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[randomlife]

I have a UK interview coming in less than 2 weeks. I need a visa to travel to the UK. I have already submitted my online application for a general visitor visa. But due to my travel at this moment, I can only make an appointment (for submitting supporting documents, etc) for this Thursday, which is 8 days before my interview. Considering the time difference, I have to be flying to the UK on next Thursday the latest. Would one week be sufficient to get my visa application approved and delivered back to the application center (I can pick it up from there)? I would appreciate your comments if you had similar experience.

[randomlife]

One thing I forgot to mention. Does it make a difference if I choose general visitor type visa or academic visitor visa?

I have a UK interview coming in less than 2 weeks. I need a visa to travel to the UK. I have already submitted my online application for a general visitor visa. But due to my travel at this moment, I can only make an appointment (for submitting supporting documents, etc) for this Thursday, which is 8 days before my interview. Considering the time difference, I have to be flying to the UK on next Thursday the latest. Would one week be sufficient to get my visa application approved and delivered back to the application center (I can pick it up from there)? I would appreciate your comments if you had similar experience.

[mingus]

You have rather helpfully omitted things such as what passport you hold and where you are applying from---rather obvious things, so it doesn't bode well for someone setting out to seek a job in another country.     anyway, your best answer (especially for timing) will come from the particular office that has your application.  Oh, probably a visitor's visa will do.

[chaosbydesign]

I think you'll need a visitor-business visa for a job interview in the UK. I'm pretty sure you can't do it with a tourist visa. I know some UK visas can be applied for on arrival at the airport, but that depends on which country you are coming in from and what the purpose of your trip is. I don't know if a visitor-business visa is one you can do this with.

I would ask the university you are interviewing with, because they will know for sure.

[hegemony]

An academic visitor visa is for longterm stay, not for short visits.

We'd need to know what country you're from before we can help further.  Some nationalities technically need a "visa," but it's just a rubber stamp on your passport that you get automatically when you enter the country.  What we need to know is if you're from one of the countries in which even tourists need a visa, obtained in advance, to enter the UK.

[randomlife]

Hi guys, many thanks for your replies. Yes, I'm from

one of the countries in which even tourists need a visa, obtained in advance, to enter the UK.

I have completed my online application, and will go and submit all relevant documents at the Toronto office on Thursday. I have chosen to apply for a General Visitor Visa. For purpose of visit in the application I wrote 'visit xxx university and give a talk.' I guess this won't make much a different. I will ask people at the Application Center to make sure.

My main concern is how much time it needs to get my visa application approved and delivered back to the application center. The priority service at Worldbridge https://www.visainfoservices.com/pages/content.aspx?tag=Services_page
says 48 hours, plus its time on the way. I've heard people cancelled their interview due to visa issues. That's too bad...

I'll definitely ask people at the Application Center for more details. Except that, there seems not much I can do, except pray for good luck.

Should I email the university that I have this visa concern? How likely is that they'd postpone the interview to accommodate such issues? I wish they had let me know one week earlier.

[hegemony]

Yes, tell them.  Tell them you think you have it all under control but that if the visa arrives later than predicted, you won't be able to make their specified date.  They'll choose at that point whether to reschedule the interview or to do it via Skype.

[randomlife]

Thanks hegemony. I've heard from someone that you can actually ask the University to call the UK Border Agency to make it processed faster? I don't know how exactly to make this happen though. Maybe I'll ask them if this is possible in the email.

The thing is I already had a skype interview. This is supposed to the second round. Does it make sense to skpye interview twice ;) I don't mind though, although I'd like to actually visit the university.