While both the UK Border Agency and any number of European embassies “advise you not to make payments” before a visa is granted, the reality is that they are simply covering their own tracks (and being nice). I’ve had friends refused visas for incomplete documentation because they think they can wing it with less documentation.
Rest assured that in most cases, as long as you have all the documents (paid hotel booking, flights, et al) then the chances of you being refused a visa for short-term tourist or business purposes is low. Having ‘firm’ bookings makes your case stronger. Having said that, here are a couple of ways you can minimise the risk:
More stringent scrutiny is reserved for longer term visas. As long as you can reassure border control and embassy officials that you do not intend on overstaying, you’re fine. For instance, I’d say I’ve English proficiency equivalent to a native speaker and I hardly ever get questioned at UK Border Control; it helps to be genuinely friendly and cheerful too towards them. On the flip side, I’ve Indian and Chinese friends (to name a few ethnicities) who aren’t perhaps as ‘easy’ for a native speaker to understand because of their accent or speech mannerisms and they often get questioned longer during visa applications or at border control. The crucial thing is that if you give satisfactory answers and don’t contradict yourself – for instance, if a visa officer asks something as simple as your date of birth do NOT mess it up because doing something like that is a red-flag for them – they cannot stop you from being given a visa or entering the country.
The obvious answer is to pay for your tickets! Presuming you have solid travel plans (which is what they are trying to ask you to prove by showing tickets!) then this shouldn’t be a problem.
Of course, the one catch with this is that if your visa application is rejected, you’ve now got tickets that you are unable to use. Some airlines will allow you to get a refund under circumstances like this (even for a non-refundable ticket), as will some travel insurance policies – however many will not.
There’s a few other alternatives, each with their own advantages and disadvantages :
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