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Skip to content The UK Ancestry visa lets Commonwealth and British Overseas people live, work, and study in the UK if they have a grandparent who was born in the UK, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man.
To talk about your UK Ancestry Visa application, call our immigration lawyers at 02033844389 for a free phone chat or fill out our online form.
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Getting an Ancestry Visa UK may be possible if you are from a Commonwealth country and one of your grandparents was born in the UK. The visa is valid for five years. You can now live, work, and go to school in the UK. After five years, you can either ask for your position to be renewed or changed to “settled.”
To get an Ancestry Visa, you don’t need to have a job offer in the UK before you apply. That makes the path a lot easier for those who are. With this type of visa, you won’t be able to get state funds, so proof that you can pay your own expenses will be very important.
Since you are applying as a family member of a British person, you will need to show proof in great detail that they are British. It can be hard to find these for grandparents who have been away from the UK for a long time.
Speak to our experienced assessment team now to confirm your eligibility and options for free on 02033844389.
If you want to get a UK Ancestry Visa, you need to meet these conditions:
You must also have at least one of the following family conditions:
This type of visa can also be used if you or a parent were adopted or born in the UK, whether you were married or not.
Through your stepparents, you can’t say that you have UK heritage.
You can’t apply for a UK ancestry visa from inside the UK.
You have to use the gov.uk website to send in your application.
Additionally, you must make and show up for a meeting at a nearby visa application centre as part of your application. They will take your fingerprints and a picture of you there as part of your biometrics.
Your application should be turned in no more than three months before you go to the UK.
You will need the following things in order to apply:
You may also need to show the following papers, based on your situation:
Depending on your situation, you may need other papers as well. We will be able to tell you what papers you need if you apply through the Immigration Advice Service.
The cost of ancestry visa UK is £637.
You and your family members will also have to pay an extra £1,035 for NHS healthcare while you are in the UK. This is for adults and £776 for children under 18.
There may be extra costs during the application process as well, like if you need to have official papers translated into English.
Application for an Ancestry visa can take up to three weeks to process. There may be a priority processing service you can pay for that will get your application handled faster, but it will cost you extra.
To get started you can either call us at 02033844389 or complete the assessment form and one of the team will call you
If you have an Ancestry visa and stay in the UK for 5 years, you might be able to ask for indefinite leave to remain, which is the UK’s term for permanent settlement.
All of the following must be true for you to be eligible:
To get indefinite leave to stay, you have to pay £2,885. You should apply no more than 28 days before the end of your 5-year period.
On the gov.uk website, you should fill out an application.
It can be frustrating to have your application for a UK Ancestry Visa turned down. The following are some of the most popular reasons why people say no:
If your application for an Ancestry Visa is turned down, you will not be able to automatically appeal, unless there was a clear mistake in the decision-making process.
In other words, if you think your application should have been accepted, you could ask for an official review of the order.
If your application is denied, our immigration solicitors can help. Our team will tell you what to do next based on the reason your application was turned down so that it can be approved. You can call our immigration experts at 02033844389.
You can do the following with a British Ancestor visa:
You can’t:
If you are already in the UK on a different type of visa, you can move to this one. You can also apply to get public funds, like welfare benefits.
If you want to get ILR, you will have to show that you have lived in the UK for 5 years straight. In the last five years, you have spent no more than 180 days outside of the UK in any one year. Applicants must also really want to work while they are in the UK. Spending a lot of time outside the UK may indicate that this is not your aim and damage your visa.
You can renew or extend your UK ancestry visa online before the end of your current leave time if you want to stay longer than the initial 5 years. People who have lived in the UK continuously for 5 years and don’t want to or can’t apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain can renew or extend their UK family visa. This can be because of pending criminal convictions.
You must apply for an extension on your Ancestry visa UK before it runs out. You can also include family members who rely on you if they are applying at the same time.
If you continue to meet the requirements, the rules say that your Ancestry visa UK can be renewed as many times as you need it to be.
It costs £1,048 to extend your Ancestry visa, and people who want to do so must also pay the NHS healthcare extra.