Family Visitor Visa UK from Germany

If you are planning to visit family in the UK for up to 6 months, you may choose to apply for the UK’s Standard Visitor visa. This visa type permits numerous activities, such as visiting family and friends, completing certain business activities, and travelling the UK as a tourist.

If you plan to stay with UK-based family for longer than 6 months, you will instead need to apply for a long-term Family visa. The UK also offers long-term Standard Visitor visas, which are intended for people who visit the UK frequently. These visas are valid for either 2, 5, or 10 years, and allow visits of up to 6 months at a time.

Note that, if you are a German citizen, you will not require a visa in order to visit family in the UK for up to 6 months. As such, it will not generally be necessary for German citizens to obtain a Standard Visitor visa. If you reside in Germany but are not a German national, however, it may still be necessary for you to obtain a visa in order to enter the UK. This will depend on your specific nationality.

Page Contents

• Family Visit Visa UK: Overview
• Eligibility Requirements
• How To Apply For A Family Visitor Visa
• Required Documents for A Family Visitor Visa
• Application Fees and Processing Time For UK Family Visitor Visa
• Extending Your Stay
• How Can Total Law Help?
• Frequently Asked Questions

In order to be eligible for the UK Standard Visitor visa, you will generally need to satisfy the following requirements:

• Provide evidence that you plan to leave the UK within 6 months of arrival
• Provide evidence that you have the financial means to support yourself (and any dependents) for the duration of your stay in the UK
• Provide evidence that you will not successively and frequently visit the UK for extended periods, and that you will not become primarily based in the UK

Note that not all visitors to the UK require a visa in order to enter. German citizens, for example, do not require a visa in order to visit the UK for up to 6 months.

You can apply for the Standard Visitor visa up to 3 months before the date on which you intend to travel to the UK.

The visa application should be completed online, via the UK government website. You will also need to provide supporting documents and book an appointment at a UK visa application centre, in order to provide your biometric data. Specifically, you will need to provide your photograph and fingerprints. In Germany, the UK visa application centres can be found in Berlin, Dusseldorf, and Munich.

Once you have completed the necessary steps, your application will then be processed. If your application is successful, you will then receive a visa. This visa can be used to legally enter the UK.

Once you have arrived in the UK, you can legally stay for up to 6 months. There are some circumstances in which it may also be possible to extend your stay, the details of which are given later in this article.

In order to apply for a UK Family Visitor visa, you will require the following documents:

• Valid passport/ other relevant travel documents
• The dates for which you intend to be in the UK
• Where you will stay during your trip
• Estimated budget for your trip
• Evidence of your ability to financially support yourself (and any dependents) for the duration of your trip
• Your current address information
• Your parents’ names/dates of birth (if available)
• Your annual income (if available)
• A copy of your criminal record

In certain circumstances, you may also be asked to provide the following:

• Your travel history from the previous 10 years
• Your employer’s contact information
• Your partner’s personal information
• The personal information of any UK-based family members
• The personal information of anyone who will be helping to pay for your trip

Note that the exact documents which you will be expected to provide will depend on your specific circumstances and will vary from case to case.

The cost of applying for a UK Visitor visa will depend on the specific visa in question.

The fee for a Standard Visitor visa is £127. For the average visitor who is in the UK to visit their family, this will be the relevant application fee. This price increases to £220 if you are visiting the UK for medical or academic reasons.

If you are applying for a 2 year long-term Standard Visitor visa, the cost will instead be £475. This increases to £848 for a 5 year long-term Standard Visitor visa and to £1059 for a 10 year long-term Standard Visitor visa. The fee for extending your Standard Visitor visa is £1,100, though it is only possible to extend in limited circumstances.

Regarding processing time, a decision on your application should generally be made within 3 weeks. However, this could be longer if there are a high number of other applications also being processed or if your application contains errors or is missing information. You can minimise delays by making sure that you submit your application fully and accurately.

In certain circumstances, it may be possible for you to extend your Standard Visitor visa. If you were initially given permission to be in the UK for under 6 months, for example, you may be able to extend your stay for up to a total of 6 months.

In order to extend your stay to a total of over 6 months, however, one of the following circumstances will need to apply:

• You are in the UK as a patient receiving medical treatment, and have medical grounds for extending your stay
• You are in the UK as an academic and continue to satisfy the eligibility requirements
• You are a graduate and you are either retaking the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board test or are completing a clinical attachment

As such, it will generally not be possible to extend your stay beyond 6 months if you are exclusively in the UK to visit family. If you wish to remain in the UK for over 6 months, you will instead need to apply for a dedicated Family visa.

Note that there is a £1,100 fee for applying to extend your stay.