Apply online and book an appointment at the British Consulate in Amsterdam for biometrics and presentation of documents. While there you were asked to self address an envelope in which the passport would be couriered back to the applicant when a decision was made. A couple of days later I received my passport back, with the visa having been issued in DUSSELDORF, GERMANY!
Fast forward a few years later (June 2013)... The process has changed.
After filling in the EEA FP application online you are re-directed to Worldbridge website, where you complete your details and are given an option to choose a date for an appointment to have your biometrics taken at the so called Mobile Biometric Clinic in Amsterdam.
Once biometrics are done, you are given a UKBA addressed envelope in which you must put your application and supporting documents and POST IT YOURSELF to UKBA in CROYDON! They advise trusted couriers like DHL (which will cost you about 60 euros from here) and then it’s a waiting game from thereon in.
To be fair to UKBA, my EEA Permit was decided in one day and I got my documents back via DHL in less than a week.
But I do think it’s quite an expensive and long-winded way of doing things when they have a consulate here in Amsterdam which was directly dealing with visa issues before.
As for the Mobile Biometric Clinic, it’s free if you are applying an EEA FP. Otherwise you will have to pay a fee in excess of 100 euros for your biometrics… ON TOP OF THE VISA FEE!
