In this brief video guide, solicitor Joel Reiss explains the process of applying for a UK visit visa. He outlines the key requirements needed to convince the Home Office, including proving a genuine visit reason, financial stability, and strong ties to your home country.
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Introduction
Hi there, my name is Joel. I'm a solicitor at Latitude Law, and I'm going to be talking about visit visas today—how to apply for them, and what you need to show the Home Office to receive one. A visit visa is usually for six months, though they can be for longer if the Home Office has given you visit visas in the past, such as two years, five years, and also 10 years. In all cases, what you need to do is you need to show the Home Office three things.
Three Essential Requirements
You need to show you have a genuine reason to visit. You need to show that you will be financially maintained while you're in the UK. And you need to show that you have a genuine reason to return to your home country at the end of your visit.
Exploring Genuine Reasons for Visit
A genuine reason to visit could be as simple as you're a tourist wanting to see London, Manchester, or the Lake District. It could be that you have family here, or it might be a business meeting. That one is usually very easy to satisfy. The next two requirements—financial maintenance and a genuine reason to return—are much harder.
Details on Financial Maintenance
If you're relying on your own finances, you need to provide bank statements, proof of earnings, and you need to explain where your savings have come from. Quite often, the Home Office will refuse you because they say they do not accept that the money in your account is your money. They think maybe someone else has put it there to make your account look bigger than it actually is. The easiest thing to do, particularly if you have family in the UK, is to rely on their finances, their income, their savings. The Home Office is much more likely to believe that the finances are available if it's a financial account in the UK.
Demonstrating a Genuine Reason to Return
Now, the final reason is where we see most of our refusals: a genuine reason to return. If you have work in your home country, provide a letter from your employer. If you study, provide a letter from your school or your university. If you own your home, provide the title documents to show that you own it. If you own maybe a car, if you go to church or to the mosque, if you have a place of worship, if you're part of clubs, if you have wider family in that country—all of that is evidence that you will return to your home country.
Common Reasons for Visa Refusal
Most often we see refusals with elderly parents applying to visit their children, or when entire families—so husbands and wives with all of their children—apply to come to the UK together, because the Home Office doesn't believe they have a reason to return at the end of their visit. Visit visas used to be very, very easy to get; they're now very, very hard to get. So if you do need help, please get in touch, and we'll be happy to help you.