What to expect when you make an international application

In the last 12 months the number of applications has increased by over 60%. This means we're currently not meeting our normal processing times and that you'll wait longer than usual to hear from us.

While we work on resuming normal processing times, we thank you for your patience and understanding. Please be assured that we've received your application or documents, and that we're working hard to progress all applications as quickly as possible.

You can find information on processing times for specific parts of the application process in the below process stage pages.

For online applications

• Once you've submitted all your details and certified documents, and paid your scrutiny fee online, you will receive an email confirming that you've successfully submitted your application. 

For paper applications

• We need to log, scan and upload your details onto our systems before we can process them. 
• You will receive an email which confirms that we've processed your details and started working on your application within 10 working days of us receiving it in the post.

We'll contact you at each stage of the process. When we contact you, we'll let you know what will happen next and whether we need any further information from you.

Unfortunately we're unable to acknowledge receipt of your documents or provide any individual progress updates in the meantime.

You don't need to contact us by email, phone or social media. We will contact you as soon as your application gets to the next stage of the process.