UK Visa for Indian Citizens: Fees, Documents & VFS Centres

Yes. Indian citizens are visa nationals under UK immigration rules, so you need a Standard Visitor visa before you fly to the UK for tourism, family visits or most business trips. You apply and pay online on GOV.UK, then give your fingerprints and photo at a VFS Global visa application centre in India, and a successful application now gives you a digital eVisa rather than a sticker in your passport.

Which UK visa an Indian visitor needs

The Standard Visitor visa covers holidays, seeing family or friends, business meetings and interviews, short recreational courses of up to 30 days, volunteering with a registered charity for up to 30 days, and some medical and academic visits. A single visit is normally limited to six months.

It does not let you work for a UK employer, run a business in the UK as a self-employed person, claim public funds, or marry or register a civil partnership. A wedding in the UK needs a separate Marriage Visitor visa.

To be approved you have to satisfy an entry clearance officer that you genuinely intend to leave at the end of your trip, that you can pay for yourself and any dependants without working, that you can cover your return flight, and that you are not trying to live in the UK through repeated long visits.

Does the UK ETA apply to Indian passport holders?

No. The electronic travel authorisation (ETA) is for nationalities that can visit without a visa, such as Americans, Canadians and Europeans. India is on the UK's visa national list, so an ETA is not an option for Indian citizens visiting the UK.

Visa lengths and fees as of October 2026

All UK visa fees are paid in pounds sterling when you submit the online form. The Home Office fee table in force from 8 October 2026 lists the following visitor fees:

Standard Visitor visa, up to 6 months: £135
Long-term visit visa valid for 2 years: £506
Long-term visit visa valid for 5 years: £903
Long-term visit visa valid for 10 years: £1,128
Direct airside transit visa: £41.50
Visitor in transit visa (landside, up to 48 hours): £74.50

The long-term options suit Indians who travel to the UK often, for example parents of children settled in the UK or professionals with regular meetings. Each stay is still capped at six months, and officers will look closely at whether your pattern of trips suggests you are living in the UK rather than visiting.

How to apply from India

Step 1: Complete the online form on GOV.UK

Fill in the visit visa form on GOV.UK, covering your job, income, travel history and trip, and pay the fee online. The earliest you can apply is three months before your planned travel date.

Step 2: Book and attend a VFS Global appointment

UK Visas and Immigration uses VFS Global to run its visa application centres in India. As of October 2026, VFS Global's UK page for India lists standard centres in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Goa, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai (North and South), Mysuru, New Delhi, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram. Some, such as Jaipur, Lucknow and Thiruvananthapuram, open only on certain days.

VFS also runs premium application centres, mostly in hotels, in cities including Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Indore, Kottayam, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Noida and Visakhapatnam. These carry an extra charge and have limited schedules, so check the current list before you book.

At the appointment your fingerprints and photograph are taken and your documents are scanned. You get your passport back the same day.

VFS also sells optional extras, charged in rupees on top of the Home Office fee. They do not affect the decision, which is made by UKVI, not centre staff.

Priority and super priority decisions

The standard processing target for a Standard Visitor visa applied for outside the UK is three weeks, counted in UK working days, from the date you attend your biometric appointment.

UK Visas and Immigration sells two faster services for applications made outside the UK:

Priority visa service: £500 extra per applicant, with a decision usually within 5 working days
Super priority visa service: £1,000 extra per applicant, with a decision usually by the end of the next working day after your biometrics

These are UKVI services, not VFS products. Whether they are offered for your application and at your chosen centre is shown when you book, and capacity can be limited. Paying for speed does not change the assessment.

Documents Indian applicants should prepare

The only mandatory document for everyone is a valid passport, ideally with at least one blank page and valid for your whole stay. The UK does not publish a fixed checklist for Indians, but its official guide to supporting documents explains what helps a decision. In practice Indian applicants are usually asked to show strong financial and employment ties to India.

