The UK’s visa application center based in Jinan, capital city of Shandong province is open to the public on April 28 after being refurbished.

The center has been expanded to 240 square meters from the original 111 square meters.

The Jinan center has doubled in size and increased its capacity, and the changes will provide excellent professional services for customers, said Dominique Hardy, regional manager of UK Visas and Immigration.

Britain has refurbished, expanded and upgraded all of its 12 visa centers across China, the largest-ever investment in its visa application center network in China.

Last year, Britain saw visa applications from Chinese nationals rise by 31 percent over 2012, said Hardy.

Britain processed around 380,000 applications from Chinese nationals in 2013, and 96 percent of the applications were successful.

The Jinan center received 8000 applications for UK last year, an increase of 37 percent over 2012.

In addition to Jinan, the UK has built application centers in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Shenzhen and Wuhan.

By Zhao Ruixue