New application procedure / VFS fees initial spouse visa from USA

Effective 7 November, without any official announcement from VFS or UKVI but here is the new process and accompanying fees. Visa4UK has been taken down so applying on the .gov is your only option. All of this applies for people applying from within the United States. There is now no way to avoid VFS, as has been possible for most of 2019, you must now even book bio through them.  Good luck to everyone applying, let's hope the upload feature finally works!

· After applying online, you are then required to click through to VFS to book your biometrics appointment and upload documents online

· If you wish to send your documents to NY for scanning then this will now incur an additional cost as opposed to the current process where document scanning through the NYC hub is free.

· There will also be an opportunity to purchase an SMS notification service once the application documents have been received and scanned, and when the application documents are dispatched.

Prices are available either as a package or by choosing individual services. The full range of prices is quite detailed but for example;

For 125 USD you can purchase a package of return courier, SMS updates and scanning.

For 150 USD you can purchase a package of round-trip courier, SMS updates and scanning.

Individual prices include; scanning $100, return courier $45, round trip courier $75, SMS notifications $5.

Thanks for the new info.

Prices are available either as a package or by choosing individual services. The full range of prices is quite detailed but for example;

For 125 USD you can purchase a package of return courier, SMS updates and scanning.

For 150 USD you can purchase a package of round-trip courier, SMS updates and scanning.

Individual prices include; scanning $100, return courier $45, round trip courier $75, SMS notifications $5.

Can I ask where you're finding those services and prices, because I'm looking on the VFS Global website right now, and they are not showing up on the ASC -Application Support Centre services page.

All I'm getting is the same options they have always had:
- Settlement priority service: $772

- Round trip courier
 $70 for up to 2lbs, $140 for up to 5 lbs.

- Return courier:
$41 up to 2 lbs, $82 up to 5 lbs

- SMS updates not available unless you are applying at a premium centre

The only mention I can find of scanning services prices are if the sponsor, an agent, or a representative is mailing the documents to Birmingham, England from inside the UK (which I'm pretty sure US applicants can't do anyway).

For those services, you have to make a bank transfer to a UK bank account, and the prices are:
£100 for scanning
£25 for return of documents to UK sponsor
I don't see anything about SMS updates.

Thanks for the new info.

Can I ask where you're finding those services and prices, because I'm looking on the VFS Global website right now, and they are not showing up on the ASC -Application Support Centre services page.

All I'm getting is the same options they have always had:
- Settlement priority service: $772

- Round trip courier
 $70 for up to 2lbs, $140 for up to 5 lbs.

- Return courier:
$41 up to 2 lbs, $82 up to 5 lbs

- SMS updates not available unless you are applying at a premium centre

The only mention I can find of scanning services prices are if the sponsor, an agent, or a representative is mailing the documents to Birmingham, England from inside the UK (which I'm pretty sure US applicants can't do anyway).

For those services, you have to make a bank transfer to a UK bank account, and the prices are:
£100 for scanning
£25 for return of documents to UK sponsor
I don't see anything about SMS updates.

So sorry, I'm not on this forum often and I didn't get an email notification that you had replied. VFS website doesn't show any of the new requirements unless you're through to the payment stage of an application. It's incredibly irritating that it's not more transparent. The self-upload is working about as well as it did last year, which is to say not well at all. But it does work with a lot of patience and a lot of the website crashing out. Bio is unable to be booked until you have either uploaded or paid the scanning fee. VFS has also confirmed the option to have your sponsor or solicitor scan your documents inside the UK for the scanning fee of £75 in person or the £100  by post. They've also activated the heinously expensive On Demand Mobile Visa for US applicants as well, which is where a VFS representative will come to your home, place of employment, or college campus to conduct your biometrics and scan your application docs. I contacted them for a quote and to use that service in Denver CO was $3,450 which does NOT include the application fee. I nearly had a stroke.  So there it is, never a dull moment in this process!

So sorry, I'm not on this forum often and I didn't get an email notification that you had replied.

