UK immigration
questions, answered
Every question we answer across the site, in one place. Each answer is written once and appears on the relevant service page too, so you get the same answer wherever you land.
Partner & family
Partners of British citizens and people settled in the UK, including spouses, civil partners, unmarried partners, and fiancé(e)s intending to marry.
Different immigration categories have different income thresholds. There may be a minimum income threshold that could be met through savings, or through a combination of both. The figures often change so we check the current requirements against your evidence before you apply.
Yes. Cash savings held for the qualifying period can meet the requirement on their own, or top up income that falls short.
Identity documents, evidence of the relationship, evidence of income or savings, accommodation details and English language evidence. We send you a checklist tailored to your circumstances rather than a generic list.
Processing times are set by the Home Office and vary by where you apply from. We tell you the current published time at the point you instruct us.
You may have a right of appeal or an administrative review, and sometimes a fresh application is the better route. There are strict deadlines, so contact us as soon as you receive the decision.
No. Unmarried partners can apply if you can evidence being together in a relationship akin to marriage for 2 years.
Yes, dependent children can usually be included in the same application. We confirm this when we assess your case.
You must be engaged to a British citizen, or a person with indefinite leave to remain, settled or pre-settled status, refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK, and intend to marry or form a civil partnership within six months of arrival.
A fiance visa is a six-month visa to enter the UK, marry, and then switch to a spouse visa in-country. A spouse visa is for couples already married or in a civil partnership. You cannot work on a fiance visa, and it is not renewable.
The sponsor must show a gross income at or above £29,000.00, savings that meet the alternative test if you do not have this income, or a combination. The requirement is the same as for the spouse visa - we check your evidence to ensure you satisfy the requirement before you apply.
There are multiple ways you can satisfy the financial requirement. If you do not earn £29,000.00 gross per annum, contact us so that we can assess if you meet the financial requirement in a different way.
You must marry or form a civil partnership before the visa expires. If plans change, you can only extend in exceptional circumstances. Otherwise, you would need to leave the UK and apply again.
Evidence of your engagement, of communication and time spent together, of your wedding plans - venue, date, arrangements - and identity documents for both of you. Photos and correspondence help; contrived evidence hurts. We tailor the checklist to your circumstances.
No. You cannot work or claim public funds while on a fiance visa. Once you marry and switch to a spouse visa, you can work in any role, including self-employment.
You apply in-country to switch to a spouse visa, which gives 30 months of leave. After five years on the partner route you can apply for indefinite leave to remain. We can handle the switch application straight after the ceremony.
A parent of a child under 18 who is either a British citizen, settled in the UK, or who has lived here for seven continuous years. You must have sole parental responsibility, or direct access and be taking an active part in the child's upbringing.
You alone make the important decisions in the child's life - schooling, health, welfare. It is not the same as being the child's only parent. If the other parent is involved, this route may not apply - direct access is the alternative.
You are not the child's main carer, but you see the child regularly and play an active role. Evidence includes court orders, contact schedules, school reports naming you and photographs across time. The other parent's status matters.
The parent route does not carry the same minimum income threshold as the partner route. You must show you can maintain and accommodate yourself and the child without recourse to public funds - a lower and more flexible test.
Usually 33 months of leave, with a further 30-month extension. After five continuous years on the parent route you can apply for indefinite leave to remain, provided you still meet the requirements.
Yes, in any lawful role, employed or self-employed. You cannot claim public funds unless the specific benefit is allowed for people with limited leave - the rules are strict, so ask before you claim.
Once a child has been in the UK for seven continuous years, it becomes possible to argue their removal, or their parent's removal, would be unreasonable. The tests are established in case law and heavily fact-specific. Take advice before deciding to apply under this route.
A parent, grandparent, brother, sister or adult child aged 18 or over of a British citizen or person settled in the UK, who requires long-term personal care that is not available or affordable in their home country.
The evidence bar is high. You must show the applicant needs long-term personal care because of age, illness or disability; that this care cannot be reasonably obtained in the country where they live, either because it is not available or because it is not affordable. Refusal rates are high and appeals are common.
