Information was released in the B&H media yesterday from the BHInfoDesk by Namik Alimajstorovic, who said that starting from 27 March B&H citizens would have to pay 59 pounds more when applying for a British visa.
We were told from the Embassy that there was always a visa fee. However, there will now be an additional User Pay fee of £59 (around 140 BAM or around 71 Euros) in addition to the fee for a visa (cheapest one is £80-general visitor visa).
Until last week, applications for a visa were done at the Embassy of the UK in Sarajevo.
Explaining the reason for the change of procedure regarding where visa applications are processed, the Embassy of the UK to B&H told Sarajevo Times portal that ‘’the UK Visa and Immigration Agency is tasked with the decision on where visa applications are processed, and this is the practice in the majority of countries’’. Thus, based on the Embassy’s statement this is not a special measure that is implemented only in B&H.
The Embassy further explained that ‘’it is in line with the UKVI global model to ensure greatest value for money while allowing the increase of the number of application points globally and offer improved customer services. UKVI contracted globally commercial partners which will offer the necessary flexibility to support current and future services, including through increasing the UK priority and premium services and moving a number of UK Visa Application Centres to more accessible locations’’.
So due to the fee it would be more expensive for B&H citizens when applying for a UK visa. The Embassy noted that there is also the option of a Free to Use Application Center, located in Belgrade for B&H citizens, where the £59 additional fee for the visa would not be included. However, this does not include costs of transportation to Belgrade.
B&H is considered to be a low volume location, and thus UKVI has an additional User Pay Fee, which, as the Embassy noted, would ‘’allow retaining an application point in a location where it would not otherwise be affordable to operate a service’’.
