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Skip to content A UK Visitor Visa is available to foreign nationals who want to visit friends and relatives or spend a vacation in the UK.
To talk about your visitor visa UK, call our immigration lawyers at 02033844389 for a free chat or fill out our online form.
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If you plan to stay in the UK, you will most likely need to apply for a Standard Visitor Visa (UK). Visitor visas in the UK let you stay for up to six months and may be used for work or pleasure, among other things.
Depending on why you want to come, there are different types of visitor visas. You can get a business visit visa, a tourist visa to visit the UK for vacations, an academic visit visa, a marriage guest visa to get married or form a civil partnership, and more.
In general, all Standard UK Visitor Visas are short-term visas that let the person stay for no more than six months. You are free to come and go from the UK as long as your visa is still valid.
As a non-EEA citizen looking for a vacation visa, the normal visiting visa to UK territories will let you enjoy your time off for up to six months. A UK standard visa, also called a UK tourist visa, is what you need if you are coming to see family, see places, or just travel in general. Tourists from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who want to visit the UK usually need a standard tourist visa.
As long as you need to enter the UK for short-term business reasons, like conferences, events, or business meetings, the general visitor visa UK will let you do business there for up to six months. It will not let you work for money with companies in the UK. If you want to do more business, you might need to apply for a different type of visa, like a UK Business Visa.
This type of visa lets you study for up to six months. If you want to apply, you need to show proof that you have been accepted into a study or module that lasts less than three months.
With a standard tourist visa, you can go to the UK for things like private medical care.
If you are not from an EEA country or Switzerland, you need to fill out an application form on the gov.uk website in order to get a normal visa.
But the rules for getting a UK visa can be hard to understand, and there may be more options based on where you live. If you’re not sure if you need a tourist visa to visit the UK, you should talk to a lawyer or check the Home Office website.
While you are in the UK with a Visitor Visa, you can do the following things for up to 6 months:
If you have a Visitor Visa UK, you won’t be able to:
In order to be eligible for a UK Visitor Visa, applicants must meet the following basic requirements:
There may be other requirements you’ll have to meet if you want to come to the UK to study, do a placement, or take a test. You might have to fulfil these requirements if you are an academic, a senior doctor, or a dentist, or you need medical treatment. If you want to apply for a UK travel visa, you can talk to one of our immigration lawyers for free.
The Home Office will check that you really want to visit by looking at your reasons for coming, your past immigration records, the number and length of visits you’ve made before, your personal and financial ties to your home country, and other things.
Being a guest in the UK, the Home Office doesn’t say how much money you need. They will figure out how much your stay is likely to cost (meals, lodging, transportation, etc.) and compare that to the money you have on hand. Additionally, they will look at your current debts to see if you are likely to have enough money to pay for your stay here.
The Home Office will want to be sure that you are not coming to the UK on a Visitor Visa and then staying there by making more trips. They’ll look at your travel history, the reason you’re going, how long you plan to stay, how many times you’ve been to the UK in the last 12 months (and how long you stayed each time), how long it’s been since your last visit, and whether you’ve spent more time in the UK than in your home country.
Along with your application for a visit visa for UK, you must send proof to the Home Office to show that you are eligible for one. If you don’t have an EEA visa, you’ll need to show that:
To get your visa accepted, you’ll need to give information about your current and previous passports or another valid form of identification that can be used for travel.
If the paperwork isn’t in English or Welsh, it needs to be supported by a certified translation.
Other documents may be needed, such as:
There are strict rules about immigration, and the Home Office turns down many visas because there isn’t enough proof. It’s our job at UK Immigration Solicitors to help you figure out what you need to do to make a good application.
To help you show your eligibility and support your case, you can get help organising and sending in documents and proof. Get in touch with the team here at UK Immigration Solicitors if you need help and confidence. You can also call 02033844389 instead.
You have the best chance of getting a visa because our immigration lawyers are fully trained and have a lot of experience.
The following steps are necessary to apply for a UK Visitor Visa:
Most of the time, you’ll hear back about your Visitor Visa application within 3 weeks.