Independent medical evidence describing the condition, the level of care required, and why the applicant cannot perform everyday tasks alone. A GP letter alone is rarely enough - specialist reports carry more weight.
Country evidence on the state of care provision, the cost of professional care, the availability of family who could realistically provide it. This is often the hardest limb to evidence. We help build the country and market evidence.
As a minimum, a written undertaking to maintain, accommodate and care for the applicant without recourse to public funds for at least five years. You must have adequate accommodation and income - the Home Office will scrutinise both.
Successful applicants are granted indefinite leave to remain immediately - no probationary period. If you already qualify, you settle straight away. That is one reason why the eligibility test is so strict.
There is a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal on human rights grounds. Article 8 arguments about family life are central. Appeals succeed where medical, country and financial evidence is thorough and consistent.
Children under 18 of a parent who is settled or in the UK on a route that allows dependants. Both parents must usually hold or be applying for the same status, unless one parent has sole responsibility or serious welfare reasons apply.
It depends on the parents' status when the child was born. A child born in the UK to a settled parent, or to a parent later granted ILR, may already be British or entitled to register. We check the child's position before recommending a visa route.
You need to show sole responsibility, or that the other parent has agreed to the child leaving with you, or that there are serious and compelling reasons why the child must live with you in the UK. Written consent, court orders and evidence of care are essential.
The main partner or work route financial requirement increases when children are included, unless they are British or settled. Once one child is added, further British and settled children do not push the threshold up. We work out the actual figure for your family before you apply.
No, once the child is 18 the dependent child route closes. Options for adult children are limited - Skilled Worker if they can be sponsored, Student route, or in rare cases the Adult Dependent Relative route.
Full birth certificate naming both parents, passport, evidence of the relationship if either parent's name has changed, and evidence of any custody arrangements. Photographs and school evidence help show the parent-child relationship where documentation is limited.
Children under 18 do not sit the Life in the UK test and are not required to meet the English language requirement. Both apply when they later apply as adults for ILR or naturalisation.
British citizenship
It is the process by which an adult who is not British becomes a British citizen, usually after a period of lawful residence including a period of settled status or indefinite leave to remain.
There is a qualifying residence period, and a further period of holding settled status before you can apply. The requirement differs for applicants married to a British citizen.
There are limits on how many days you can have spent outside the UK during the qualifying period, and a tighter limit for the final year. The Home Office can sometimes exercise discretion over excess absences, but not always.
Yes, unless you are exempt. You will also need to meet the English language requirement.
The Home Office assesses your immigration history, criminal record, financial conduct including tax, and any deception. Undisclosed issues cause more refusals than the issues themselves.
That depends on the law of your country of nationality, not on UK law. Check with your own embassy before you apply.
Children usually apply by registration rather than naturalisation. We often run both applications together.
It is the route by which a child, and in some cases an adult, becomes a British citizen where an entitlement or a discretionary basis exists. It is different from naturalisation.
Not always. It depends on the immigration status of the parents at the time of birth. Many UK born children are entitled to register but are not British automatically.
A child born in the UK who has lived here continuously for the first ten years of their life may have an entitlement to register, subject to the good character requirement where it applies.
There may be a discretionary route to register the child. These applications turn on the reasons given, so the covering submission matters.
It applies from the age of ten.
Full birth certificate, evidence of the parents' status at the time of birth, and evidence of the child's residence. Missing historic evidence is the most common obstacle and we help you obtain it.
A refugee travel document is issued if you have refugee status or humanitarian protection. A certificate of travel is issued if you have some other form of leave and are formally and unreasonably unable to obtain a passport from your country of nationality. They look similar; the eligibility rules are different.
No. A refugee travel document is not valid for travel to the country you were recognised as a refugee from. Doing so risks your refugee status and your leave in the UK. If you need to travel there for a compelling reason, take legal advice first.
Processing times are published by the Home Office and change through the year. Standard applications commonly take several months. Priority is not usually available, so plan around this - book flights only when the document is in your hand.