Passport, plus older passports showing previous international travel, especially to the UK, Schengen area, USA, Canada or Australia
Personal bank statements showing where the money comes from and that you can access it; UKVI says documents more than a year old carry less weight, and most Indian applicants submit around six months of statements
Income Tax Returns (ITR acknowledgements or Form 16) and recent salary slips as proof of regular earnings
An employer letter on company letterhead confirming your role, salary, start date and approved leave
For business owners, GST or company registration papers and recent invoices or company bank statements
For students, a letter from your college confirming enrolment and leave of absence
An invitation letter from the person you are visiting, if relevant
A certified English translation of any document in Hindi or another language, with the translator's name, signature, contact details and date

Hotel and flight bookings are listed by UKVI as less useful, so there is no need to buy a ticket before you get the visa.

If a relative in the UK is sponsoring you

When a son, daughter or other family member in the UK is paying for your trip or hosting you, include evidence of their immigration status (such as a British passport or eVisa share code details), proof of your relationship (for example a birth certificate showing the link), and their bank statements or payslips showing they can support you as well as themselves.

eVisa instead of a passport sticker

The UK has moved to a digital immigration system. As of October 2026, VFS Global's India page and GOV.UK confirm that a successful visa application results in an eVisa, a digital record of your status, instead of a vignette stuck in your passport.

Before you fly, create a free UK Visas and Immigration account, link it to your eVisa and make sure the passport you will travel on is added and the details are correct. Access usually appears straight away but can take up to 24 hours. If you already hold a valid UK vignette from an earlier application, it stays valid until it expires.

Transiting through the UK on an Indian passport

Because India is a visa national country, Indians changing flights in the UK generally need a transit visa unless they hold an exempting document. The Home Office list for airlines, updated in August 2026, says an Indian traveller can usually transit airside without a UK transit visa if they hold, for example, a valid visa for the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, a permanent residence permit from one of those countries, or a residence permit or long-stay category D visa issued by an EEA country or Switzerland. Other conditions apply, so check the GOV.UK transit tool for your exact route.

If you need to pass through UK border control, for example to change airports, you need a Visitor in Transit visa and must leave within 48 hours. A valid Standard Visitor visa also covers transit.

Common refusal risks for Indian applicants

These patterns often cause problems in Indian applications:

Large unexplained deposits shortly before applying, which can look like borrowed funds
A trip cost that looks out of proportion to declared income or tax returns
Weak ties to India, such as no stable job, property or family responsibilities
Inconsistencies between the online form, the employer letter and bank records
Not declaring a previous refusal from the UK or another country

A refusal letter explains the reasons. There is no appeal for visit visas, so the usual route is a fresh application that fixes the problems.

Beware of fake agents

Apply only through GOV.UK and book appointments only through VFS Global's official UK site. Nobody can guarantee a UK visa for a fee, and submitting fake bank statements or job letters can lead to a long ban from the UK. Neither UKVI nor VFS will ask you to pay into a personal bank account or over WhatsApp.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a UK visitor visa for Indians in 2026?

As of October 2026 the six-month Standard Visitor visa costs £135, payable online in pounds. Long-term visas cost £506 for two years, £903 for five years and £1,128 for ten years.

How long does a UK visa take from India?

UKVI aims to decide Standard Visitor applications within three weeks of your biometric appointment. Priority (around five working days) and super priority (usually the next working day) cost £500 and £1,000 extra where offered.

Do Indians need a UK ETA or a visa?

A visa. The ETA scheme is only for nationalities that can visit visa-free, and India is not one of them.

Is there still a visa sticker in the passport?

No. Successful applicants now receive an eVisa, which you view through a free UKVI account. Make sure your travel passport is linked to it before you fly.

Do I need a UK transit visa if I have a US visa?

Usually not for airside transit, because a valid US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand visa is on the Home Office's exemption list. Check the official transit tool for your exact journey.

Fees, centre locations and processing targets change, so check GOV.UK and VFS Global's official UK visa page for India before you apply and again before you travel.