British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis, on Friday (12) apologised for the delay in UK visa approvals.
The envoy shared a video message on Twitter detailing what the country is doing to address the issue. He also shared details about what applicants can also do to solve the crisis.
According to him, there has been an 'unprecedented surge in demand for UK visas post-Covid'. Global events such as Russian invasion of Ukraine have also led to the delay in processing UK visas, he said.
“Most of you are getting your visas to go to the UK within 15 working days. But there is a long tail of complex cases, which are taking much longer. I want to apologise to everyone who is getting affected by this and the distress which it gives you," Ellis wrote on Twitter.
He informed that the High Commission has brought in more resources and is training people to speed up the process.
“You can help us by making sure that you have the paperwork right. And, my advice is don't commit to your air ticket until you have got your visa to be on the safe side," Ellis said.
“Standard visitor visas are currently taking around six weeks to process. This is an average processing time and some applications might take longer. We are working hard to get back to the three-week service standard,” a British High Commission spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
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Some panic-stricken commuters reportedly considered jumping off the trains, but were eventually rescued safely (PTI photo)