If you are intending to visit the UK to see your relatives, to attend business meetings, to visit tourist resorts, to attend a short language course, to attend sports event, or whatever the reason may be, you require a visit visa to come to the UK (provided you are a non visa national).

Every year millions of people come to the UK for one or more of the reasons mentioned above and have to undergo the process of making visit visa applications. The visa officers scrutinize the paperwork provided by the applicants to assess whether the documents / information provided are relevant / sufficient to establish the true intentions of the applicant or not. Hundreds of thousands of applications get rejected just due to some minor mistakes which could have been avoided by carefully understanding the rules, requirements and the procedures.

There are several sub-categories of visit visas which are available to use, depending on the reasons of coming to the UK for example, student visitor, family visitor, business visitor, marriage visitor. All the sub categories share the same basic requirements like availability of funds for maintenance and accommodation in the UK, genuine reason of visiting the UK, having intentions to return to the home country etc.

It is important if you intend to visit the UK that you apply for the correct category of visitor visa before entering the country as you are required to comply with the conditions on your visa. Any breach of visa conditions during your stay in the UK may result in adverse consequences; and it is therefore recommended that you ensure that your intentions for coming to the UK are adequately reflected in the type of visitor visa you apply for.

The different categories of “Visitor Visa” are:

• General Visitors
• Business Visitors
• Special Visitors

GENERAL VISITORS includes

• Friends and Family Visitors
• Tourists

If you have got a friend or family whom you would like to visit in the UK, you can make an application to come to the UK for a short visit. You need to have an invitation from your friend or family member who should give his / her details and confirm your invitation to visit them in the UK. The invitation alone is not sufficient and you should be able to provide appropriate evidences to establish your ability to make this travel, the genuineness of your visit and your intentions of returning to your home country upon completion of your visit.

If you do not have any friends or family members living in the UK, you may also apply for a visit visa to spend your holidays in the UK or for tourism purposes. In this case, you need to provide evidences of being financially well off and settled in the country of your residence.

If you are applying for the first time, you will be given a six month visitor visa and later will be able to apply for a yearlong one or even visas for the duration of 2 or 5 or 10 years. If you are given visa for longer than six months, you will only be able to stay in the UK for a maximum of 180 days during your each visit to the UK. A longer term visa therefore is not for long term stay.

If the visa officer refuses the application for some reason, only applicants who are visiting close family members will be given full right of appeal against the decision of refusal. All other applicants who are visiting the UK for other reasons are not entitled to full rights of appeal.

At Nasim and Co Solicitors, we offer our expertise of advising and representing our clients in making their entry clearance applications. We have got extensive experience of handling complex immigration casework and can advice on all sorts of immigration matters.  We can represent our clients in making their visit visa applications and advise them on the requirements that need to be met, law and the procedure that need to be followed.

You can contact us at 02085528612 or info@nasimandcosolicitors.com and one of team members will be in touch with you shortly.