Number of Indians visiting the UK have increased despite emerging destinations gaining popularity, rise of foreign travel in general to scenic places as well as security issues with rumours of racial attacks increasing after EU Referendum.
New figures published recently show a steady year-on-year increase in the overall number of visa applications from India over the last few years.
The statistics – published by VFS Global, which processes visa application for 59 governments worldwide – show travel to the UK from India continuing to increase, despite the popularity of emerging destinations.
The statistics bear out those recently publishedby UK Visas and Immigration which showed of the 2.1 million UK visitor visas granted in 2017, there was an 11% increase in those granted to visitors from India (up 43,816 to 433,852).
The figures show that a 10 percent increase in number of visa applications from India in 2017 (4.7m applications), compared to 2016 (4.3m). This year, for the period of January to June, there has been a 14 percent increase in number of visa applications from India, compared to the same period last year, The top 6 destinations for which visa applications were processed (in 2016, 2017, and January to June 2018) were: US, Malaysia, UK, Canada, PR China, and Schengen Area destinations. In 2017, the sharpest year-on-year increase (since 2016) in visa application count was for Thailand visas. Emerging destinations (especially Czech Republic, Turkey, and Japan) showed a positive trend in 2017, with significantly more applications processed for these destinations than in the previous year.
The UK Home Office statistics further show that Indian and Chinese nationals alone accounted for just under half (46%) of all visitor visas granted, while three nationalities (China, US and India) accounted for over half (53%) of the 223,536 study-related visas granted in 2017. In particular, study related visas to Indian nationals showed a notable increase, up 28% to 14,445.
