The United Kingdom (UK) may be in Europe but it is not included in the Schengen zone. You need to apply for a separate visa in the UK. I’ve always wanted to see London (because of Mary Poppins) but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of applying and paying for another visa aside from Schengen. Since this was a family trip, I finally had the opportunity of visiting London.
We had to apply for a UK visa first before applying for a Schengen visa in the French Embassy. The process is a bit similar to the US Visa application wherein you fill-out a long form, pay the visa fee, then schedule your application to submit your documents.
Here’s the basic process:
1. Create an account and fill-out application forms here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and- immigration
2. Pay for the visa fee - via credit card – USD 110
3. Schedule the visa appointment in VFS Global UK
4. Print and gather documents in the checklist
5. Go to VFS Global UK to submit documents
6. Wait wait wait for your passport to arrive
The embassy grants a 6-month visit visa for tourists. For other visa types, sorry I can’t help you. We had 4 nights planned in the UK. That’s $110 for 4 nights. Very pricey.
VFS Global handles the UK visa applications in the Philippines.
I suggest you spend time (lots of it) reading the info in their website: https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/philippines/applicationcentre.html
Filling out the application forms, payment, & scheduling your appointment
This had been a tedious process. Prepare to answer these questions:
We had to apply for a UK visa first before applying for a Schengen visa in the French Embassy. The process is a bit similar to the US Visa application wherein you fill-out a long form, pay the visa fee, then schedule your application to submit your documents.
Here’s the basic process:
1. Create an account and fill-out application forms here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and- immigration
2. Pay for the visa fee - via credit card – USD 110
3. Schedule the visa appointment in VFS Global UK
4. Print and gather documents in the checklist
5. Go to VFS Global UK to submit documents
6. Wait wait wait for your passport to arrive
The embassy grants a 6-month visit visa for tourists. For other visa types, sorry I can’t help you. We had 4 nights planned in the UK. That’s $110 for 4 nights. Very pricey.
VFS Global handles the UK visa applications in the Philippines.
I suggest you spend time (lots of it) reading the info in their website: https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/philippines/applicationcentre.html
Filling out the application forms, payment, & scheduling your appointment
This had been a tedious process. Prepare to answer these questions:
- How much do you earn a month?
- How much do you spend a month?
- Do you have any dependents?
- How much are you spending for the trip?
- How much is your “total assets”? I can’t recall the exact term used but I recall I had to compute for my net worth to answer this questions
- And prepare to input some of the answers in GBP