Refugee travel documents and stateless person documents are usually valid for up to ten years, or the length of your leave if shorter. Certificates of travel are usually valid for the length of your leave, up to five years.
It varies by destination and by the type of document. Many countries still require a visa. Check the embassy of each country before you book - a UK travel document does not carry the same visa-free access as a British passport.
You need to be a British citizen first - either by naturalisation, registration or birth. Indefinite leave to remain alone does not entitle you to a passport. We handle the citizenship step, and HM Passport Office issues the passport separately.
If you have ILR and cannot reasonably get a new passport from your country of nationality, you may be eligible for a certificate of travel. The Home Office expects to see the steps you have taken to renew it first - keep every letter and receipt.
The UK allows dual nationality. Whether your country of origin allows it is a separate question - some do, some do not, and some treat naturalisation elsewhere as automatic loss. Check before you naturalise if this matters to you.
Commonwealth citizens who settled in the UK before 1 January 1973 and lost the paperwork proving their status, and their children born in the UK or who joined them before their 18th birthday. There is no fee to apply.
Confirmation of your existing right to be here (a no-time-limit endorsement or documentation of ILR), and, if eligible, British citizenship by naturalisation or registration - both fee-free through this route.
Anything showing your presence in the UK since before 1973 - school records, employment, medical, tax, National Insurance, tenancy, church, family. The Home Office is required to help you gather what you cannot get yourself; we push for that.
A separate scheme for those who suffered loss because they could not prove their status - lost jobs, housing, benefits, healthcare, or wrongful detention or removal. Awards are calculated by category. It is a claim, not an application for status.
No. The scheme covers all Commonwealth citizens who settled here before 1973, and their family members - not just those from Caribbean countries. Nationals from anywhere in the Commonwealth are eligible if the dates fit.
You may still be eligible for confirmation of status and for compensation. The Windrush Taskforce has specific procedures for people who were wrongly refused, detained or removed. Contact us - we handle these cases with care.
Straightforward status confirmations can be resolved in weeks. Cases needing evidence-gathering or Home Office record searches take longer. The scheme is designed to be flexible, and there is no charge for keeping it open until it is right.
Work visas
A job offer from a licensed sponsor, a certificate of sponsorship, a job at the required skill level, a salary at or above the applicable threshold, and English language evidence.
There is a general threshold and a going rate for the specific occupation code, and you must meet the higher of the two. Both are updated periodically, so we check the current figures for your specific role before you apply.
The Home Office publishes a register of licensed sponsors. A sponsor must be willing to assign you a certificate of sponsorship, so being on the register is not the same as being able to sponsor you.
Your partner and dependent children can usually apply as dependants, either at the same time or later.
The Skilled Worker route can lead to indefinite leave to remain after a qualifying period of continuous residence.
Your sponsorship ends and your leave is affected. There are limited grace periods, so get advice immediately rather than waiting.
Yes, but the new employer must be a licensed sponsor and you will normally need a new application before you start.
Qualified health professionals, adult social care workers and specified support staff with a job offer from an approved sponsor in the health and care sector.
Reduced application fees, exemption from the immigration health surcharge and faster processing, subject to the current rules.
The rules on dependants for care workers have changed and continue to change. We confirm the current position before you apply.
A sponsor licence, and for care providers, registration with the relevant regulator along with evidence of genuine vacancies.
Record keeping, reporting changes, monitoring immigration status and cooperating with Home Office audits. Failure risks suspension or revocation of the licence.
Yes, announced or unannounced. We run mock audits so the first audit you face is not the real one.
Anyone who has successfully completed a UK degree, doctorate or certain other eligible course while on a Student visa, provided the sponsor has told the Home Office you completed. You must be in the UK when you apply.
Two years for bachelor's and master's graduates, three years for PhD or other doctoral qualifications. It cannot be extended.
No. That is the point of this route - it gives you time in the UK to look for work, work in any role, be self-employed, or set up a business, without needing a sponsor.
Not directly. Time on the Graduate route does not count towards the five-year Skilled Worker settlement clock. Most people use these two or three years to secure a sponsored role and switch into a route that does lead to ILR.
