Offer of "an opportunity to withdraw your UK Visa application" – must I sign the form?

5/10/2023 2:22:45 PM

TL;DR Phishing – Delete

As already noted, there are a number of red flags. But the biggest issue is that they’re asking you to fill the form. There are reasons to withdraw an application. For example, based on the numerous issues about problems if you lie on an application, it might be better to withdraw a not-quite-100%-true application and submit a new, correct and true application than to try and explain your way out of a problem. If this were somehow legitimate (e.g., maybe somebody pressed a button somewhere and now you need to confirm "withdraw application"), then any "form" would be absolutely minimal, just whatever is necessary to confirm you agree to withdraw the application – e.g., confirm birthdate and application number – enough to verify you submitted the original but not enough for someone to submit a new application.

However, I’d be willing to bet that the "form" here has a lot of key personal information waiting for you to fill it in. Stuff like:

  • Full name
  • Current address
  • ID numbers (equivalent of US Social Security Number)
  • Date of birth (by itself it means little, with everything else it means a lot)
  • Bank Account details (which can be legitimate in an application to verify funds availability, but which would not be needed to cancel an application)

The big question is why did you get this? There are a few possibilities:

  • You have not (or not recently) applied for a visa – in which case this is a guaranteed random phishing scam. They found your email somewhere (hacked web site, purchased a list, hacked someone else’s email, etc.) and sent this to you (and thousands of other people).
  • You have recently applied for a visa – still most likely the same scam. Out of any given a population, a certain percentage will have recently applied for a visa (just as a certain percentage will have recently used Amazon or eBay or PayPal or any particular banking web site, etc.)
  • You have recently applied for a visa through a third party system. This would be a big concern because it is possible that someone hacked into that system. Or even worse – the system itself may be a scam, designed to trick you into providing more and more information at every step of the way, including "withdrawing" the application. So if you have applied for a visa, check to make sure you did directly to the appropriate government system. If not, you may already be a victim of identity theft.
  • You have recently applied for a visa through the appropriate government system and that system was hacked. Actually not terribly likely. Not that those systems don’t get hacked. But because if they did then it is likely they (the bad guys) would already have your information, whether you fill out any form now or not.

But 99% chance it is essentially a random phishing attack. Delete. Done.

5/12/2023 10:16:32 AM

The process for an applicant to voluntarily cancel or withdraw a UK visa application is published on this official page https://www.gov.uk/cancel-visa

For a visa application to be accepted by UKVI, it must be deemed valid (meet all of the validity requirements set out in the relevant Immigration Rules). If an application contains an error or omission that the applicant can take action to rectify, UKVI will contact the applicant giving them 14 days to do so. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/specified-application-forms-and-procedures/validation-variation-voiding-and-withdrawal-of-applications-accessible The contact will be issued from an official UKVI source, for example an email address ending .fco.gov.uk. If the applicant does not respond within this period the application will typically be rejected and the application fee refunded minus a £25 administration fee.

Unless you are certain that the email you received comes from an official source (try googling it if you’re unsure), the odds are vanishingly low that it is legitimate. If you don’t think it’s legitimate, if I were you I would report it as a suspected scam: https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing/report-visa-and-immigration-scams and then I would delete it.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

Search Posts

Latest posts

Popular posts