There are many reasons why the Home Office may refuse a visitor visa, such as if they think:
Most of the time, you won’t be able to challenge a refusal of a Visitor Visa. Usually, we suggest that you fill out a new application that includes an explanation for why your previous application was turned down. If you need help with your new application, our visit visa solicitors can make sure it meets all the requirements for a successful result.
The UK Visitor visa is only meant to let you stay for a short time. If your visa was granted for less than 6 months, you may be able to extend it for up to 6 months. You can only stay longer than 6 months on a Visitor visa if you need to be here for medical reasons, to study, or because you are a graduate who needs to retake a Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test or do a clinical attachment. At the moment, it costs £1000 to renew a Visitor visa.
The visitor visa lets foreigners who are subject to UK immigration rules come to the country for a short time for a number of reasons. This is because the normal visit visa UK covers a number of different types of visas for travelling to the UK, such as:
People who are not from the EEA but want to visit family in the UK must apply for a UK family visiting visa. You can stay in the UK for up to six months to visit family with this visa. People with a family visit visa cannot work or get public funds while they are in the UK. Furthermore, you are not allowed to bring dependents with you. This means that if you want to travel with family, each person must have a valid UK family visit visa.
Another thing is that UK family visit visas are harder to get than other types of UK visas. Family visas have strict requirements and a difficult application process for foreigners who are subject to UK immigration rules.
To stay longer than six months, you’ll have to show proof that you have enough money to support yourself and that you plan to go back home at the end of that time. Getting a family visitor visa in the UK is hard because of the rules, but our OISC-regulated immigration lawyers can help you understand how the process works.
Anyone from outside the EEA who is under 18 years old and wants to visit the UK must first apply for a child visitor visa. This is a standard visitor visa, and anyone under 18 who wants to come to the UK needs one. The child tourist visa lets you stay in the UK for up to six months, whether you’re going to see family or friends, taking part in an exchange program, or going to school. People who want to apply for child visas need to be very careful.
It doesn’t matter if the child or parent is applying; they have to show that the person under 18 will have a safe place to stay and care for during their stay. As part of the application, they might have to show that they have enough money and trip plans. You also need to make sure that the child has a legal parent or guardian in their home country who is responsible for their care.
You’ll need to apply for a student visitor visa if you are a visitor to the UK and want to learn for a short time. People from other countries can study in the UK for longer than six months with a student visa. A points-based method is used to measure it. You can go to the UK to study for longer with a short-term study visa, but you have to take an English language course.
To put it simply, the student traveler visa won’t help you if you or the applicant want to go to the UK to study for an undergraduate degree or another long-term course.
However, if you are an international student looking to study for no more than six months to get a short-term qualification, this is the visa you need to apply for.
Do not mix up the business visitor visa with other job and business visas for the UK, like the investor visa, the skilled worker visa, or the tier 1 entrepreneur visa. You can stay in the UK for up to six months with a Business Visitor Visa, and you can only do certain business-related things while you’re there.
For instance, some things that can be done with a business visitor visa are:
For example, you can’t get paid to work, work for a UK company, or get money from the UK government. There is no difference between working for someone else and being self-employed when it comes to the business visitor visa.
If you’re going to the UK on a “stopover flight,” you should check the UK Home Office page to see what visa requirements you need. Different rules apply to visitors who are just passing through.
A visitor-in-transit visa is likely what you’ll need if you’re just stopping over in the UK and plan to leave the airport while you wait for your next trip.
You’ll need to show immigration officials that you have the right to stay in the UK for up to 48 hours before your next flight. You’ll also need to show them that you plan to leave. For this type of visa, UK immigration laws say you need to show proof of your travel papers and plans for getting into the country and going on to another country.
The normal visitor visa for the UK lets people do this kind of travel, which is called “transiting landside.” You need this visa if you want to go through customs before leaving the UK in the next 48 hours.
A lot of different things are taken into account by UK immigration rules when it comes to transit visas. The types of visas you need for the UK depend on your country, the airline you’re flying with, and the length of your stay (whether it’s on land or in the air). If you come to the UK just to pass through without permission, an immigration worker might not let you in.