In recent times, the UK has been repositioning to regain its prestige. This goes beyond its role in international politics. For instance the pullout from the European Union; the direction indicated a UK that’s tilting towards stricter immigration provisions.
While not exactly qualifying as an isolated country, entry into the UK has gotten tougher in recent times. Visa and migration success have slowed; however, following these steps, while pursuing your UK visa may improve your chances.
- Step One: Determine Purpose of Migration: The purpose of migration is instrumental to appropriate visa class determination. Among other things, visas can determine, the speed of migration, what applicants can and can’t do while in the UK, and even duration of stay. Migration objectives also impact the attention granted to applicants and how fast things have to go.
Since some purposes of a visit may require less or more time to accomplish, a clear picture of the aim of migration is important when seeking to visit or move to the United Kingdom. Applicants may need to answer the following question before taking the step to initiate a UK visa
- What is my major aim of traveling to the UK?
- Do I intend to do other things while in the country?
- How long do I intend to stay?
- Are there special or common privileges required to pursue my travel objective?
Answering the above questions will help applicants understand the task ahead. For instance, while student visas may allow holders to work in the UK, tourist visas may not allow holders to work. If an applicant specifically wants to work, a dedicated work visa may be more suitable than a student or tourist visa. These considerations are important as they enable applicants to assess what value is attainable with chosen visa class.
- Step Two: Identify Applicable Visa: Having identified travel objectives in Step One, it is time to find a workable visa for you. There are a diverse category of visas.
The purpose of the visit, duration of stay, allowed privileges, and other details are specific to each visa class. Even within a visa class, there could be sub-classes. For instance, while work visas may generally enable holders to work in the UK, what kind of work, how long or the qualifications needed to undertake jobs available to such unique visa holders may vary.
It is important to discover the appropriate visa class and sub-class that may apply in your case. If still confused about what may be suitable for you at this stage, consider consulting experts with advanced knowledge in UK immigration matters. You may also refer to this detailed article here on UK visa classes and sub-classes.
- Step Three: Identify Common and Unique Requirements: While common requirements may apply in most UK visas, depending on the purpose and nature of the visa, applicants may be required to provide additional or unique information.
In most cases, applying for a UK visa may include the presentation of a valid passport, employment or education-related documents like CV, resume, etc,. Educational qualifications may be required in work and student visas.
Other common requirements include passport photos, health examination certificates, and in some cases even language proficiency tests.
Recent character report is also a crucial aspect of the UK visa process and in some cases, even security clearance may be requested.
Remember that other requirements may need to be satisfied such as visa and migration expenditures affordability. Visa and migration expenditure budgets may vary depending on your visa.
Proving the ability to afford applicable UK visas expenditures usually requires tendering of bank statements with high or considerable transaction flow within 28 days. Balance or transaction history expectations may vary given different visa classes.
- Step Four: Gather Requirements or prepare yourself for appointment or others: Beyond documents, other kinds of information may be required. Some may require an appointment with the UK visa application center in your country or other places near you, this may require biometric or real-time photo capturing and interviews, alternatively, you can use the mobile app UK immigration tool that enables ID verification.
It is important to ensure that all necessary documents as discussed in step three are within reach before proceeding to the next stage.
- Step Five: Pay visa application and other related fees: Your UK migration includes a series of payments. A visa application involves certain payments which must be made after completing the application form. Once application payment and other related fees are paid, the Applicant may proceed to the final stage.
- Step Six: Complete Your UK visa application and wait for the Success update: At this stage, the applicant is expected to re-examine the provided information to confirm accuracy then submit and wait for the result. It must be noted that success time may vary among visa classes or sun-classes.
You will be able to discover how long your particular visa success update should take when you initiate your application.
Tracking your application
Although applicants will be notified of the final decision on visa consideration through mail and letters, there are several online tools to track your visa application status.
If you already applied for a visa and waiting for the outcome, you may need a UKVI profile which will enable you to access your status.
Timeline
When it comes to UK visa applications, taking note of the timeline is important. This will ensure that applicants don’t miss out on the purpose of the visit, employment in the case of work visas, or even school resumption in the case of students.
When applying for a visit to the UK, starting the visa process at least 3 months before the schedule will ensure that the applicant may arrive in the UK in time for such a visit. For employment purposes migration, a 3 months standard may also apply; however, in the case of students, the visa process should be initiated six months before the start of the potential study program. The six-month timeframe may also apply in the case of child student migration.
Apply
We hope that you have researched extensively or consulted experts before deciding on a suitable visa class. You can initiate your visa process then by discovering which class applies to you. You can discover the available visa and choose the one to apply for here.