Can You Apply For a Family Visa if You Have a Criminal Conviction?
You may think that having a conviction is not a bar to applying for a UK visa. After all, if a convicted felon can become the 47th president of the US it's reasonable to assume that a criminal conviction in the UK or overseas won't affect your Family Visa, Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa application.
In the UK Home Office officials take the view that ‘rules are rules’ so in this blog, our Immigration Solicitors examine the immigration rules on applying for a Family Visa with a criminal conviction.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Spouse Visa Lawyers
For immigration law advice call 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.
Criminal convictions and visa applications
The first thing visa applicants need to be aware of is that the immigration rules on criminal convictions are different if you are applying for a Family Visa under Appendix FM of the immigration rules rather than another type of visa, such as a Skilled Worker Visa or Innovator Founder Visa.
Therefore, you need to ensure that you take specialist legal advice from Spouse Visa Solicitors on the criminal conviction immigration rules that apply to your specific visa application. That way you won't waste time and money making an application that is bound to be refused or you will be confident that your criminal conviction can be ignored because of the sentence you received. In cases where a Home Office official can exercise discretion and grant a visa despite a criminal conviction you need an Immigration Lawyer who can compellingly present your case to help you secure your visa.
Refusing a UK visa application because of a criminal conviction
Having a criminal conviction can lead to the automatic refusal of some visa applications, such as the Skilled Worker Visa application or applications under the global business mobility route.
The immigration rules on criminal convictions are contained in Part 9 of the immigration rules. These contain the general grounds for refusal.
Criminal convictions are split into two types; those that lead to automatic visa refusal and those that lead to the Home Office official having to consider if discretion should be exercised and the visa granted.
You won't get a non-Family Visa if your criminal conviction amounts to a mandatory visa refusal. The mandatory refusal grounds for non-Family Visa applications are:
- You were convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or longer
- You are considered a persistent offender who has a particular disregard for the law
- The criminal offence you were convicted of caused serious harm
You may get a non-Family Visa if the Home Office official exercises discretion because your criminal conviction falls into one of these two categories:
- You were convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas and received a custodial sentence of less than 12 months
- You were convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas and received a non-custodial sentence or an out-of-court disposal
There are different rules again for a Visitor Visa application. The immigration rules say your Visitor Visa application must be refused if:
- You have been convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas and received a custodial sentence of less than 12 months unless over 12 months have elapsed since the end of the custodial sentence or
- You were convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas and received a non-custodial sentence or an out-of-court disposal unless more than 12 months have passed since the date of conviction
Family Visa applications if you have a criminal conviction
The rules on criminal convictions and visa applications are more generous if you are applying for a Family Visa, such as a Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa.
There are still mandatory and discretionary refusal categories but both are wider in scope than Part 9 of the immigration rules containing the general grounds for visa refusal.
An application for a Family Visa will be refused under the rules in Appendix FM if any of these three scenarios apply to you:
- You were convicted of an offence and imprisoned for at least four years
- You were convicted of an offence and imprisoned for at least 12 months but less than four years unless a period of ten years has elapsed since the end of your sentence
- You were convicted of an offence and imprisoned for fewer than 12 months unless a period of five years has elapsed since the end of your sentence
In addition, a Home Office official can say that you fall within a general catch-all and refuse your Family Visa application even though your criminal conviction and sentence don’t fall within one of the above three categories. The catch-all allows a Home Office official to refuse your Family Visa application if they think that your behaviour, character, associations or another aspect makes it undesirable for you to be granted a Family Visa.
Home Office discretion on criminal convictions even if Appendix FM says your Family Visa application will be refused
Even though the immigration rules say that your Family Visa will be refused if you fall into one of the three Family Visa criminal conviction categories you can ask for discretion to be exercised if there are exceptional circumstances surrounding your Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa application.
The ‘exceptional circumstances’ defence needs to be properly pleaded in your Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa application. It isn’t sufficient to say you love your partner and that they would be distraught if you can't obtain your visa. All applicants could and do say that so that situation isn’t exceptional.
The guidance requires the Home Office to look at your visa suitability issues in the context of your whole visa application and to determine if the criminal conviction is sufficiently serious to refuse your Family Visa application based on suitability or if there are compelling reasons to decide you should be granted a visa.
Every discretionary criminal conviction application is dealt with on its merits and that therefore requires a well-written Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa application. Your Immigration Solicitors will need to address the matters that the Home Office caseworker will consider, such as:
- How will the refusal of your application affect the exercise of your right to respect for family life?
- Is the interference with human rights and the right to family life justified and necessary for national security, public safety, the economic well-being of the UK or for the prevention of disorder or crime and the protection of others?
- Is the refusal of your Family Visa application proportionate to the legitimate public goal?
Not disclosing a criminal conviction in your Family Visa application
You may be tempted to not disclose a criminal conviction for several reasons including:
- You think the conviction is spent under the rules in your country of origin, in the country where you were convicted or under UK rules for spent offences
- You would not have been convicted in the UK because what you were convicted of is not a criminal offence in the UK. For example, same-sex sexual activity or political activism
- You don’t think you received a fair trial in the country where you received your criminal conviction
- In the UK you would not have received a custodial sentence for the offence you were convicted of
- You think you have good grounds to appeal against the criminal conviction or sentence
- You were convicted when you were under the age of 18
- The criminal conviction was for a driving offence so you don’t think it counts as a crime
The Family Visa application requires you to disclose a criminal conviction even if any of the above circumstances apply to your situation.
If you think your criminal conviction is spent or expunged from your record under UK law or the laws in your country you must still disclose it. In the UK, spent criminal convictions and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act don’t apply to Home Office visa applications.
You also need to disclose matters such as outstanding arrests and pending criminal trials. If you are unsure if you need to disclose something it is best to speak to your Spouse Visa Solicitors about it. That’s because a Home Office official may refuse your Family Visa application because they say you were dishonest because you failed to disclose something you should have. This applies even if the Home Office official might have exercised discretion in your favour and granted your visa application notwithstanding your criminal conviction. Non-disclosure may cost you your Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa and may also blot your UK immigration record.
Choosing a Spouse Visa Solicitor
Our Spouse Visa Solicitors specialise in difficult Family Visa applications. For example, where the applicant is struggling because:
- It is hard to show that they meet the Spouse Visa financial requirement because of the nature of their sponsoring partner’s income
- They are in an unmarried relationship with their partner and it is hard to prove the long-distance relationship is genuine
- A previous application has been refused
Our immigration expertise is recognised in the 2025 edition of Legal 500 where we are ranked for individual immigration and human rights applications.
If you need expert immigration advice as you have a criminal conviction and want to make a UK visa application our Immigration Solicitors can explain your options and how we can support you through the application process.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Spouse Visa Lawyers
For immigration law advice call 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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