UK – Chinese Visitors to Receive Longer-Validity Visas
The United Kingdom will introduce two-year multiple entry visas to Chinese visitors beginning in January 2016 and will later introduce ten-year multiple entry visas as well. Currently, business travelers have to renew their visas every six months, therefore those frequently traveling to the U.K. will benefit from the extended validity period of these new visas. The U.K. aims to improve business and tourist travel from China and also ease requirements for frequent business travelers.
The U.K. government will grant Chinese visitors the following improvements:
- Visitor visas will have a validity period of two-years instead of the existing six-month validity period;
- Ten-year multiple-entry visas will be introduced;
- The current government visa fee of 85 GBP will remain the same for both of the aforementioned visas;
- Mobile biometrics will be available to 50 additional cities in China; and
- U.K. will consider expanding the number of Visa Application Centers in China.
The U.K. seeks to make travel for Chinese visitors more convenient as they contribute a significant amount to the U.K.’s economy on an annual basis. The U.K. government claims that these new visa regulations are more favorable to Chinese visitors than the Schengen visa which only has a validity period of 90 days.