What You Need to Apply for a Visit Visa to the U.K.

These are meant for people wishing to stay in the U.K. for up to six months usually for activities such as tourism and visiting family

A visit visa allows a person to visit the United Kingdom for short periods, usually for up to six months at a time. The rules governing the grant of visit visas are complex and we will consider some of those here.

What are visit visas for?

The visit visa “route is for a person who wants to visit the U.K. for a temporary period, usually for up to six months, for purposes such as tourism, visiting friends or family, carrying out a business activity, or undertaking a short course of study.’’

There are three types of visitors:

Standard Visitor: those seeking to undertake activities set out in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities, for example tourism and visiting family, usually for up to six months. A Standard Visitor may apply for a visit visa of six months, two-, five- or ten-years validity. However each stay in the U.K. must not exceed the permitted length of stay endorsed on the visit visa, usually six months.

Marriage/Civil Partnership Visitor: for those seeking to come to the U.K. to marry or form a civil partnership or give notice of marriage or civil partnership.

Transit Visitor: for those who want to transit the U.K. on route to another country outside the Common Travel Area and who will enter the U.K. for up to 48 hours by crossing the U.K. border unless Appendix Visitor: Transit Without Visa Scheme applies.

Visitors cannot work in the U.K. unless this is expressly allowed under the permitted activities set out in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities.

There are different categories of visit visas, each with their own eligibility requirements. We will consider the entry and validity requirements, the suitability requirements as well as extensions of stay as a visitor and cancellation of visit visas.

Eligibility requirements

All visitors in all categories must be able to show that they meet the ‘genuine visitor’ requirement. A genuine visitor is one who:

(a) will leave the U.K. at the end of their visit

(b) will not live in the U.K. for extended periods through frequent or successive visits, or make the U.K. their main home

(c) is genuinely seeking entry or stay for a purpose that is permitted under the Visitor route as set out in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities and

(d) will not undertake any of the prohibited activities set out in V 4.4. to V 4.6; and

(e) must have sufficient funds to cover all reasonable costs in relation to their visit without working or accessing public funds, including the cost of the return or onward journey, any costs relating to their dependants, and the cost of planned activities such as private medical treatment. The applicant must show that any funds they rely upon are held in a financial institution permitted under FIN 2.1 in Appendix Finance.

The funds can be provided by a third party, often referred to as a sponsor, if the sponsor meets the criteria at paragraph V 4.3, which are that the sponsor:

• has a genuine professional or personal relationship with the visitor,
• is in the U.K. lawfully (or will be at the time of the visitor’s entry)
• can and will provide support for the intended duration of the visitor’s stay.

Once a visitor has established they are ‘genuine’, there may be additional eligibility requirements depending on the purpose of their visit to the U.K.

Standard Visit Visas

The ‘standard visitor’ category includes visitors who are coming to the U.K. for the reasons mentioned in the introduction to Appendix V, such as tourism and visiting friends and family.

The rules for entering the U.K. as a standard visitor are different for ‘visa nationals’ and ‘non-visa nationals’. Visa nationals have to apply for and be granted a visit visa before they travel otherwise they will automatically be refused entry. Non-visa nationals can apply for a visit visa before they travel but have the option of applying when they arrive at the U.K. border at a port or airport. Non-visa nationals can enter the U.K. using eGates which automatically grant entry clearance as a standard visitor. The list of visa nationals is set out in Appendix Visitor: Visa national list.

This is the first of a series of articles on visit visas to the U.K.