Following the permanent closure of the British Consulate General in Düsseldorf, delays for UK marriage visa processing are possible.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) closed its Düsseldorf office on 31st March 2011, with all of the applications made to this office from 1st March 2011 subject to potential delays as they are forwarded to the UK for processing. All UK non-settlement and settlement visa applications, including UK fiancée visa, UK marriage visa and UK unmarried partner visa applications, will be sent to the UK Visa Section in Croydon, near London.

The three WorldBridge visa application centres in Germany – in Düsseldorf, Berlin and Munich – remain unaffected, with the arrangements for accepting visa applications unchanged. It is only the UKBA Düsseldorf office at the UK Embassy that has closed, with all its UK visa processing capabilities concluded.

This means that all UK visas applied for from within Germany will now need to be sent to the UK for processing, even though the process of accepting the visas in Germany is unchanged. Such visas will be sent to the UK for processing using the services of a secure courier. Consequently, processing times may be slightly increased to incorporate the transit times to and from the UK.

The UK Embassy in Germany is therefore advising that UK marriage visas and all types of UK settlement visas applied for from Germany are given additional time before any important journeys, holidays or events to avoid difficulties. The UK Border Agency also adds that UK visas can be applied for up to three months prior to travel, leaving plenty of time for the documents to be processed and returned.