Pick an appointment date

Calculation of date 3 months before visa start date

A simple manual method of calculating 3 months is to look at the day of the visa start date (x) and then calculate the earliest appointment day in the month as value(x+1). For example, if your proposed visa start date is May 5, 2024 then the earliest appointment is February 6, 2024.

TLS calculation of 3 months

Until 2024 the earliest time for an appointment was 90 days before the visa start date. In 2024 it is three months

Depending on which month the visa start date lands the number of days in three months in 2024 (which is a leap year) ranges between 90 and 92 days with most dates being 92 or 91 days

I am aware that some TLS staff may still be using a utility which calculates the number of days between dates.  Your calculation of 3 months might then appear to TLS to be 92 days. This might then lead to an interesting discussion!   You can avoid this by not choosing an appointment date which is exactly three months before the visa start date.

Picking the appointment date

Here are examples of the thinking process when choosing an appointment date.  They uses a visa start date of Thursday 27 June. For calculations with other dates you need to take the day of the week into account in all the stages

Example 1

1) Chosen visa start date is Thursday 27 June

2) Earliest appointment is three months before which is Thur 28 March 

3) Avoid going to the right to limit of 3 months so delay until Friday 29 March (this is still tight!)

4) In 2024 appointments for 29 March will be visible on Monday 4 March based on 4 weeks availability

5) Set up the online side without making the appointment in the week before say Tuesday Wednesday so you have time to deal with any possible OTP problems etc

6) Book your appointment on the Monday when new appointments are visible

Example 2

A) Chosen visa start date is Thursday 27 June

B) Earliest appointment is three months before which is Thur 28 March

C) Avoid going to the right to limit of 3 months, play safe, so delay until Monday 1 April

D) Appointments for 1 April will be visible on Monday 11 March based on 4 weeks availability

E) Set up the online side without making the appointment in the week before say Tuesday Wednesday so you have time to deal with any possible OTP problem. etc

F) Book your appointment on the Monday when new appointments are visible