The first part deals with the application process, and is relevant to all applicants for a visit visa. The second part is on appeals. Only certain family members are entitled to an appeal. The page will explain which ones when it reaches that point.
Before you apply
Allow plenty of time
In most cases, the Home Office will issue your visa on the day you apply for it. But sometimes it takes longer. If the Home Office refuses your application and you appeal, it will be several weeks or more before they will issue the visa, if your appeal is allowed. The Home Office recommends that you apply at least three months before you intend to travel.
There are times when people need to travel urgently - to visit a very sick relative, for instance. If you need to obtain a visa quickly, apply to the Home Office explaining your situation and they will do their best to help you, but you should allow ample time.
Plan ahead
Decide exactly why you are coming to the UK. Most people planning a short trip of up to six months need a visit visa. If you want to stay longer, or for some other reason (to work or get married, for instance), you will need a different kind of visa. If you apply for a visit visa but you intend to find work or settle in the UK, the Home Office will refuse your application.
You should also try to find out about the UK immigration system. The more you know before you start, the easier it will be to understand what is happening when you make your application. In particular, it will help you to know something about the immigration rules and the application procedure. There is a list of some useful leaflets below.
Think about whether or not you should take legal advice. If you have read this page and still have doubts about what to do next, you may well need specialist legal help. Good advice can be very reassuring, though, if your case is simple, you may not need it. If you decide to take legal immigration advice, make sure that you use an OISC-registered immigration lawyer.
Know the rules
The language of the rules is technical, but you will need to have some idea of what they mean for you. Apart from citizens of the European Economic Area, everyone who comes to the UK as a visitor must satisfy rule 41 of the Immigration Rules:
41. The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as a visitor are that he:
(i) is genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for a limited period as stated by him, not exceeding 6 months; and
(ii) intends to leave the United Kingdom at the end of the period of the visit as stated by him; and
(iii) does not intend to take employment in the United Kingdom; and
(iv) does not intend to produce goods or provide services within the United Kingdom, including the selling of goods or services direct to members of the public; and
(v) does not intend to study at a maintained school; and
(vi) will maintain and accommodate himself and any dependants adequately out of resources available to him without recourse to public funds or taking employment; or will, with any dependants, be maintained and accommodated adequately by relatives or friends; and
(vii) can meet the cost of the return or onward journey.
Prepare your evidence
Before you apply, you should gather evidence to show that you can meet these requirements. The suggestions that follow are intended only for guidance. There are other documents which would be acceptable. Do not worry if you cannot provide them all, but do not assume that you will get a visa even if you do.
Rules (i) to (v) above are about the reasons for your visit. You have to show that you only intend to visit and that you will not stay longer than you say you will (up to a maximum of 6 months). So, in most cases, you will need evidence of all the reasons why you must leave the UK at the end of your visit. Among the papers which may help you to do this are:
- A letter from your employer granting leave of absence from your job for a specified period. The letter should also say how long you have been employed by that employer and in what job(s)
- If you are self-employed, evidence of your business activities and financial standing
- Evidence of any property you own in your home country
- If you are a student, a letter from your school or college stating which course you are on, its start and finish dates and the dates of the vacation during which you intend to visit the UK
- It may also help if you can show that you have family or social ties and responsibilities to return to
- Evidence of any firm travel plans you have made
Rules (vi) and (vii) are about financing your stay and your journey home (or to your next destination). You must be able to show that you have somewhere to stay and enough money to pay all your expenses while you are in the UK, or that your sponsor is able and willing to help you.
Remember that the cost of living in the UK may be very different to the cost of living at home. Among the documents that may help are:
- Bank statements going back over a period of several months
- Evidence of other savings available to you
- A letter in which your sponsor agrees to support you while you are in the UK and to give you a place to stay. You will also need to show that your sponsor is capable of supporting you, perhaps by providing bank statements and pay slips.
This list does not cover everything, but it should give you some idea of the kind of documents you could use to support your application. If you have other documents you would like to use, your local visa section will tell you whether they can accept them.
