How quickly can you expect to receive a visa from the UK embassy, and what documentation is typically required?

I applied for the visa and received it within 5 days. I applied on Monday evening, received an email requesting additional documents by Wednesday midday, submitted them straight away, and was approved by the end of the day on Friday.

To be honest, I approached it quite casually and didn’t put much thought or effort into it. When I first submitted the application, I included some documents, but as I said, not much effort: I attached a plane ticket for an onward journey (I wasn’t sure when I actually wanted to travel yet), one bank statement, one payslip, and one of my contracts (which was only for 3 months). They then requested additional documents (as shown in the picture).

For proof of remote employment, I wrote the letter myself (with help from ChatGPT), explaining that I do contract roles remotely, etc. I didn’t use anything fancy, just a Word document, and signed it as the director of my company. I didn’t even sign it manually—I just typed my full name and added 'Director of [company name]'. I then took screenshots of my last 3 job contracts (3 months each) and included them in the letter.

Note: I only established my company in January this year, and I started contracting the same month. I also submitted a bank statement showing three times the amount of money they required. For the photo, I took a selfie with my phone and edited the background to white as requested.

I also bought a proper plane ticket and sent the proof of it.

Settle status doc as proof of address.

That was it. It was for the UK embassy. I hope this helps!