No worries - just trying to gather as much info as I can, so that when people ask in future I can give accurate advice.

VFS website doesn't show any of the new requirements unless you're through to the payment stage of an application. It's incredibly irritating that it's not more transparent. The self-upload is working about as well as it did last year, which is to say not well at all. But it does work with a lot of patience and a lot of the website crashing out. Bio is unable to be booked until you have either uploaded or paid the scanning fee.

That's good - because the other problem people were having was that they never had the option to upload, so at least if you can't proceed without either uploading or paying the extra fee, it stops that from happening.

VFS has also confirmed the option to have your sponsor or solicitor scan your documents inside the UK for the scanning fee of £75 in person or the £100  by post.

That's good too - we have had one person on the forum use this UK scanning service so far, and another who is planning to use it, but since it's new, we don't really know how it's all working yet.

They've also activated the heinously expensive On Demand Mobile Visa for US applicants as well, which is where a VFS representative will come to your home, place of employment, or college campus to conduct your biometrics and scan your application docs. I contacted them for a quote and to use that service in Denver CO was $3,450 which does NOT include the application fee. I nearly had a stroke.  So there it is, never a dull moment in this process!

Wow, yeah, that's crazy.

I remember the good old days (about 10 years ago) when the visa only cost about £500 (and it was only 2 years to ILR), and you could pay a visa expediter about $100 to hand-deliver your application to New York and you would get a decision within 24 hours (in some cases, within 4 hours). The expediter would then pick up your visa and documents that day and mail them back to you.

Is the Premium Settle Visa  (where you keep your passport) still available from VFS? I may need to keep my passport for some (non-UK0 travel during the time my visa is pending.  And if it is: do you know if they changed what is included in this "premium" service (it used to include the priority fee ). Thanks

Is the Premium Settle Visa  (where you keep your passport) still available from VFS? I may need to keep my passport for some (non-UK0 travel during the time my visa is pending.  And if it is: do you know if they changed what is included in this "premium" service (it used to include the priority fee ). Thanks

I believe it's the same service it always was (attend in-person appointment, give biometrics, they scan your documents and you keep your passport and documents)... but it looks like it's gone up from $1900 to $2000.

Thank you.

 Of course they raised the (already ridiculous ) price!

Hi ksand24 I was trying to see if the prices have changed since I applied for my spouse visa (via priority) back in February last year. I tried doing the advanced search for updated costs, but haven't been very successful :/ Could you point me to the direction of the best thread with the updated costs associated with Priority Spouse Visa so I can let me MIL know?

Thanks SO much!

Thanks for the new info.

Can I ask where you're finding those services and prices, because I'm looking on the VFS Global website right now, and they are not showing up on the ASC -Application Support Centre services page.

All I'm getting is the same options they have always had:
- Settlement priority service: $772

- Round trip courier
 $70 for up to 2lbs, $140 for up to 5 lbs.

- Return courier:
$41 up to 2 lbs, $82 up to 5 lbs

- SMS updates not available unless you are applying at a premium centre

The only mention I can find of scanning services prices are if the sponsor, an agent, or a representative is mailing the documents to Birmingham, England from inside the UK (which I'm pretty sure US applicants can't do anyway).

For those services, you have to make a bank transfer to a UK bank account, and the prices are:
£100 for scanning
£25 for return of documents to UK sponsor
I don't see anything about SMS updates.

Hi ksand24 I was trying to see if the prices have changed since I applied for my spouse visa (via priority) back in February last year. I tried doing the advanced search for updated costs, but haven't been very successful :/ Could you point me to the direction of the best thread with the updated costs associated with Priority Spouse Visa so I can let me MIL know?

Thanks SO much!

The visa costs for initial spouse and FLR (M) haven't changed since February with the exception of the increase in the IHS surcharge (which is now £1200 rather than £600 and was increased in January but seemingly didn't take effect until a few weeks after that) and the priority fee has also remained the same. The fees I mentioned in my original post are all additional services which are optional, and unfortunately last I checked they weren't being displayed on VFS's website until after you have submitted the application.