Maximum stay on a long term visitor visa

ShrutiBlue · Post by **ShrutiBlue** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:23 am

Hi guys, my parents are currently on a 2 year visitor visa which was successfully granted after they visited me on a 6 month tourist visa, staying for almost 6 months.

I’ve always been under the impression that the maximum stay allowed on a visitor visa is 6 months in a 12 month rolling period, but after re-reading the visitor visa overview am I correct in understanding that this is not the case and the maximum stay is 6 months per visit? Meaning they could essentially visit me for 6 months, go out of the country for a day or two and then come back for ~6 months more and so on until the 2 years are up? Not that I want to do this of course, just asking as an example for clarification’s sake as I waited for a 6 month “cooling off period” before booking their flights this time due to what I believed the rules were.

I had also read somewhere that it is best to apply for the long term visit visas in sequential order of increasing duration. So 6 months, then 2 years, then 5 years and then 10. But can I just apply for a 10 year visit visa straight after a 2 year visa?

I’ve just had a baby and would like my parents to have relatively free movement to visit me and their grandson any time they want and would be great to get some clarity on the rules!

Thanks in advance

Post by **AmazonianX** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 6:18 am

ShrutiBlue wrote: ↑
Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:23 am
Hi guys, my parents are currently on a 2 year visitor visa which was successfully granted after they visited me on a 6 month tourist visa, staying for almost 6 months.

I’ve always been under the impression that the maximum stay allowed on a visitor visa is 6 months in a 12 month rolling period, but after re-reading the visitor visa overview am I correct in understanding that this is not the case and the maximum stay is 6 months per visit? Meaning they could essentially visit me for 6 months, go out of the country for a day or two and then come back for ~6 months more and so on until the 2 years are up? Not that I want to do this of course, just asking as an example for clarification’s sake as I waited for a 6 month “cooling off period” before booking their flights this time due to what I believed the rules were. Maximum 6months per visit in 12month. It should not appear that they are staying more in UK than in home country I.e. residing in UK under the guise of visiting.

I had also read somewhere that it is best to apply for the long term visit visas in sequential order of increasing duration. So 6 months, then 2 years, then 5 years and then 10. But can I just apply for a 10 year visit visa straight after a 2 year visa? There is no method to this, take it as an advise, read how after 6months applied for 5yrs visit visa and it got granted without the intermediate 2yrs.

I’ve just had a baby and would like my parents to have relatively free movement to visit me and their grandson any time they want and would be great to get some clarity on the rules!

Thanks in advance

Post by **secret.simon** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 5:42 pm

Question asked many, many, many times on these forums.

Click on each of the three links in the sentence above to see each thread. Also see the various links within the replies to the threads.

ShrutiBlue wrote: ↑
Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:23 am
I’ve just had a baby and would like my parents to have relatively free movement to visit me and their grandson any time they want

That's not going to happen in the UK. You may want to look at moving with the child to your parents' country of habitual residence.

When you think you have found a great loophole, always think; why is everybody not doing it already? If they are not doing it en masse, there must be a reason why.

Also keep in mind that people on visit visas are not covered by the NHS at all and any non-emergency NHS care will be charged at 150% of cost payable upfront, in advance of the treatment. And most travel and health insurance providers may not cover stays of longer than 180 days in the year themselves. Read their fine print too.

Immigrationboards.com: Immigration, work visa and work permit discussion board

Maximum stay on a long term visitor visa

Maximum stay on a long term visitor visa

Re: Maximum stay on a long term visitor visa

Re: Maximum stay on a long term visitor visa