Making your application
Where to apply
You must apply for your visa at the visa section of a British diplomatic post in the country of your nationality, or the country where you are living. 'British diplomatic post' usually means a British Embassy, High Commission or Consulate. A small number of posts do not process visa applications, but they will tell you where to apply. You should ask the staff for form IM2A, which is the visa application form for visitors. The form is free. You can also get it from the website of UKvisas (a government office) at www.ukvisas.gov.uk. Read the form carefully, and the guidance notes that come with it.
What you will need
- a completed copy of the form
- your passport (which must be valid for the whole of your trip)
- two recent passport-sized photographs of yourself
- the visa fee in the local currency of the country where - - the visa section is located (we will not refund the fee, even if your application is refused).
- Any other documents that you think we should look at
You may deliver these documents yourself. Some visa sections accept postal applications. Your local office will be able to tell you whether they do so, and how the system works.
When you give the Home Office your form
When you submit the form, the Home Office will check it briefly. They will then:
- accept the application; or
- they may ask you to provide additional documents before
they will accept your application. If this happens, it does not mean that you have been refused a visa, but it will cause a delay while you get the documents. You can help to avoid this situation by thinking carefully beforehand about the documents you may need (see above). In some cases, they may also ask you or your sponsor to complete a 'sponsorship undertaking form'. If this happens to you, the visa section will give you the form and explain what you need to do.
The Home Office can often make a decision without further enquiries, but sometimes a formal interview is necessary.
The interview
If the Home Office invites you to a full interview, they may also ask you to provide further documents, such as those listed above. Giving the Home Office the documents they ask for will not guarantee you a visa, but it will help.
Prepare for the interview in the same way as you prepared for making your application (see above). Be sure about your reasons for visiting the UK. Be certain of where the money will come from and where you will stay. Be clear on the reasons why you must leave the UK at the end of your visit.
At the interview, the Home Office will provide an interpreter if you need one. Answer all questions carefully and honestly. Remember that the Home Office may have to ask you some direct and even personal questions. If you do not understand a question, say so. If you do not know the answer to a question, say so. Keep things simple and do not try to guess what we want to hear. If you become confused, take your time. The Home Office understands that you will probably be nervous. Stay calm and remember that the Home Office gives visas to more than 9 out of 10 people who ask for them.
If the Home Office does not think that you meet the requirements of the immigration rules (see rule 41 above), they will refuse your application for a visa. The visa officer will give you written reasons for the decision. If you are a 'family visitor' as defined in UK law (see next paragraph), you will also get an appeal form and some notes to help you fill it in.
Appeals
People whose applications for a visit visa have been rejected can only appeal if they had intended to visit a member of their family in the UK. In UK law, "a member of the applicant's family" is:
- the applicant's spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, or first cousin;
- the father, mother, brother or sister of the applicant's spouse;
- the spouse of the applicant's son or daughter;
- the applicant's stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, or stepsister; or
- a person with whom the applicant has lived as a member of an unmarried couple for at least two of the three years before the day on which his application for entry for clearance was made.
In this definition, your brother or sister is the child of one or both of your parents, your uncle or aunt is the brother or sister of one of your parents, and your cousin is the child of your uncle or aunt.
If the Home Office refuses your application as a family visitor, you will be able to appeal. An appeal gives you the chance to explain why you think we should have given you a visa. Appeals are decided by independent adjudicators. Adjudicators are not government officials. They work in the UK and have no connection with the people who decided on your application. The adjudicator will consider the reasons for our decision and your reasons for saying that we were wrong.
The Home Office will not hold it against you in future if you appeal, and you will not get the visa officer into trouble by doing so.
If the purpose of your trip is not a family visit - for instance, if you intend to visit the UK for business reasons - you will not be entitled to appeal, even if you may be thinking about dropping in on your family while you are there. You should make it clear when you apply whether the reason for your trip is to visit family. If there is any doubt about the purpose of your visit, we will treat you as a family visitor and explain how you can appeal.
How to appeal
If you decide to appeal, you should explain on the appeal form why you think the visa officer's reasons for refusing your application are wrong. Remember that the important issue is whether or not you meet the requirements of rule 41, as explained above. You will have 28 days in which to complete the form and send or take it back to the visa section where you made your application.
