VFS Priority Service Kathmandu — UK Visa in 5 Working Days
A paid upgrade that moves your application to the front of the UKVI queue. A decision is targeted within 5 working days instead of 15, for roughly £500 on top of your visa fee. It buys speed, never a better outcome.
UK priority visa service at VFS Kathmandu targets a decision within 5 working days, against 15 working days for standard, and costs roughly £500 (about NPR 97,500) on top of the £558 visa fee. You can only buy it during online booking — not at the centre, and not after you have submitted. It is worth paying when your course start date is close and your documents are genuinely complete.
- Service
- Priority
- Target decision time
- 5 working days
- Extra fee
- About £500 (NPR ~97,500)
- Where
- VFS Kathmandu
- Best for
- Course start inside ~6 weeks with complete documents
Which UK Visa Service Should You Choose from Nepal?
| Service | Decision target | Extra fee | Available in Kathmandu? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 15 working days (~3 weeks) | None | Yes — the default |
| Priority | 5 working days | ~£500 (NPR ~97,500) | Yes, subject to slot availability |
| Super Priority | End of next working day | ~£1,000 (NPR ~1.95 lakhs) | No, in HOA’s experience — New Delhi |
Decision targets: UK Visas and Immigration service standards for non-settlement applications. Fees converted at the Nepal Rastra Bank reference rate of NPR 195 to the pound and rounded — confirm the exact charge in the booking flow.
How to settle availability for yourself: priority services can only be purchased inside the online appointment booking flow — never at the centre, and never after submission. Start a booking for Kathmandu and look at which options appear. That is the authoritative answer for your route and your date.
Where Is the VFS UK Visa Centre in Kathmandu?
The UK Visa Application Centre in Kathmandu is at Rotary Complex Building, Thapathali, Kathmandu. It relocated from Chhaya Complex in Thamel — many search results, map listings and consultancy pages still show the old Thamel address, so check the address on your own appointment confirmation email before you travel.
The Thamel centre closed. Students still turn up there because a stale Google result or a competitor’s page told them to. A missed biometric appointment usually means rebooking and losing days you may not have — and appointment slots are scarce in the June to September peak.
- Centre
- UK Visa Application Centre, operated by VFS Global
- Location
- Rotary Complex Building, Thapathali, Kathmandu
- Previous address
- Chhaya Complex, Thamel — closed, do not go there
- Who decides your visa
- UKVI, not VFS. VFS collects biometrics and documents only
- Appointments
- Pre-booked online; walk-ins are not accepted
- Confirm before travelling
- The address on your appointment confirmation email
Not sure which service you need?Send us your course start date and CAS status and we will tell you whether standard is enough — free, and we will say so plainly when paying for speed would be wasted money.
Free WhatsApp checkCommon Questions About VFS Kathmandu · Priority Service
Roughly £500 — about NPR 97,500 at NPR 195 to the pound — on top of the £558 visa fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge. Confirm the exact amount in the booking flow, since UKVI reviews these fees annually and the NPR figure moves with the exchange rate.
UKVI targets a decision within 5 working days from your biometric appointment, against 15 for standard. Working days exclude weekends and UK public holidays, so five working days is usually a full calendar week or slightly more.
No. The priority fee is non-refundable whether you are approved or refused, and it is also not refunded if the application happens to take longer than 5 working days. You are buying a queue position, not a guaranteed timeline.
No. It changes the speed of the decision and nothing else. The same caseworker applies the same rules under Appendix Student. A weak application is simply refused sooner.
When your course start date is inside about six weeks, your CAS is issued, your 28-day balance is complete and your TB certificate is valid. If any of those is missing, the money is wasted — fix the application first.
No. Priority can only be purchased inside the online appointment booking process. It cannot be bought at the centre, added afterwards, or applied retrospectively. This is the single most common mistake we see — students decide they need speed a week later and find the option is gone.
It is subject to availability and slot volume. UKVI has restricted priority appointment volumes in the past, particularly for visitor visas. If the option does not appear when you book, it is not currently available for your route and date.
Priority targets a decision in 5 working days; Super Priority targets the end of the next working day and costs about £1,000. In HOA’s experience Super Priority is not offered at the Kathmandu centre. Super Priority explained →
Get your documents checked before you book — free
Most refusals from Nepal come from financial evidence and document errors, not from processing speed. We check every file against the UKVI list before you pay a fee. House of Admissions is free to students at every stage.
Apply free WhatsApp a counsellorRelated Guides
Sources
- GOV.UK — Student visa (fees and processing standards).
- UKVI — Financial evidence for Student route applicants.
- VFS Global — appointment booking, service availability and centre details.
- Availability of priority services at the Kathmandu centre: House of Admissions operational experience, 2016–2026 (self-reported).
Last updated 21 Oct 2026. Fees and decision targets are reviewed by UKVI and change without much notice — confirm the current figures in the booking flow before you pay. Decision times are targets, not guarantees, and nothing on this page is immigration advice; for a decision on your specific case, consult a regulated adviser.