Yes, in-country, provided a licensed sponsor gives you a certificate of sponsorship for an eligible role at the required salary. Apply before your Graduate leave expires.
Dependants who were already in the UK as your dependants during your Student visa can usually stay with you on the Graduate route. New dependants cannot join at this stage.
There is a Home Office application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge for the full length of the visa. We include the current figures in your engagement letter alongside our fixed fee.
You are only eligible for the Graduate visa after your sponsor has reported successful completion. If you defer or fail and re-sit, you have to wait until you have actually finished before applying.
Commonwealth citizens aged 17 or over with a grandparent born in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or before 31 March 1922 in what is now Ireland. You must intend to work in the UK and be able to support yourself without public funds.
You need full birth certificates showing the chain from you back to your qualifying grandparent, plus marriage certificates where surnames change. Adoption certificates and legitimation records count. Get the originals or certified copies - the Home Office does not accept online transcripts alone.
Five years in a single grant. At the end of that five years you can apply for indefinite leave to remain, provided you have been in the UK on this route and meet the ILR requirements.
You must show a genuine intention to take up work in the UK - not necessarily a specific job offer, but evidence of your ability to work and to look for work, such as skills, qualifications or a plan to be self-employed.
Yes, your partner and children under 18 can apply as dependants. They can work and study in the UK, and can apply for settlement alongside you after five years.
It counts towards indefinite leave to remain. Once you have ILR and have been resident for a further 12 months (or the concurrent qualifying period), you can apply to naturalise as British.
Birth on a British-registered ship or aircraft counts as birth in the UK for these purposes, provided the vessel or craft was registered in the UK at the time. This does come up - keep the ship or aircraft registration details.
The Temporary Worker routes: charity worker, religious worker, creative worker, sportsperson, government-authorised exchange and international agreement. Also Seasonal Worker, Youth Mobility Scheme, and Global Talent for exceptional individuals.
It varies by category. Charity, religious and creative worker are usually up to 12 months. Sportsperson up to three years. Seasonal Worker is six months. Global Talent is up to five years. Extensions differ by route.
Most Temporary Worker categories do not lead directly to ILR. Global Talent does, on either three or five years depending on the endorsement. Time on these routes can count towards the ten-year long residence route to settlement.
All Temporary Worker routes require sponsorship except Youth Mobility Scheme and Global Talent. Global Talent needs an endorsement from an approved endorsing body instead of a sponsor.
Dependants can usually join or accompany you on most of these routes, but there are exceptions. Seasonal Worker does not allow dependants. Youth Mobility Scheme does not allow dependants.
A two-year working visa for nationals of specific countries aged 18 to 30 (35 for some). It is not sponsored - you can work in any legal role. Quotas apply and the ballot fills fast for certain countries.
The right route depends on the job, the sponsor, your nationality and how long you want to stay. Book a consultation - guessing is expensive here because a wrong-route application is a refusal, not a redirect.
For employers
The Home Office publishes a processing time, and a priority service is sometimes available. We tell you the current position when you instruct us.
Insufficient HR systems, no genuine vacancy, an unsuitable authorising officer, or errors in the supporting evidence. Most refusals are avoidable.
You cannot assign new certificates and you have a limited window to respond. The written response is the whole case, so get advice the day you receive the letter.
The licence covers the routes you apply for. Add routes by making a further application.
A rehearsal of a Home Office compliance visit against your real files and systems, with a written report of the gaps and how to close them.
A set of five visa categories for overseas businesses moving staff to the UK: Senior or Specialist Worker, Graduate Trainee, UK Expansion Worker, Service Supplier and Secondment Worker. Each has different eligibility rules and time limits.
It depends on the role and the reason. Senior or Specialist Worker covers most experienced intra-company transfers. UK Expansion Worker is for setting up a new UK branch. We match the right sub-category to your circumstances before you apply.
Yes, the UK entity must hold or obtain a sponsor licence in the relevant category before it can assign certificates of sponsorship to overseas staff. For UK Expansion Worker this can be a provisional licence granted with the branch.
