UK Standard Visitor Visa: Requirements, Cost and Process (2026)
What is the UK Standard Visitor visa?
- Whether you need one depends on your nationality. Some nationals need an Electronic Travel Authorisation instead, which costs £20 as of 8 April 2026.
- You cannot work, claim benefits, or live in the UK through repeated visits. Doing so puts future applications at risk.
Who can apply for a Standard Visitor visa?
You are likely eligible if:
- You are coming for a permitted reason and will stay no more than six months
- You can support yourself and any dependants without public funds
- You can pay for your return or onward journey
- You have ties to your home country, such as work, property or family
- You will not make the UK your main home through repeated visits
This route may not be right if:
- You want to work in the UK, paid or unpaid
- You want to marry or register a civil partnership. That needs a Marriage Visitor visa
- You want to study for longer than the visitor rules allow
- Your travel history shows long or repeated stays that look like living here
What can you do on a Standard Visitor visa?
What you cannot do
- Work for a UK company or as a self-employed person, paid or unpaid
- Claim public funds or benefits
- Live in the UK through frequent or successive visits
- Marry, register a civil partnership, or give notice of either
Academic, medical and other
Academic exchanges and sabbatical research. Clinical attachments and observer posts for doctors and dentists. Private medical treatment. Donating an organ to a family member or close friend. Performing at a one-off event as an artist, entertainer or musician.
Study and exams
Short courses at an accredited institution. Research relevant to an overseas course. Entrance exams, module retakes and a PhD viva. Professional exams including the PLAB, OSCE, Bar Transfer Test and QLTS.
Business
Conferences, meetings, training and interviews. Negotiating and signing contracts. Trade fairs, though you cannot sell. Site visits and inspections. Overseeing delivery of goods or services to your overseas company. Installing or servicing equipment under a contract with a UK company. Seeking funding or investment.
Tourism and family
Holidays, visiting family and friends, transiting to another country, and volunteering with a registered charity for up to 30 days.
How do you apply?
It depends on your nationality. If you do not need a visa, you may need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) instead.
A Standard Visitor visa lasts 6 months. If you visit the UK often, you can ask for 2, 5 or 10 years. You can still stay up to 6 months per visit. Ask for a length your travel history supports. The Home Office can give you a shorter visa than you ask for.
Collect proof of why you are visiting, how you will pay for the trip, and your ties to home. Explain any large bank deposits. Have everything ready before you start the form.
Apply on GOV.UK from outside the UK, up to 3 months before you travel. The fee depends on the visa length you choose.
Book an appointment at a visa application centre to give your fingerprints and photo. Upload your documents before the appointment, or bring them if your centre asks you to.
Most decisions take about 3 weeks from your appointment. You get the decision by email. If approved, you will usually get an eVisa, which you can view in your UKVI account.
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Documents you will need
Cost Breakdown
In our clients' own words.
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Frequently Asked Questions
If things go wrong
There is no automatic bar, and the requirements are the same each time. What changes is that your travel history is now part of the picture, and the Home Office will look at whether you are living here through repeated visits.
If things go wrong
Yes, but only once you understand exactly why the first application failed. We request the Home Office file where that is not clear from the refusal notice.
If things go wrong
In most cases there is no right of appeal. Judicial review is the usual route, and an appeal is only available where human rights grounds apply. Reapplying without addressing the refusal reasons rarely works.
If things go wrong
Before your biometric appointment you can cancel and reapply, or send a covering letter setting out the correct position. After the appointment, contact UKVI directly. Do not leave it and hope.
Money and timing
You will get an email with the decision. If approved, you get an eVisa, a digital record of your status, which you view in your UKVI account.
Money and timing
Usually about three weeks from your biometric appointment. Priority is about five working days at £500, and Super Priority the next working day at £1,000, where those services are offered.
Money and timing
Yes. They will need to provide their own bank statements, proof of their status in the UK, and evidence of your relationship to them.
Money and timing
There is no fixed figure. You need enough to cover your travel, accommodation and living costs without working or claiming benefits. How the money got there matters as much as the balance.
While you are here
Only in limited circumstances, and you must show compelling and compassionate reasons. Falling seriously ill during your visit is the usual example. Doctors retaking the PLAB test or taking up a clinical attachment can also extend.
While you are here
No, not on a Standard Visitor visa. You cannot marry, register a civil partnership, or even give notice of one. That needs a Marriage Visitor visa.
While you are here
Short courses at an accredited institution are permitted. Longer study needs a Student visa.
While you are here
No. You cannot work for a UK company or as a self-employed person, paid or unpaid. Permitted business activities such as meetings and conferences are different, and they are listed above.
Before you apply
No. It is not a requirement for a Standard Visitor visa. It is still worth having.
Before you apply
Yes, though each person applies separately and pays their own fee. Applications can be linked so they are considered together.
Before you apply
Up to three months before you travel. Applying early is sensible if you need a priority service that is not offered in your country.
Before you apply
It depends on your nationality. Visa nationals need a Standard Visitor visa. Others need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, which costs £20 as of 8 April 2026. The Home Office publishes the national list.
Visitor visa insights
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