During the major IT maintenance work on the specific dates, visa applicants will not be able to submit UK visa applications. The centres will remain open for the collection of documents at the usual times.

On Friday 03 February 2012, the following UK visa application centres will be unable to process biometric information: Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey, Gaza, Kazakhstan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, Morocco, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Application centres in a number of major cities will also be affected on 03 February including Madrid, Spain; Jerusalem, Israel; Rome, Italy and Paris, France.

On Sunday 05 February 2012 the following UK visa application centres will be unable to process biometric information: Iraq, Jordan, Bangladesh, and Egypt.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have a genuinely urgent or compassionate need to travel please contact our visa information service,” said a UK Border Agency spokesman.

In addition to this, beginning 30 January 2012 all applications for a UK visa submitted in Georgia, Turkey, Jordan and Hong Kong must be paid for online in US Dollars.

UK immigration has also introduced a priority visa service in Ukraine and Thailand. The priority visa service will allow eligible visa applicants to pay an additional fee to have their visa application processed ahead of others.

Also, the visa application centres in Panama, Guatemala and Belize have closed. This means UK Visa applicants in Guatemala, Belize, and Panama will now need to use the monthly biometric clinic in Panama City or visit the visa application centre in Bogota, Columbia to submit their biometric information. Also, applicants from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua will need to go to Bogota as well as there are no UK visa application centres in these countries.

Global Visa Support offers a variety of UK programmes. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://globalvisasupport.com/uk.html

http://studymigrate.com/uk.html

There is a rule from the Department of Homeland Security that requires the sponsoring employers to file a petition for all the Aliens for whom R-1 non-immigrant status is sought. To comply with the same now the consular officers are required to ensure that, the said applicants have obtained an I-129 petition form from the Department of Home land security, prior to the issuance of the visa. The said rule has been in force from the 6^th of October 2009.

In case there is a further requirement of a clarification about this rule you might feel free to get in touch with the Legislation & Regulations division of the Visa Service’s. The contact person would be Lauren Prosnik. Phone # (202) 663-2951.

Now the question is what is this rule been promulgated for? The answer to that is, on the 26^th of Nov 08, the department of homeland security announced the requirement for the sponsoring employers to file a petition for all the Aliens for whom R-1 non-immigrant status is sought. Also as per the same law the period of the validity of the visa is not supposed to exceed the period as mentioned in the petition. As a result of that, an R-1 non-immigrant visa would now require the applicant to be established as a beneficiary of an approved petition. The implementation of this petition requirement by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been, for the purpose of authenticating and determining the petitions from the religious organizations for the religious workers. This would also help to ensure that such religious workers are admitted into the United States on the request of a religious organization and that is exactly where the workers work.

Miscellaneous regulatory findings:

As per the Administrative procedure act there is a regulation that involves the foreign affairs function of the US therefore according to the 5 USC 553(a)(1) is not subjected to the procedures of rule making as set by 5 USC 553.

As per the Executive orders 12866, the new rule has been reviewed by the department of State to ensure its consistency with the regulatory philosophy and the principals set by the Executive orders 12866. They have also determined that the cost of maintaining this rule is justified according to the benefits that are to be derived out of it.

As per the paper work reduction act does not impose the requirements of information collection, as per the provisions of the paper work reduction act 44 USC chapter 35.