Save trees and time – the UK visa app has come to SA

The plastic envelope you use to hold all your UK visa application documents is bulging so much it can’t fit in any handbag or car cubby hole. Surely, such a huge stack of vital papers could not go missing; and yet, it does – usually on the day you really need it, like the day of your appointment at the UK visa application centre.

Luckily, there’s a solution to this headache: South African tourists can now scan, upload and submit all the documents needed to apply for a UK Standard Visitor visa through an app called eDossier Solo by TLScontact. All you need is your smartphone or laptop and an Internet connection.

The app allows you to scan and upload your UK visa application documents. You can review and edit the documents right up until you hit submit. Photo: Supplied.

The app can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Android Play Store. It tells you which documents need to be handed in and comes with a built-in scanner so that you can point your phone camera at the document, take a photo, automatically convert it to black and white and upload it.

If you have the docs on your phone storage, Google Drive or iCloud Drive, you can fetch those documents from within the app.

If you want to kick it old-school, you can log into the website version of the app on your PC and upload from there.

You can upload, review and edit your documents right up until you submit the documents before your appointment.

If there are problems with the documents, TLScontact, the company that handles all the paperwork for UK visas and Immigration, will get in touch with you so you can fix it up.

However, there are a few things you can’t do on the app. First, you need to book an appointment at your closest UK visa Application Centre through their website. Once you have login details for the website, you can use them to log into the app and start uploading your docs.

At your appointment, they will take your fingerprints and photo. They’ll also ask you some questions, which you can see here. They’ll have your documents on hand through the app, but check if there is anything they would like you to bring as a certified hard copy.

For a visual step-by-step guide, browse through their guide.

Feature image: Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site that is visited by more than a million people a year. Photo: Jack B/Unsplash.

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