Youth Mobility Scheme Visa

Applicants for the Youth Mobility Scheme must be able to prove that they can financially support themselves while in the UK. To prove that you meet the financial requirements for this scheme, you must submit the following supporting documents as evidence:

• Personal bank account with the banks official stationery or bearing the official stamp of the financial organization
• Saving account proof
• Letter(s) from your bank or a financial institution confirming funds.

Additional accounts, investments, shares, bonds, credit cards, and pension funds are not acceptable as proof of savings.

Through the Youth Mobility Scheme, you are permitted to:

• Study (For some courses, you’ll need an Academic Technology Approval Scheme certificate)
• Work in most jobs
• Be self-employed and/or establish a company. However, your office/premises must be rented and your business equipment can not be worth more than £5,000 and can not have any employees

You are not permitted to:

• Work as a professional sportsperson (for example as a coach)
• Extend your stay
• Access public funds
• Access public benefits
• Bring family members on your application (They would be required to apply separately)

To apply for the youth mobility visa scheme, the application is done online. There are a series of questions it will take you through, to determine your eligibility.

You are permitted to submit your Youth Mobility Scheme application up to 6 months before the time you plan to enter the UK. Typically, it takes the UK Government’s Home Office three weeks to make their decision on your application.

However, it is possible to get an expedition decision through the optional priority service. This will add to the visa fee by £500 and make you get your decision available within five working days.

Otherwise, you can pay an extra £800 for the super-priority service, to receive a verdict from the Home Office by the end of the next working day.

A critical part of the application is proving your identity. How you do this depends on where you’re from and what type of passport you have.

Option 1:

Have your fingerprints and photograph (biometrics) taken at a visa application centre near your home.

If you do require an appointment, the youth mobility visa application centre may need to keep your passport and documents while they process your application, and you may have to travel to get to your nearest visa application centre (this could be in another country).

Option 2:

Use the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to scan your identity document – you’ll also create or sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account.

There are several documents you will need to provide in addition to the online application. They are as follows:

• A valid passport or another document that shows your identity and nationality. There needs to be one blank page in your passport for your visa.
• A bank statement proving that you have at least £2,530 in savings in your bank account
• Your tuberculosis (TB) test results if you’re from a country where you have to take the test
• You may be asked to provide further documents, depending on your circumstances.

If any of your documents are not in English or Welsh, you will need to have them translated by a certified translation centre.

If your application is approved, you’ll be permitted to live and work in the UK for up to 24 months (2 years). You will also have the permission to enter the UK anytime during your visa’s validity and are free to leave, travel and come back at any time during your visa’s validity.

Despite being strictly for 18-30-year-olds, if you do turn 31 while you’re in the UK, you can stay for as long as your visa is valid.

The visa application fee is £244. In addition, you are responsible to pay the immigration health charge, to National Health Service, which is normally £470 per year.

You are also required to prove to the UK government that you have a minimum of £2,530 in your savings account to show you can provide for yourself sufficiently.

There may be additional fees for acquiring biometrics and any health test/vaccines.

There is an option to expedite your application to get a response in 5 days. This optional service costs £500 but you’ll get your response in around 15 days.

Your dependents (legal spouse/civil partner and children) are not permitted to enter with the holder of the Youth Mobility Scheme visa.

Those who are married or have a civil partnership are encouraged to also apply for the Youth Mobility Scheme. However, your spouse or partner cannot enter the United Kingdom as your dependant and will instead, have to enter the UK on their own right, visa, or permit to which they are in the capacity that they are eligible.

It should be noted, that if you happen to give birth while you’re living in the UK with a Youth Mobility Scheme, the child does not automatically become a British citizen. You will have to apply online for the child’s visa as your dependant. This step is imperative if you want to travel in and out of the UK with your child. When applying, it will be necessary to prove a full UK birth certificate for each child, showing the names of both parents.

When applying, it is important to know that you are not entitled to switch from the Youth Mobility Scheme to any other UK visa category. Presently, there are no provisions available to extend your period of stay in the UK beyond the 2 years granted per the Youth Mobility Scheme.