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Comment by jnwatson | Hacker News Reader

I just tried to arrange a visit to London for this Christmas just for tourism.

After my girlfriend spent 3 hours trying to get a tourist visa (she's from Ukraine), she finally gave up. It seems the only way to go is pay $800 to the company that runs the UK visas in the US. She'd be without a passport for an undefined amount of time.

The UK really, really doesn't want tourists.

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> The UK really, really doesn't want tourists.

While I agree wiih this sentiment over all after my time in the UK, don't Ukranins get he special arrangement due to the war, as in they can enter under refugee status? I'm not saying that is ideal, and I've seen what it takes for Ukrainians to enter the US under that policy, but it is possible.

I was supposed to go to the UK last summer '21 flying from the EU as a US citizen, during the supposed relaxed COVID restrictions in the UK you needed not just a negative covid test to board the plane, but also a tracking document that I had not completed moments before boarding began. It stipulated many things, in addition to testing upon arrival and then details about where you were staying and more testing etc...

It was a nightmare, and I'm sad to say that the World hasn't gone any saner since then; I'm guessing with tall the influx of illegal mass migration from France deal that was just brokered between the two may have set some things in motion.

As a Ukrainian, you lose special status in going to the UK if you start living somewhere else.

The situation is similar trying to visit the US from most places. If your passport isn't from Western Europe, US, Canada, Australia, NZ there's quite a visa process. Citizens of 5 southern & eastern EU countries don't qualify for the US visa waver.

Are you a US citizen? I went on several trips to Europe and the UK (including post Brexit) before I learned you are apparently supposed to get some kind of visas. Nobody ever asked for anything.

I dunno that just sounds like a standard visitor visa that costs £100. U.K. government websites are excellent and you can apply for all this stuff yourself online.

To get a British visa you must pay a fee and physically mail your passport to VFS Services Inc. It is not possible to do it yourself online.

Source: I have a British visa.

How is it considered secure or appropriate to mail one's passport to unknown parties to do who-knows-what with it?

In SF, at least, you can do it by appointment. You go in and they'll take it from you and mail it back.

The USPS is considered secure. It's even legal to send classified secret documents by mail as long as certain procedures are followed. Many other countries also require you to mail in your passport to get a visa.

If you need to travel during that period you can obtain a second passport book from the State Department. It is a bit of extra hassle and expense.

They actually tell you to mail it by UPS only. I mailed it by USPS first and they lost it en route. I wrote my congressman and practically begged him to help. He contacted the postmaster general's office who told him that it was essentially lost for good even though the USPS was "searching for it" and that there was a 0.01% chance I'd ever see it again. My rep then contacted the state department who printed me a new passport in 48 hours, which is basically unheard of. Mailed it again by UPS and got it back just in time to leave for the UK. God what a nightmare, I am lucky to have had a great representative at that time. He really went to bat for me.

My other passport is still lost, lord knows where.

I applied for a visit visa in October. It was a straightforward process. Paid the fees (100 pounds), went for biometrics to local uscis office, uploaded supporting docs to a online portal and sent my passport to New york. It came back in 2 weeks with stamped visa.

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