As of October, applicants for UK visas will wait only 3-5 days instead of the current 15 business days, Lord David Puttman, the UK Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia said on Monday. This is one of the changes to the UK Government’s visa policy announced by the official on September 30 during his working visit to Vietnam. For the 12 months leading up to June 2013, the number of UK visa applications filed by Vietnamese amounted to 13,700. Over the past two years, the demand for UK visas in Vietnam increased by 15 percent. During his stay in Vietnam, Lord David Puttman also visited the special exhibition titled “From the Past to the Future” that kicked off on Monday in Hanoi. With about 100 paintings on display, the exhibition depicts important images of Vietnam-UK relations from the past 40 years. Earlier on September 5, the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK conducted a solemn ceremony in Cadogan Hall, Central London, to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.