UK China Visa office reopens on March 16th 2021

According to their website, the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre in London will start a partial resumption of service from March 16^th 2021

The Visa Centre will be open every Tuesday in March from 9am to 2pm for some specific categories of visa application and legalisation application. Please check its website news section for the updated visa requirements in advance.

The processing time for visa and legalisation application will be 7 days from the date of submission. For example, if you lodge your application on 16 March, you can collect your passport on 23 March. Collection service will be on Tuesdays from 9am to 2pm. Express service is currently not available and postal return service will take approximately two weeks from the date of submission.

*The processing time might be longer if the embassy requires further documents. In this case, the Visa Centre will contact the applicant for a new collection date.

An appointment is required for all visa applications except those on humanitarian grounds and pre-approved by the embassy through emails.  The Visa Centre will not accept any visa application without an appointment.

Applicants aged between 14 to 70 inclusive must come to the Visa Centre in person to submit their visa application and have their biometric information taken. Applicants under 14 or over 70 can entrust another person to submit their application, but they must book an appointment online in advance.

Please note that the online application form will no longer be valid or retrievable after 30 days from the date when you fill in the form. Please ensure that appointment is booked and visa applications are submitted within 30 days of filling in an online application form.

An appointment is also required for legalisation application. Walk-in service is temporarily suspended until further notice.

According to the relevant government social distancing policy, the Visa Center must maintain a proper number of applicants inside the building at any given time and may need to ask applicants to wait outside of the centre for an extended time if necessary. All applicants should make the appropriate arrangements and prepare for extended delays.

Please be reminded that since May of 2018, all application fees need to be paid in full after being successfully accepted by the Visa Centre. The Visa Centre will terminate and return applications where no fees have been paid on the day of submission. To avoid unnecessary disruption to an application, please make full payment immediately after documents are accepted.

To make sure that the Visa Centre is safe for all applicants and staff, visitors must wear proper face coverings and expect obligatory temperature checks. Applicants will be denied entry if they don’t follow the Visa Centre’s guidance.