The embassy of the United Kingdom in Abu Dhabi is refusing almost 70% of the applications from Pakistani citizens. I’m one of the applicants from Pakistan whose visa application was refused in January 2016. I applied for the visa on 20 December 2015, and received my passport on 11 January 2016 with a beautiful refusal letter which I read outside the visa application center located at Shahra e Faisal in Karachi. It was the first time and first feeling for me, as before this, no country had refused me including the United States of America. Let me share the whole story with you.

How Did I Research Before Applying UK Visa?

I always do a comprehensive research before applying for a visa to any country, and especially the “so-called” developed countries. I always do my research on the internet, and before applying for the UK visa, I searched for almost 10 days. I found that UK is very strict in issuing visas to third world countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. But if your case is strong and you convinced the visa officer then chances are still there for obtaining the visa. Since I had a very good travel background as well as other formalities, so I thought it would not be very difficult for me to obtain the UK visa, and so I applied.

Requirements for UK Visa from Pakistan

As in this article, I’ll only talk about visit visas to the UK, therefore I’ll only share the requirements for visitor’s visas to the United Kingdom. The list of requirements may vary case by case, however, the general requirements are the same for most of the cases. Below are the must to bring documents/requirements:

1. A passport with at least 6 months validity
2. A UK visa application set (Printed) filled on this website
3. A UK visa appointment (Printed) from this website
4. A photograph with white or gray background
5. Purpose of your travel to the United Kingdom

The above list of documentation is the first step for applying UK visa from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.

Additional Documents For UK Visa

As UK border agency encourages you to bring documents that can support your case, they don’t specifically mention what documents to bring. However, I’ll show you a list of supported documents which you take while you apply for a UK visa, so you can’t repeat the mistakes I did while applying for the visa. You should just take the following documents with you if you have all of them:

1. Copy of Marriage Certificate (if you are married)
2. Copy of B-form (if children are going with you)
3. Bank statement of the last 6 months
4. Copy of NTN certificate (I didn’t have this)
5. Copy of Chamber of Commerce Certificate – in case of business (I didn’t have this)
6. Copy of last tax returns (I didn’t have this)
7. Copy of property papers (if you own property)
8. A letter from the employer stating the vacation period & requesting visa (if you do job)

The above list is the perfect one, which can fully support your visa case to the United Kingdom. You shouldn’t attach unnecessary or irrelevant documents with your case. If they want to approve your visa then they’ll do with above documentation. I didn’t have NTN, Chamber of Commerce certificate and tax returns which is the main cause of refusal in my case (read the last paragraph of this article to know all the reasons behind the refusal of my case).

Note: You should attach only copies of your documents, because these documents will not be returned to you, so be careful while submitting your documents with your visa application.

How to Apply for UK Visa?

Since UK embassy in Islamabad and consulate in Karachi don’t process visa applications. Therefore, you have to visit a visa application center located in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, also in Kashmir. For all the information related to UK visa and these application centers in Pakistan; you can visit their official UK visa website here.

The next step is to fill and print online visa application on the UK border agency website, please click here to apply for UK visa online. During the application process, you’ll have to pay the visa fee online which is around $140.

After you’ve paid your fee and have successfully filled the form, you’ll need to print the form as well as the appointment letter which you’ll select after submitting your application. You can select the interview date and time, on that day, you’ll give bio-metric data in the visa application center, you’ll also be interviewed by your visa officer via skype.

After the interview is conducted, your case will be submitted for further processing, and you’ll be given a receipt which you can later use to collect your passport from the application center. It’ll take 3 weeks for your case to be processed, and after that you’ll be informed via email to collect your passport.

Your UK Visa Application Has Been Concluded?

If you receive an email which has the above text in the first line then your case has been finished and you’ll now get a call from the visa application center for passport collection. The concluded email simply means that the decision on your case has been taken and it’ll be either a visa or a refusal. And you’ll know this after collecting your passport from the visa application center.

Why My UK Visa Application Rejected?

If your visa has been stamped on your passport then congratulations. But in my case the visa was rejected. And I want to tell you the reasons which they’d written on a simple A4 size paper. The refusal letter was simply like this:

I went to the application center in Karachi with the hope that I’ll get a visa, because I waited for 21 days to receive the decision. But unfortunately, I got a beautiful refusal letter which I read outside the application center in order to hide my hard feelings from the staff of that place.

The reasons listed on my application were the following which I’ll write in simple words below :

• They said, I didn’t provide NTN certificate
• They said, I didn’t provide tax returns
• They said, I didn’t provide correct financial report i.e bank statement
• They said, I didn’t provide correct job or designation
• They said, I didn’t provide a solid reason to visit the United Kingdom

From the reasons which were listed in the refusal letter, I assumed the above points which could change the decision. I’ll keep these mistakes or requirements in mind before applying again for the visa to UK.

Please share your experience with me about the UK visa process, did you get your visa or not? and have you ever received an email regarding your visa case from the Abu Dhabi embassy? thanks for reading.