Murria Solicitors
Visas - Visitors, Marital Partners, Students, Family Members & Transit
Visitors
You must be able to show that:
- you want to visit the UK for no more than six months
- you intend to leave the UK at the end of your visit, and
- you have enough money to support yourself and live in the UK without working or needing any help from public funds
Spouse etc
You can apply to join your husband, wife, civil partner, fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner in the UK as long as:
- they currently live and are settled in the UK, or
- they are coming to live permanently in the UK
- they can support and accommodate you without recourse to public funds
Students
You must be able to show that you are going to follow:
- a recognised full-time degree course, or
- a course run during the week involving at least 15 hours of organised daytime study each week, or
- a full-time course at an independent fee-paying school
You must also:
- be able to pay for your course and support yourself and any dependants, and live in the UK without working or needing any help from public funds, and
- intend to leave the UK when you complete your studies
Family members
You can apply to join your parents in the UK if:
- your parents live in the UK legally, with no time limit on their stay, or they are applying at the same time as you
- one parent is living and settled in the UK or is applying for settlement at the same time as you, and has had sole responsibility for looking after you
- your parents can support you without help from public funds
- your parents have enough accommodation, which they own or live in, where you can live without help from public funds, and
- you are their child
If you are a widowed parent or grandparent aged 65 or over, or parents or grandparents traveling together and one of you is 65 or over, you may qualify if:
- you are completely or mainly financially dependent on children or grandchildren living and settled in the UK
- you have no other close relatives in your own country to help you
- your children or grandchildren can support you without needing help from public funds, and
- your children or grandchildren have enough accommodation, which they alone own or live in, where you can live without needing any help from public funds
If you are a parent or grandparent under the age of 65, you may qualify if:
- you are living in the most exceptional compassionate circumstances
- you are completely or mainly financially dependent on children or grandchildren living and settled in the UK
- you have no other close relatives in your own country to help you
- your children or grandchildren can support you without needing help from public funds, and
- your children or grandchildren have enough accommodation, which they alone own or live in, where you can live without needing any help from public funds
If you are over 18 and have a parent settled in the UK, or if you are a sister, brother, aunt, uncle or any other relative of a person settled in the UK, you may qualify if you meet the conditions listed in the previous paragraph and you are living alone in the most exceptional compassionate circumstances.
If you are the wife, husband or civil partner of a person granted refugee status in the UK, you and your dependent children under 18 may qualify for 'Family reunion' if:
- Your husband, wife or civil partner has been given full refugee status in the UK
- You were married before your wife or husband left to seek asylum in the UK, or were in a civil partnership recognised in the UK before your civil partner left to seek asylum in the UK, and
- You show that you and any dependants intend to live together.
If your wife, husband or civil partner has been granted refugee status in the UK, they will not need to show that they can support you and pay for your living arrangements.
Other dependent relatives (such as parents) do not qualify for 'Family reunion' but we may allow them to join their relative if there are exceptional compassionate circumstances.
If your sponsor has permission to remain exceptionally in the UK, or has been granted 'Humanitarian protection' or 'Discretionary leave to remain', you cannot normally apply to join them until they have been granted indefinite leave (permission) to remain. You can get more information about refugee status, exceptional leave, discretionary leave and humanitarian protection from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.
Transit
You will need a visa to pass through (transit) the UK on the way to another country if you:
- Are a visa national;
- Are a direct airside transit visa (DATV) national; or
- Hold a non-national, including refugee, travel document
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