# UK rules changed on 3 August: for Indians it is one line about diplomatic passports

> Statement of changes HC 259 took effect on 3 August. For Indian visitors the substantive change is a diplomatic-passport exemption; £135 is unchanged.

- Published: 2026-08-20
- Author: VisaGyan (VisaGyan)
- Canonical: https://visagyan.in/uk-immigration-rules-3-august-what-changed-indians
- Official sources:
  - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-changes-to-the-immigration-rules-hc-259-9-july-2026
  - https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor/apply-standard-visitor-visa

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The Home Office's latest statement of changes came into force on 3 August, and Indian travel forums have been trading guesses about it since. The honest summary: for an ordinary Indian passport holder, nothing changed. The one India-specific line concerns **diplomatic passports**.

## What HC 259 does

Laid before Parliament on 9 July 2026 and effective 3 August, it makes two adjustments to Appendix V: Visitor. The first is technical — the suitability rules now allow certain periods of overstaying to be disregarded where the exceptions for overstayers apply, and treat immigration bail under the same exception. The second adds a new exemption covering "a national of India who holds a diplomatic passport issued by India."

Two changes to the Electronic Travel Authorisation rules landed on the same date, adding "or suspended" to the sentencing criteria in the ETA suitability provisions. Applications made before 3 August are decided under the rules in force on 2 August.

## What it does not do

It does not open the ETA to Indian nationals — that misreading circulates every time an ETA change is published. The ETA is a pre-travel authorisation for visa-exempt nationalities; India is visa-required, so the route stays the Standard Visitor visa, as explained in [the UK ETA for Indians](/uk-eta-explained).

It does not touch fees either: £135 for the Standard Visitor visa since 8 April, with the long-term options unchanged. And it does not alter what actually decides these applications — evidence of the trip, funding and reasons to return, which is where most Indian refusals happen. See [UK visit visa for Indians](/uk-visit-visa-for-indians) and [refusal reasons and reapplying](/uk-visa-refusal-reasons-reapply).

*VisaGyan is an independent journal, not affiliated with the Home Office or UKVI. Read the statement of changes on GOV.UK before relying on any summary, including this one.*