None of the Global Business Mobility routes lead directly to indefinite leave to remain. Long-term staff should plan a switch to Skilled Worker once eligible, which does lead to settlement after five years.
Up to five years in any six-year period, with individual grants normally of up to five years. It is a temporary transfer route, not a settlement route.
Each sub-category has its own thresholds and going rates. Senior or Specialist Worker is the highest paid. Rates are updated by the Home Office periodically - we check the current figures for the specific occupation code before you apply.
Yes, partners and children can apply as dependants in all Global Business Mobility categories. They can work in the UK without needing their own sponsorship.
Settlement & study
It depends on your route. Most work and family routes qualify after five years of continuous residence, UK Ancestry after five, long residence after ten. We count your qualifying time before you apply, because a few days short is a full refusal.
Most routes cap you at 180 days abroad in any rolling 12-month period across the qualifying years. Long residence is judged differently. Work out every trip in and out before you apply - the Home Office will.
Yes, if you are aged 18 to 64, unless a medical exemption applies. It is a 45-minute multiple-choice test and you pay for it separately from the application. Book it well before you plan to apply.
Level B1 in speaking and listening, evidenced by an approved test or an eligible degree taught in English. Nationals of majority-English-speaking countries are exempt. We tell you which route to evidence works for your circumstances.
There are limited exceptions - serious illness, compelling family reasons, employment abroad required by your sponsor. Otherwise the clock restarts or you switch to long residence. Get advice before you apply; a refusal is expensive.
Yes. ILR lapses if you spend more than two continuous years outside the UK. It can also be revoked for deception, serious criminality or if you cease to be settled. Naturalising as British is the way to make settlement permanent.
The Home Office application fee is set separately and updated periodically. We publish the current figure in your engagement letter alongside our fixed fee, so you know the whole cost before you decide.
Standard processing runs to six months, though most decisions come sooner. A super-priority service is available for an additional Home Office fee and gives a decision the next working day where the case is straightforward.
Yes, dependent partners and children can usually apply for settlement alongside you if they also meet the requirements. We assess the whole family in one review so nothing is missed.
Pre-settled status is limited leave, given when you had not yet lived in the UK for five years by the end of the transition period. Settled status is indefinite leave, given after five years of continuous residence. Settled status has no time limit; pre-settled status does.
Yes, once you complete five years of continuous UK residence. The Home Office has been automatically extending pre-settled status while it reviews eligibility for settled status, but you should still apply as soon as you qualify.
The main deadline was 30 June 2021, but late applications are still accepted where you have reasonable grounds for missing it - for example serious illness, being a child, or being in an abusive relationship. Get advice quickly; the bar is not high but it is not automatic.
Up to six months in any rolling twelve-month period, without breaking your continuous residence for the settled status upgrade. One longer absence of up to twelve months is allowed for an important reason, such as childbirth, serious illness, study or work.
Family members who were living with you before 31 December 2020 can usually apply, including a spouse, partner, children, grandchildren, parents and grandparents. Family relationships formed after that date go through different rules; ask us before your relative books flights.
Yes. Settled status counts as indefinite leave for the purposes of naturalisation. Most people can apply for British citizenship after twelve months on settled status, provided the other requirements are met.
Your status is digital and linked to your passport. When you travel, keep your passport up to date on the Home Office system and use the View and prove your status service before you cross the border, especially for airlines that still ask for it.
If your continuous residence has been broken, you may need to apply on a different immigration route or make a late EUSS application citing reasonable grounds. This is technical - book a consultation before you assume you have lost your right to be here.
Applicants aged 16 or over with an unconditional offer from a licensed sponsor for an eligible course, who can meet the English language and financial requirements. Different rules apply to children aged 4 to 17.
You must show you can cover course fees for the first year plus a set monthly amount for living costs, which differs for London and outside London. Funds must be held for a continuous 28-day period ending within 31 days of application.
Most students on full-time degree-level courses can work up to 20 hours a week during term and full-time in vacations. Doctoral extension, some short-term and part-time routes have tighter restrictions - check yours before you take a job.
