Standard Visitor Visa Issues

[raykau]

Hello

I have been planning my parents to visit me for a while and hence bought a ticket for them to travel to the UK in January.

My parents applied for the Visitor Visa in mid March and I provided them with the Invitation Letter to submit to the home office clearly stating the below:


Travel Itinerary (Return Tickets attached)
Father's name and Mother's name

Arriving in the UK April 13, 2017 and Departing UK October 09, 2017

They have been issued Visa now and have got the validity for the Visa as April 04, 2017 - October 04, 2017.

I tried to call the airlines now to see if I could get the ticket amended but am being said that it will come me nearly 850 GBP to get the tickets amended to October 03, 2017 including the admin charges and Fare differences.

Has anyone faced this issue before and should i contact the home office to amend their records to allow them leave before 6 months is over from the date of entry? Any advise regarding this will be much appreciated!

[vinny]

You should not have paid for the tickets before your parents got the visas. What would have happened to the airline fees, if they had refused to grant the visas?

What was the date of the application? They may only defer the effective date by up to 3 months from the date of the application. If their requested effective date was less than 3 months from the date of the application, then it may be possible to ask for a correction.

If your parents remain after their leave has expired, then they would become overstayers. They must be declare this on all subsequent visa applications.

[raykau]

Hi vinny

Thanks for your reply

I bought the tickets as I found a good flight fare. It is a risk that the visa is refused but if i wait until the visa is issued, it could have been very expensive which I cannot afford.

They applied for the visa on 22nd March for travel on April 12th

They got the visa approved on the 4th with the validity of visa starting from the 4th.

Is it possible to get it amended once they are here in the UK?

[vinny]

You could try.

However, do be careful. They may consider visitors not to be genuine visitors, if they stay in the UK for too long, even if it's technically permissible to stay up to six months under the rules.

[ITGraduate]

Hello

I have been planning my parents to visit me for a while and hence bought a ticket for them to travel to the UK in January.

My parents applied for the Visitor Visa in mid March and I provided them with the Invitation Letter to submit to the home office clearly stating the below:


Travel Itinerary (Return Tickets attached)
Father's name and Mother's name

Arriving in the UK April 13, 2017 and Departing UK October 09, 2017

They have been issued Visa now and have got the validity for the Visa as April 04, 2017 - October 04, 2017.

I tried to call the airlines now to see if I could get the ticket amended but am being said that it will come me nearly 850 GBP to get the tickets amended to October 03, 2017 including the admin charges and Fare differences.

Has anyone faced this issue before and should i contact the home office to amend their records to allow them leave before 6 months is over from the date of entry? Any advise regarding this will be much appreciated!

How Long did you say they intend to stay in UK while you made the application for them?

I know they have 6 months visa granted, but you cant make them stay 6 months if you have mentioned only 3-4 months on the application form. It will get difficult when they apply for a visitor visa again in future so they will question why they stayed extra. This is something for you to remember

I would suggest forget the return ticket and just buy a one way ticket for their return. Tickets are usually cheaper in Sept/Oct once school starts. Just my 2 cents

But never make them overstay

Good Luck