Maximising Your UK Visitor Visa: Essential Tips for Future Applications

After Receiving Your UK Tourist Visa…

You’ve received your visitor visa for the UK, congratulations! But how should you use your visa to increase your chances if you want to apply for a visa again in the future?

The UK visitor visa is a comprehensive visa that allows you to visit the United Kingdom countries (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) for various purposes, such as tourism, visiting family and friends, business trips, and short-term education. Check what you can and cannot do on a visitor visa here.

However, like all visas, it has its own rules to follow. First and foremost, as the name suggests, this is a “visitor” visa. Therefore, with this visa, you cannot settle in the UK or work (even as a volunteer, with some exceptions). After completing your visit, you are required to return to your home country. Check the UK Immigration rules here.

This is the most important rule of this visa. All the documents you submitted when applying for the visa are proof of your reasons for returning to your home country. If you leave your job and stay in the UK for months despite having a job you need to return to, your next visa application will be at risk.

With a visitor visa, you can enter the UK multiple times within 6 months, and you can stay for up to 180 days as long as you do not exceed the duration of your visa.

On the other hand, although the visitor visa allows you to stay for 180 days, staying for long periods, making the UK your main residence, could result in negative outcomes for your next visa application. Even if your next visa is granted, you may be denied entry upon arrival, and your current visa may be cancelled. This is explicitly and clearly stated in the visitor visa rules. Long stays are only accepted if they are due to urgent and justifiable reasons.

To improve your success in future visa applications, you can consider the following points:

·       Consistency with the statements in your visa application If you stated that you are employed and took 1 week off, but then stayed for months, this will undermine both your employer’s and your own credibility.

If you mentioned that you can’t stay long in the UK because you have children or elderly parents to take care of, but then stayed for months, this will again contradict your statements.

·       Your travel dates Ideally, you should travel and return within the dates you indicated in your application form, but of course minor changes will not cause issues. Afterward, making short trips, in line with visiting purposes, would be appropriate. Of course, plans can change, and travel dates may shift, or the length of the trip might be extended or shortened. However, try to align these changes with the statements in your application. Long stays in the UK by employees, students, or those with children will raise suspicion in future applications.

The length of stay will vary from person to person depending on the information provided in your application. For example, if you stated that you are visiting close family members and are retired, meaning you don’t have a job to return to, it may be more acceptable for you to stay longer than someone who is working. Like a mother visiting her daughter living in the UK. In such a case, making multiple entries and staying longer may be acceptable compared to someone who is employed.

·       Your personal circumstances Even if you have kept your visits to the UK reasonable and consistent with your statements, each visa application must still meet the visa rules according to your personal circumstances. This means:

You must have a genuine purpose for your visit, sufficient financial resources to support your stay, and strong reasons to return to your home country.

·       Your bank accounts Unexplained or unclear sources of funds entering your bank accounts, or money that does not seem to belong to you, could be an immediate reason for rejection. Try to keep your accounts organized. Avoid cash deposits, frequent transfers between accounts, heavy reliance on credit, or allowing your accounts to frequently go into overdraft.

We have a Google rating of Outstanding, and specialise in applicants who have previously been refused, or have difficult circumstances.

For anyone interested in applying we recommend taking our phone consultancy service, where we often provide enough information to allow customers to apply themselves without any further consultation charges.

The information in this blog is for general information purposes only, and should not be taken as legal advice. Detailed and comprehensive research is completed but once published any commentary, quotes, societal direction and legal references may not be remain current and accurate. Subsequently, English Visa Life cannot accept responsibility for loss which may arise from information contained in this blog. For assistance in translating and certifying necessary documents, in addition to accurately reflecting your responses in English and cataloguing supporting documents please don’t hesitate to contact UK Turkey Life to assist in your application. English Visa Life is operating under a registered trader license, Izmir, Turkey.