UK eVisa for Indian visitors: no sticker, and what to do

What changed

UK visit visas used to be printed as a vignette, a sticker on a passport page. GOV.UK’s visitor page now says: “If approved, you’ll receive an eVisa”. Reports from February 2026 say visit applications paid on or after 25 February 2026 receive an eVisa only, with no vignette at all.

Nothing changes about who qualifies. The Appendix V test, the supporting documents and the fees are the same. What changes is the proof: your permission to visit lives in a Home Office record, and your passport is what connects you to it.

After approval: three steps

These are GOV.UK’s own steps, in order. Do them as soon as the approval reaches you, not the night before your flight, so any problem surfaces while there is still time to sort it out.

Your passport and the VFS visit

With no sticker to print, the passport no longer has to stay with the visa centre while the application is decided. Applicants are reported to attend the centre once, give biometrics and leave with their passport the same day.

That helps if you have another visa application to make or a trip to take while the UK decision is pending. It is not a reason to switch passports mid-application: keep using the passport you applied with unless you genuinely have to replace it.

Renewing your passport during a long-term visa

This matters most for long-term visit visas of 2, 5 or 10 years, which can easily outlast the passport they were granted on. A renewed Indian passport carries a new number. Update your UKVI account with the new passport before you book travel on it, so that the record, the passport and you still line up.

Children’s long-term visas are granted only “to 6 months past their 18th birthday”, so a 10-year visa applied for at 14 will not run its full length. Check the end date in the eVisa record rather than assuming ten years.

Holders of older vignettes

If you already have a UK visa sticker in your passport, GOV.UK says it “will remain valid until it expires”. Travel on it as before, and keep that passport as long as the vignette is in date. Your next application will be issued under the eVisa process.

Other countries’ e-visas and UK transit

Indians flying through London to a third country normally need a Direct Airside Transit visa, unless they hold an exempting document such as a valid visa for Canada, New Zealand, Australia or the USA, or a UK Standard Visitor visa.

Here the electronic format cuts the other way. GOV.UK says: “E-visas or e-residence permits are not acceptable unless your airline is able to verify it with the issuing country.” Australian and New Zealand visitor visas are issued electronically, so if you are relying on one to transit Heathrow without a transit visa, ask your airline before you fly whether it can verify that visa.

For transit through immigration control without a visa, the line is firmer still: “E-visas or e-residence permits are not acceptable for transiting through immigration control without a visa.”

Tickets and the eVisa

Whenever the journey is booked, the name on it should match the passport attached to your UKVI account exactly, since that passport is what ties you to the permission.

The eVisa does not change any other country’s rules. If the same trip needs a Schengen visa, that application still asks for a flight reservation and hotel bookings, and its dates should match the dates you gave the UK.

Questions people ask