Tickets to UK before or after Visa confirmation

[franglese]

Hi. I am a UK native currently living in France. My Russian girlfriend and I are planning a 2-week trip to UK at Christmas and are going through the Visa application process.

The tickets/ accommodation section of the application form is inconsistent/unclear:
on one hand it advises you not to book travel tickets etc. until you have a final response regarding visa from UKVI and on the other it says you must present proof of accommodation/ travel at the face to face meeting with the advisor! Surely these two are incompatible.

Can anyone help?
Thank you in advance.

[Lucapooka]

No, there are no questions relating to tickets or proof of travel on the application form. The face to face meeting you seem to be referring to is merely to hand over the application at the VAC. The person is not an advisor and should not be asking for material that is not required. If your GF is, indeed, asked for her flight info, you should complain as that is not within the scope of the VAC's duties.

[glitter]

if you check the official guidance for visa processing times for the visa you are applying for you can plan you trip and present the tickets and accommodation arrangements (and if you are staying with your parents, get the statement from them that they are ok to accommodate your girlfriend during the stay)

[Lucapooka]

Accommodation arrangements must be presented with the visa application only in circumstances where a sponsor in the UK is providing this (the applicant is to be the guest of the sponsor). Flight bookings are never required in any circumstances. Furthermore, anyone planning a private visit to the UK is not required to give evidence of flights or hotel bookings, as clearly this type of confirmation is contingent on being granted a visa is the first place. In this latter case, the only thing that matters is that there is evidence of sufficient resources to pay for flights and hotel accommodation in the event of the visa being issued, and all that is needed is a regular income stream into a bank account that would service a bank card used to make the payment when the applicant is inside the UK.