Indian demand for United Kingdom visas has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, particularly among corporate travellers, students and high-net-worth families. In response, outsourcing specialist VFS Global and UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) today unveiled a network of 12 Premium Application Centres (PACs) located in tier-II and tier-III cities including Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Indore, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Noida and Visakhapatnam.
Travellers exploring alternative avenues may also benefit from VisaHQ’s comprehensive online platform (https://www.visahq.com/india/), which lets individuals and corporate travel coordinators check the latest UK visa requirements, upload documents, and monitor application progress in real time—providing a convenient supplement to the new PAC network for those who prefer a more flexible, tech-driven workflow.
PAC appointments cost more than a standard UK visa slot, but they bundle biometric capture, document-scan assistance, courier return of passports and lounge facilities in a single visit—an important time-saver for senior executives who frequently need priority or super-priority processing. Yummi Talwar, Chief Operating Officer–South Asia at VFS Global, said the model “mirrors the concierge culture our Indian customers already enjoy in other premium travel services, while maintaining full compliance with UKVI security rules.” For employers, the expansion means that staff posted outside the main metros no longer have to travel to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai or Kolkata to submit biometrics, reducing travel time, hotel bills and payroll downtime. VFS Global added that corporates can reserve group slots and arrange on-site document pick-up for large project teams—useful for IT and engineering firms moving consultants to the UK on short notice. The move also supports the Migration and Mobility Partnership signed by India and the UK in 2021, which aims to double the number of Indian skilled workers and students in Britain by 2030. UKVI statistics show that Indians accounted for 41 per cent of all skilled-work visas and 39 per cent of all student visas issued by the UK in 2025. While the PAC service does not influence visa outcomes, travel managers should update internal policy documents to reflect the higher service fee (about ₹11,000 per applicant) and remind travellers that appointment slots at PACs can fill quickly during the summer peak. Companies that need guaranteed dates may opt for VFS Global’s on-demand Mobile Visa Service, which sends staff to company premises for an even higher fee.