitor visa for Chinese nationals to a grand total of 10 years in the not-so-distant future.
Not only does this give Chinese visitors to the UK better value, but it has instigated other changes which will better facilitate the anticipated increase in visit visa applications.
The UK government plans to make the experience of applying for a UK visa in China a lot more convenient by increasing the number of Chinese cities in which mobile biometric services are available from the current nine to a total of 50. The government is also discussing the possibility of expanding the existing network of UK Visa Application Centres in China.
The changes to the visa system for Chinese visitors are designed to encourage more visits to the UK.
These plans will give the UK’s visitor visa a competitive edge over the rest of Europe and bring it up to par with what the USA have been offering since updates were made to its immigration system in 2014.
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