If you do not already have a legal adviser, you may want to find one now. There is nothing to stop you and your sponsor from dealing with the appeal without help, but many people find it useful to consult someone who knows the system. Be careful. Many advisers are very good, but some are poor and a few are dishonest. Some offer free advice, and some can apply for financial help for you if you have a good case.
Oral or paper hearing?
When you appeal, you must decide whether you want the adjudicator to hold an oral hearing of your case, or whether you would prefer the adjudicator just to consider the papers provided by you and the visa officer.
If you decide on an oral hearing, the adjudicator's staff will write to tell you and your representative or sponsor when the adjudicator is going to deal with your case. You can ask a legal representative to go to court on that day and speak to the adjudicator for you. Other people, including your sponsor, can also speak for you as witnesses. You can ask as many people as you like to be witnesses, but you cannot speak directly to the adjudicator yourself. A British government official will attend to speak for the visa officer who refused your application.
Instead, you can ask for the adjudicator to decide your appeal just by reading the papers. If you do this, the adjudicator will decide the case alone, without help from witnesses or legal representatives for you or for the government.
The adjudicator will usually make a decision on the papers much quicker than it takes to hold an oral hearing. This is because the waiting list for oral hearings is longer and includes other kinds of applicant, like students and asylum-seekers. On the other hand, people who ask for their appeals to be decided on the papers are only about half as successful as people who ask for an oral hearing.
After the appeal
The adjudicator will decide whether the decision to refuse your visa was right or wrong. The adjudicator's decision and the reasons for it will be sent to you in one document called a determination. If you have lost the appeal, you can ask for permission to appeal to the Tribunal. If you get permission to appeal, the Tribunal will consider whether the adjudicator's decision to dismiss your appeal was right or wrong. The adjudicator's staff will send you a form for applying for permission to appeal to the Tribunal when they send you the adjudicator's determination. The form allows you to explain why you think the adjudicator's decision was wrong. You will have to return the form within 28 days of receiving it.
If you have won the appeal, the British government can ask for permission to appeal to the Tribunal. The Home Office too have 28 days in which to decide whether to seek permission or not. The Tribunal will tell you and your representative if the Home Office appeals. If the Home Office appeals, they will not issue your visa until the Tribunal has considered their appeal.
Its worthwhile to note that the visa officer does not decide whether or not the Home Office should appeal to the Tribunal. That decision is made by officials in the UK. The visa officer must wait to hear from those officials before issuing your visa, and they are entitled to take 28 days to make a decision. You should not take the adjudicator's determination to the post and expect the Home Office to give you a visa. If you have not heard from the visa officer 28 days after receiving the adjudicator's determination, you can ask the Home Office to make enquiries on your behalf.
Further help
The following government departments provide a variety of leaflets and general information. If you want advice about your own case, staff at your nearest British post may be able to help you.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Your local visa section can provide leaflets and advice. Alternatively, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office provide leaflets and an interactive website at http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk. The website will help you locate your nearest visa section.
You can contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office through UKvisas at:
UKvisas
London
SW1A 2AH
United Kingdom
The leaflets which will be of particular interest to you are:
INF 1 - general information
INF 2 - visitors
INF 3 - sponsors
IM2A - visa application form
The Home Office
The Immigration and Nationality Department of the Home Office is responsible for the Immigration Rules. The address is:
Immigration & Nationality Directorate
Lunar House
40, Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY
Telephone the leaflet line on 020 8649 7878 for a copy of the leaflet Information about visitors. You can also visit the Home Office page, Getting Immigration Advice.
The Lord Chancellor's Department
This is the government Department which supports the independent adjudicators and the Tribunal. They have a website on the appeals system, at www.iaa.gov.uk. You can also obtain their leaflets from:
The Customer Service Team
4th Floor
Cardinal Tower
12 Farringdon Road
London
EC1M 3HS
Among the leaflets available are:
A plain English guide to hearings at appeal centres
A Guide to non-asylum appeals
A Guide to non-asylum appeals to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal
