Note: The most recent updates are shown in bold type.

Effective February 15, 2008 the Embassy has changed its requirements for the obtaining of police certificates. Nonimmigrant visa applicants who have been arrested or convicted anywhere in the world for any reason other than for minor traffic offenses must take to their visa interview a police certificate obtained from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) issued within 6 months of the date of the visa interview. Information on obtaining the police certificate is available at the ACPO website. In the absence of such a certificate the Embassy will suspend processing of the application under INA 221(g) until such time as the applicant obtains a certificate and submits it to the Embassy. Once the missing document has been submitted an additional 15 to 20 days is required for processing.

Nonimmigrant visa applicants who have a criminal record in any country should also produce the official court record when applying for a visa. The court record(s) must indicate the nature of the offense(s) committed, the sections of law contravened and the penalty imposed by the court. A UK Subject Access police report will be accepted in lieu of an ACPO police certificate for nonimmigrant visa applications submitted on or before August 14, 2008, as long as the police report is less than 6 months old. Effective August 15, 2008 only an ACPO police report less than 6 months old will be accepted for nonimmigrant visa processing.

Effective February 15, 2008 the police certificate requirement for immigrant visa applicants was also changed. Those immigrant visa applicants who have resided in the UK for at least 6 months since the age of 16 are required to obtain an ACPO police certificate rather than the previously used UK Subject Access police report. For purposes of immigrant visa processing the ACPO certificate is considered valid for 12 months from the date of issuance, not 6 months as indicated on the certificate.

All nomimmigrant visa applicants who have answered “Yes” to question 38 on their visa application form DS-156 must also complete and submit form VCU 1 (revised February 2008). A link to form VCU 1 may be found on our Useful Links web page here.

Processing Times in London

Applicants for nonimmigrant visas in routine cases, where neither a waiver of ineligibility nor additional administrative processing is required, are currently receiving their newly visaed passports within 3 to 5 working days after their interviews with a consular officer. Applicants requiring a waiver of ineligibility, or those requiring additional administrative processing, usually involving a request for a Special Advisory Opinion, are receiving their visas in approximately 8 to 16 weeks after their consular interviews. Applicants previously granted a waiver are receiving their visas in approximately 1 to 8 weeks after their consular interviews. For more on ineligibilities and waivers of ineligibilities click here.

Processing times for I-130 immigrant visa petitions filed with the London Sub Office of USCIS may be found here.

Applicants for immigrant visas in routine cases should receive their newly visaed passports within 1 to 3 working days after their interviews with a consular officer. Applicants for waivers of ineligibility for immigrant visas can expect a decision on their waiver applications in approximately 12 to 16 weeks after filing their waiver application.

The Treaty Visa Office at the London Embassy is currently taking approximately 120 days to determine applications for registration and re-registration as E-1 treaty traders or E-2 treaty investors. Strict compliance with the Office’s detailed requirements for preparing and filing registration applications is required. Consular interviews for individual E visa applicants can typically be obtained within 2 to 3 weeks from the date of request, and visaed passports are currently returned within 1 to 3 working days after the interview.

Helpful Hints for Frequent Filers

Nonimmigrant visa appointments are scheduled Monday through Friday except for US and UK public holidays. The appointment times for the most frequently-sought visas are as follows.

In order to ensure the quality of the 10-digit finger and thumb scans taken at the time of the nonimmigrant visa interview, applications of persons with cuts or blisters on their fingers or thumbs will not be processed.

The London Embassy requires all applicants to use the electronic version of the nonimmigrant visa application form DS-156, which can be accessed through our Useful Links page.

News

Effective January 1, 2008 the visa application fee was increased to $131.00.

The private courier agency under contract to the Embassy for the return of visa applicants' documents and passports recently raised its fees. It now charges £14.00 for return of a single passport. A group of between 2 and 5 passports to a single address attracts a fee of £15.00, and 6 passports or more to a single address costs £24.50. Additional priority services are available at extra charge. Courier fees must be paid on the day of the interview. The agency accepts cash, credit cards (Visa and MasterCard only) and the Switch debit card.

London is an “appointments” post for immigrant visa processing, meaning that most immigrant visa applicants will submit their civil documents to the National Visa Center for evaluation rather than to the Embassy’s consular officers on the day of the immigrant visa interview. Civil documents will continue to be evaluated at the Embassy for the following persons: (1) applicants for ‘K’ visas; (2) DV “diversity visa” applicants; and (3) beneficiaries of immediate relative petitions filed by US citizens living in the United Kingdom and accepted for processing by the USCIS in London.

Packages and large bags such as backpacks or suitcases are not permitted in the Embassy. Liquids of all kinds, whether in bottles, cartons or cups, are similarly prohibited. Failure to comply with the Embassy’s rules on this subject will result in considerable delays at the security check point and could cause cancellation of the applicant’s interview appointment.

The London Sub Office of USCIS now adjudicates Form I-601 Applications for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility filed in any one of the following seven countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. To track the status of a Form I-601 application pending at a US Embassy in any of those countries, click here.

The US Customs and Border Protection component of the Department of Homeland Security no longer maintains an office in London. Upon the recommendation of a consular officer or by the Secretary of State all applications for nonimmigrant waivers are now determined by the Department of Homeland Security in the United States. Waivers for immigrant visas continue to be determined by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Officer-in-Charge in London.

New requirements came into effect on October 26, 2006 as to Visa Waiver Program countries' passports issued on or after that date. The only passports issued on or after October 26, 2006 that will be valid for travel under the Visa Waiver Program are e-passports, which include an integrated computer chip capable of storing biographic and biometric information and a digitized photograph. Travelers holding non e-passports issued on or after October 26, 2006 will not be able to use the Visa Waiver Program and will need to obtain a visa for travel to the US. For further information on passport requirements for travel on the Visa Waiver Program, see our article Travelling to the US Without a Visa.