"Applicants no longer need to go to the British High Commission for visa, unless they are called for interview," Lawson Ross, director of the UK visas of the British High Commission, told reporters at the high commission auditorium in the city yesterday.

Visa applicants will have to pay extra Tk 400 for the new system, in addition to the existing visa fees.

A commercial organisation will run the centre representing the high commission. However, Ross did not name the organisation.

The new centre will host waiting lounge, snacks, photocopier and other facilities to end visa seekers' hassles, who currently wait in long queues for several hours.

The high commission will set up the centre in Gulshan-Baridhara area, and might launch another in Sylhet later.

"These new improvements will be for the convenience of all our visa customers," said Nick Bostin, entry clearance manager of the high commission, who was present at the press conference.

"But it doesn't mean that we're making any changes to our UK immigration regulations," Ross clarified, "UK immigration regulations remain unchanged."

Visa applicants will be able to arrange interview schedule convenient to them through the new centre. Applicants not requiring interview will get visa from it the next day they apply, said high commission officials.

Application for the UK visa has been steadily increasing over the last few years, said the officials. The high commission received 18,000 visa applications three years back, while it got 38,000 applications last year.

The number of overall application rises by 30 percent every year, they observed.