Applying for a UK Visitor Visa
You may think that applying for a UK Visitor Visa is simple. It isn’t always as straightforward as you think. Our Immigration Solicitors in London advise people who have tried to secure a Visitor Visa without success. Our specialist Immigration Lawyers can make a new Visitor Visa application for you after carefully considering why the Home Office refused a previous application made by you.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors
For Visitor Visa and immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi
Proving you are a genuine visitor to the UK
Most Visitor Visa refusals by the Home Office are because a Home Office official is not satisfied that you are a genuine visitor. That may be because the Home Office caseworker thinks, based on your application or previous immigration record, that you will:
- Overstay and not leave the UK when your Visitor Visa ends
- Use the Visitor Visa as part of a series of Visitor Visas to effectively live in the UK without securing the correct Work Visa, Family Visa or Business Visa
- Breach your Visitor Visa conditions. For example, by working while in the UK in an area of work that is not a permitted activity that you are allowed to do under the immigration rules while in the UK on a Visitor Visa
- Not be visiting the UK for the right reasons. For example, if it is suspected that the purpose of your visit is to get health treatment on the NHS
Whatever the detailed reason behind the Visitor Visa refusal there is nothing to stop you from making another Visitor Visa application but any new visa application must address the reasons for the Home Office refusal.
You may have thought that you did not need to give much information on your first Visitor Visa application because you planned a relatively quick trip to the UK but that may have resulted in a Home Office refusal. Our Immigration Solicitors will review any historical application and advise you on the best approach to take.
Money and the Visitor Visa application
People have read about the increased financial requirement for the UK Family Visa and Spouse Visa and the maintenance requirement for the Skilled Worker Visa and they assume that there is a financial requirement with the Visitor Visa.
There is no formal financial requirement that an applicant must meet to secure their Visitor Visa. However, your application may be refused if you do not provide enough information about your finances. The issue for many first-time Visitor Visa applicants is that they don’t know how much financial information is necessary or relevant to their application.
The immigration rules say that you must have sufficient funds to cover all your ‘reasonable costs’ during your visit without working while in the UK or accessing public funds. Your costs include accommodation while in the UK, return flight costs (if you have not booked a return ticket) and the cost of your planned activities.
The amount of money you need to show you have to allay potential Home Office concerns will be less if, for example, you explain that you are staying with extended family and that they are covering all the costs of planned tourist trips around the UK. Equally, any Home Office worry that you plan to overstay on a Visitor Visa or work in the UK can be reduced by explaining the strength of your ties to your home country. For example, your home and job.
Home Office guidance says Home Office officials should consider:
- Your financial circumstances
- The social and economic background of your family
- Your personal ties to your home country
- Your economic ties to your home country
- Whether, on the balance of probabilities, the reasons for your Visitor Visa application are consistent with your circumstances
The Home Office does not want you to bombard them with information about your financial and personal circumstances but there is a balance to be struck between an over-the-top application and one with limited information because you have assumed your Visitor Visa application would be granted without much examination of your circumstances.
Help with a UK Visitor Visa application
Our Individual Immigration Solicitors can help you with your Visitor Visa application whether this is your first application or you are applying after a first application has been refused or you are applying for a Visitor Visa after having previously lived in the UK on a Spouse Visa or Work Visa or Student Visa that ended and you returned overseas.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors
For Visitor Visa and immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi
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