UK Visitor Visa: Frequency and period of stay

is there any limits of number of times you can visit UK on Visitor Visa.
For example, if you come in 1st January 2019 for 6 months and returned on the 1st of June 2019.

when is the next time you can visit if you have multiple-entry visa for 5 yrs ?

A visitor cannot be spending more time in the UK than they spend in their home country in a 12 month period. They risk being refused entry and having their visa cancelled if they are attempting to use a visitor visa to reside in the UK with successive visits.

thanks, but a visitor may be spending time in other countries as well not just UK.

I just wanted to know what are the UK rules regarding visitor visa and multiple entries.

any link would be of great help too.

thanks and happy Valentine day to all in the forum

UK immigration are not going to tell you where to go once you leave the UK.

Imagine someone from India visiting the UK. Then leaving to spend time in USA, Canada, Japan... then coming back in a year to visit the UK again. Initially this won't cause issues.

But in the long term, it can be an issue when the person applies for a UK visitor visa.

The person has to show strong economic and social ties to the home country. But if the person is not effectively living in his/her home country, there will be no ties really. This can cause trouble when applying for a visitor visa.

are you sure of this ? coz, from a common sense point of view, I would have thought UK should only be concerned with whether somebody would leave UK or not right ?

Whether they go somewhere else or to their home country - why should that matter?

I get the point of somebody abusing the 'multiple-entry visitor visa' and effectively using as a settlement visa, so if somebody visited UK on vistor visa and spent 6 months and left, how long it should legally expire before they can set foot in UK again ?

When you apply for a visitor visa, you need to show that you are settled in some country. It doesn't have to be your country of citizenship.

So if someone is without a fixed address, it can be challenging for him to get a visitor visa.

Note, that travelling a lot gives a good immigration history and helps for a visitor visa.

So it's a balance really. But you can't tell them "I don't live anywhere"

i dont think you are getting what I am after.

I am not talking abt a globe trotter. a person with a fixed home abroad with 'multiple entry visitor visa valid for 5 yrs'

so, when next can he enter UK again once they have spent 6 months on the UK already on the same visa and left ?

n8net wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 12:50 pm

I get the point of somebody abusing the 'multiple-entry visitor visa' and effectively using as a settlement visa, so if somebody visited UK on vistor visa and spent 6 months and left, how long it should legally expire before they can set foot in UK again ?

n8net wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:42 pm

I am not talking abt a globe trotter. a person with a fixed home abroad with 'multiple entry visitor visa valid for 5 yrs'

so, when next can he enter UK again once they have spent 6 months on the UK already on the same visa and left ?

There is no hard-and-fast rule.

What the visitor is not allowed to do is to "not live in the UK for extended periods through frequent or successive visits, or make the UK their main home" (Rule V 4(2)(b) of Appendix V of the UK Immigration Rules)

So when the person arrives in the UK, it should not appear to the Immigration Officer (who can see the history of travel to and from the UK) that the visitor is spending too much time in the UK and is, in effect, residing in the UK.

Frequent and long visits of a person to the UK can result in either a cancellation of the visa at the airport by the Immigration Officer or can result in the refusal of any following visit visa applications.

Part of the visit visa application process is to prove that you have such strong social links to the country of habitual residence that you will leave the UK at the end of the visit visa.

There have been some recent cases where people who have overstayed the period that they said on their visa application but not the visa itself (EG. they said that they would stay two months, but stayed four months; the visa being valid for six months) still have any subsequent visit visa applications refused.

thanks a lot for the detailed answer.

it makes sense..glad to know 'there is no hard rule' thought there might be based on answers from others.

but what is thought provoking is that fact that, HO, compares the dates on the application and period of stay.
always thought once they grant application, they do not look back at such detailed level.

out of curiosity, if an applicant says in their visitor visa application, they need to visit only for 2 weeks, why they then grant 6 months as a minimum ?

A UK visitor visa is granted for a 6 month minimum period. there are no shorter visas.