Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has plans to replace the biometric service at Post Offices with the new UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service centres.

Following full rollout of the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service Centres the majority of customers will no longer use the biometric service at the Post Office. The UK VCAS will provide the biometric service in 57 locations across the UK. Sopra Steria also provide a pop up mobile service for customers who may choose a more flexible service, extending the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services beyond the main 57 locations to, for example, university campuses and employers’ offices.

In addition to UK VCAS, from January 2019, a new face-to-face application service for customers who require more support and face to face interaction with UKVI staff will open in 7 locations, these are the same locations as the previous Premium Service Centres which have been re-purposed and will be known as Service and Support Centres (SSC).