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Do we need a general visa or family visa?

Archived UK Tier 1 (General) points system forum. This route no longer exists.

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someotherperson
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Do we need a general visa or family visa?

Post by someotherperson » Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:38 pm

I'm British and live in the USA with a USA permanent resident card. My wife is Chinese with a USA permanent resident card. Both of us have good jobs.

We want to visit my family in Scotland for a couple of weeks. They are born in Scotland. I called the embassy helpline and they indicated I just need the general visa. However, the guy seemed a bit clueless and couldn't clarify the difference. I got the impression that because I'm British and visiting a British family, my wife doesn't need a family visa. However, the family visa indicates it extends to include the family of the spouse.

I see questions in the general visa form about whether we are visiting family who have 'settled' in the UK. I don't know how to answer that for my family that were born in the UK.

In general, the visa application form appears poorly thought out.

Lucapooka
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Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:30 am
Location: Brasil

Re: Do we need a general visa or family visa?

Post by Lucapooka » Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:31 pm

You both apply for family visit visas.

someotherperson
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Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:31 pm

Re: Do we need a general visa or family visa?

Post by someotherperson » Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:02 pm

Lucapooka wrote:You both apply for family visit visas.
I'm British, so I don't need a visa. The problem with the family visa is that it asks ridiculous information from my family. It needs a letter of invitation from my family, proof of income of the family! That is absolutely ridiculous. It is a vacation so we shouldn't need to provide this extra information compared to if we decided to stay in a hotel.

Lucapooka
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Posts: 7616
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:30 am
Location: Brasil

Re: Do we need a general visa or family visa?

Post by Lucapooka » Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:43 am

The proof of family income is not mandatory; it`s merely asked for in case the UK-based family member is sponsoring (in a financial sense) 'poor relations' who have no independent means of their own. (This is a very common situation for people who actually need to pre-apply for a visit visa because visa national countries tend to be in the third world). In your case, you can simply provide a letter from the UK family indicating their invitation.

You have to appreciate that applications from the USA, from people of established independent means, are not subject to the same intense scrutiny as a similar application from the developing world. As long as you provide evidence of you own social and economic ties and ability to fund your visit, it really does not matter which category of visit visa you apply for.

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