Visitors

An individual can apply for a standard visitor visa to come to the UK for a holiday, for business or to receive private medical treatment. We have extensive experience in making family visitor visa applications and general medical treatment visitor visa applications. You can usually stay in the UK for up to six months, but you can stay longer if you are coming to the UK for private medical treatment. We also have experience in applying for long term standard visitor visas that last two, five or ten years, but remember you can only stay for a maximum of six months on each visit. It is important to obtain expert legal advice.

What documents will I need to provide in order to be granted a visa to visit the UK?

In order to come to the UK on a standard visitor visa, you must mandatorily provide your passport. In addition to the passport, we advise that further documentation is submitted in order to show that you intend to go back to your country of origin and, also, that you have the adequate financial means to support your trip to the UK. Accordingly, and amongst other things, we request bank statements and employment documents from our clients, to further show that the legal rules are fulfilled.

What should I do if my visitor visa application has been refused?

It is important to obtain expert legal advice when making a visitor visa application because a right of appeal for family visit visas was abolished with effect from 25th June 2013. Therefore, if your visa has been refused any new application must be prepared especially carefully and with the reasons for the previous refusal in mind.

Can I appeal the decision on my visitor visa application?

There is no right of appeal for visitor visa refusals. Instead, in order to contest the decision, you must apply for administrative review. If this is unsuccessful, you must apply for judicial review.

You must apply for an administrative review within 28 days of getting the decision and you apply online. There is a fee of £80. You’ll usually receive the result of the administrative review within 28 calendar days.

How long does it take for the Home Office to decide on my application?

You should get a decision on your UK visitor visa within three weeks.

What are the Suitability Requirements for a Visitor?

Visit visa applications and those seeking entry as a visitor on arrival including EA nationals, must now be refused entry if convicted of a criminal offence in any country within the last 12 months, even if they received a non-custodial sentence or out of Court disposal.  Therefore, minor offences recorded on a person’s criminal record will now lead to a 12-month entry ban.  However, even visitors with convictions which are more than 12 months old they might be caught by the discretionary provisions.