My point was this: The article compared (i) the UK's 10-page form with (ii) the USA's visa waiver program. However, this isn't a fair comparison. The USA's visa waiver form requires pre-registration and payment. The UK's equivalent does not. The USA's visa waiver program applies to 28 countries. The UK's equivalent applies to 56 countries, plus all EU countries.
Regarding your question: I have had to do that (to get a visa for India) and I found it surprising and inconvenient. Now that I book all travel online, though, it's not that difficult. I wouldn't call it 'tormenting'.
Even with a digital record of air ticket purchases, I find it basically impossible to fill these things out to the detail that's requested. They want a record of the exact dates you've entered and exited every country, but I've crossed uncontrolled Schengen borders probably hundreds of times, usually with just a local transit ticket, nothing that shows up in my email with a receipt like airfare would. If they counted "the Schengen zone" as de-facto a country (for visa purposes), I might have a chance of filling the application out accurately, but at least formally I'm supposed to state the exact date for every time I exited Denmark and entered Sweden, which there is no way I can do.
My point was this: The article compared (i) the UK's 10-page form with (ii) the USA's visa waiver program. However, this isn't a fair comparison. The USA's visa waiver form requires pre-registration and payment. The UK's equivalent does not. The USA's visa waiver program applies to 28 countries. The UK's equivalent applies to 56 countries, plus all EU countries.
Regarding your question: I have had to do that (to get a visa for India) and I found it surprising and inconvenient. Now that I book all travel online, though, it's not that difficult. I wouldn't call it 'tormenting'.