Dependant visas are limited to postgraduate research courses of 9 months or more, government-sponsored courses of 6 months or more, or certain long doctoral programmes. Most taught-masters students can no longer bring dependants.
It usually covers the length of your course plus a short wrap-up period at the end - up to four months for degree-level courses. Time on Student routes counts towards the ten-year long residence route to settlement, but not the five-year work or family routes.
Yes. The Graduate route gives two years to work or look for work after a UK degree (three years for a PhD). Other options include switching to a Skilled Worker visa if you have a job offer from a licensed sponsor.
Your sponsor must report it, and your leave may be curtailed. If you are moving to a new licensed sponsor, apply for a new visa before you start. Do not simply switch quietly - it can affect future applications.
Only for certain sensitive science and technology postgraduate courses. Your offer letter will tell you if ATAS is required. Applying without it when required is an automatic refusal.
It depends on your nationality. Some passport holders can enter as visitors without applying first; others must obtain a visit visa in advance. A separate Electronic Travel Authorisation is being rolled out for many visa-free nationalities. Check your specific passport before you book.
Standard visit visas are usually granted for up to six months per visit. Long-term visit visas of two, five or ten years are available, but each individual visit is still capped at six months. Frequent long visits can prompt questions from Border Force.
No paid work in the UK, and no self-employment. You can attend meetings, conferences, training, interviews and negotiate contracts. If your visit is about working for a UK client, you need the correct work route, not a visitor visa.
Short courses of up to six months are permitted. Anything longer, or courses that lead to a UK qualification over a longer period, need a Student route visa.
Extensions are only permitted in narrow circumstances, such as private medical treatment or academic visits, and cannot take total time in the UK past twelve months. You cannot extend a standard tourist visit.
Evidence that you will leave at the end of the visit, that you can support yourself financially, and that you have somewhere to stay. That usually means bank statements, employment or study evidence, ties to home, and details of your travel plans.
Almost never. Most in-country switches from visitor status are barred. The route is designed for you to return home and apply from there. Plan the correct route before you arrive.
Visitor visa refusals do not usually carry a right of appeal, so a fresh application addressing the refusal reasons is normally the way forward. The refusal notice itself is your best evidence of what to fix; do not throw it away.
Appeals
Human rights, protection (asylum) and EU Settlement Scheme decisions carry a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. Most points-based system refusals do not - the remedy there is administrative review or a fresh application.
Usually 14 days from the date of the decision if you are in the UK, or 28 days if you are outside. Miss the deadline and you can only appeal out of time with good reasons. Do not wait to get advice.
Administrative review is a paper reconsideration by the Home Office looking only for case-working errors. An appeal is a full hearing before an independent judge who can hear evidence and take a fresh view of the facts and the law.
First-tier Tribunal listing times vary by region and category. Straightforward hearings can be listed in a few months; complex or contested cases can take longer. We keep you updated at each stage.
Usually yes, if you were in the UK with leave when you lodged an in-time appeal. Section 3C leave keeps your status alive while the appeal is decided. Some certified human rights cases require you to appeal from abroad.
The judge allows the appeal and the Home Office normally grants the leave they refused. If they seek permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, we handle that too. Costs are rarely recoverable in immigration.
You may have grounds to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on points of law, subject to permission. Otherwise a fresh application addressing the reasons for refusal is often the way forward - the judgment tells you what to fix.
Tribunal fees plus our legal fees, which we set out on a fixed basis at the start. The complexity of the case drives the total - grounds and skeleton drafting, evidence bundle, hearing representation - and we agree the scope up front.
Fees
Different lawyers charge different amounts. Our fixed fees are published on our fees page. You will always know the figure before you instruct us.
Home Office application fees, the immigration health surcharge, translation, courier and any expert reports. We list these separately so the total is clear.
Fees are payable at defined stages of the work. Ask us about the schedule for your matter.
We are happy to have a brief initial conversation to understand your circumstances and assess whether we may be able to help.
Our fee covers the work described in your engagement letter. Appeal or Administrative Review work is quoted separately, and we tell you plainly whether it is worth pursuing.
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