VAT2.2 What is a family visitor?
Under the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2003, a family visitor is defined as someone who intends to visit someone who is related to them in the following way:
the applicant's spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or first cousin (note: 'first cousin' means, in relation to a person, the son or daughter of his uncle or aunt);
the father, mother, brother or sister of the applicant's spouse;
the spouse of the applicant's son or daughter;
the applicant's stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother or stepsister; or
a person with whom the applicant has lived as a member of an unmarried couple for at least two of the three years before the day on which his application for entry clearance was made.
In addition:
Children adopted under an adoption order recognised in UK law are treated as if they are the natural children of the adoptive parents; and, The Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2003 pre-date The Civil Partnership Act (2004). Civil partners are considered 'a member of the applicant's family' in the same way as a spouse for the purposes of the Family Visitor Regulations.