The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, says the waiting times to get visas to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) is reducing.
In a yet-to-air interview on JoyNews’ The Probe, she announced the return of the UK’s priority service and apologised for the situation regarding the waiting time.
“I am really pleased to say the priority visa service is back in Ghana and that is across all of the categories …the waiting times are coming down, I am sorry about the length of time that has been taken to the UK recently,” she said.
The UK Commissioner explained that the wait is due to the enormous pressures on the system caused by the Afghanistan crisis a year ago.
She added that another situation accounting for the wait is the Russian invasion of Ukraine “wanting to be able to bring refugees to the country quickly” to seek asylum.
Moving forward, she noted that the wait is “now on an average of five weeks.”
“But I want to make sure people know that they can apply for their visa up to three months before they expect to travel and the visa will then start from when the travel actually happens so there is no need to leave it until you’ve got your tickets booked,” she added while advising travellers to obtain a visa before purchasing a ticket.