The UK will launch two new visa services in a few weeks to support the strong growth in visitors from China, the British embassy announced in Beijing Thursday.
The "VIP mobile visa service" will offer the embassy's high value business customers the option of having a UK visa officer collect an applicant's application rather than having the applicant file it at an application center. The service will initially be offered in Beijing, and then be rolled out to other cities later this year.
The second service, named "passport pass back," is available to business visitors and group tourists, allowing them to retain their passports while their UK visas are being processed in Beijing.
The service will only be offered in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and won't be available to any other locations this year, said Matt Heath, regional manager of the UK Border Agency China.
The fee for using "passport pass back" will be 520 yuan ($83.62), on top of the current visa application fee of about 800 yuan, Heath said, adding the cost of the mobile service has not yet been decided.
"China is a priority market for the UK and we're committed to ensuring we're meeting the needs of Chinese customers," he said.
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