Who can file here from 31 August 2026
London serves the United Kingdom, the British Overseas Territories and Ireland — and it was the first in Europe to rewrite its visa page for the new rule, on the day itself, 31 August.
Its wording is the strictest of the eight English-language posts: you need “proof of permanent residence in the UK, Ireland, or the British Overseas Territories (e.g., the UK indefinite leave to remain or Irish long-term residency)”. That means ILR or Irish long-term residency. A Skilled Worker visa, a student visa and Global Talent do not qualify, even for someone who has lived in the country for five years. Whether pre-settled status counts the embassy has not said, and we are not going to guess on its behalf.
The criminal record certificate: ACRO or Irish
No older than six months on the day of filing — an ACRO police certificate or an Irish one. Dependants under 16 submit the main applicant’s certificate: London is the only one of the eight to have closed that question.
ACRO costs £70 at a single flat rate and takes up to 30 working days. It is issued on paper by post only: no PDF, no email, no copy in an online account. There is no fast track any more — the old premium service at £115 with a two-working-day turnaround was withdrawn back in February 2025, and the figures in agency blogs are out of date. Order the certificate as your first move: 30 working days at ACRO plus 15 working days of processing is the real calendar.
The Irish certificate from An Garda Síochána is free, takes about three weeks, is valid for 12 months and is issued on the basis of residence rather than citizenship: “resides, or formerly resided”. London accepts both — for a Briton who lives in Ireland, or lived there before, that route is cheaper and faster.
Legalisation in London is tied to the language, not to the type of document: documents in English or Thai from official bodies of the UK, Ireland, the Territories and Thailand go in as they are, everything else with a certified translation and legalisation. An English-language ACRO certificate needs no legalisation, and an apostille does not work for Thailand until 28 February 2027 in any case.
A separate trap for expats: ACRO does not post paper certificates to the UAE, Israel and a number of other countries — you need a postal address in a third country.
How filing works
- The ticket is bought before you file: you need flight confirmation from the airline with the full itinerary. Travel agency holds and “tickets on hold” are not accepted, and neither are screenshots or password-protected files.
- The applicant has to stay physically in the United Kingdom, Ireland or the Territories. If the embassy sees that someone has left, the application “will be cancelled without prior notice”.
- Interviews are in person only, at the embassy on Queen’s Gate, with originals and a queue ticket. By one applicant’s account, an application was cancelled when he could not come on the appointed day.
- Timeline: about 15 working days, plus another 15 if documents are requested, “up to 4–6 weeks for certain cases”. File six to eight weeks before departure and no earlier than 90 days.
- London does not publish the fee: its fees page is dated 1 September 2022 and has no DTV line in it. The £300 that does the rounds on agency sites is not confirmed by the embassy.
- Finances: 500,000 THB is about £11,231 on 3 September. A statement issued outside the UK, Ireland and the Territories needs a letter from the bank stating the balance in pounds, dollars or euros.
- Dependants under 16: a full birth certificate naming both parents, the parents’ passports, a sponsorship letter, their three months of statements and a utility bill.
What else matters
The embassy’s own visa-free page is out of date: it still says 60 days for British and Irish passports. From 15 September 2026 it will be 30.
What we track here
Whether pre-settled status passes as permanent residence. The size of the DTV fee, which the embassy has not named for four years running. And what triggers a summons to an in-person interview — on the single account we have, it was an unusual bank.
A package you have assembled yourself we check before filing — the Preflight Check: $300, a written report within two working days. Full support all the way to the visa is the Solo Route and Family Route.
The state of every consulate is on the live board, and the consulate assigned to your country is on the map.