Child Visitor
A child visitor, who must be under the age of 18, can visit the United Kingdom for up to six months, or up to 12 months if they have entry clearance and are accompanying an academic visitor.
To come to the United Kingdom in this immigration category, you must be able to show that:
- you are under 18;
- you only want to visit the United Kingdom for up to six months, or up to 12 months if you are accompanying an academic visitor and you have entry clearance;
- you intend to leave the United Kingdom at the end of your visit;
- you have enough money to support and accommodate yourself without working or help from public funds, or you and any dependants will be supported and accommodated by relatives or friends;
- suitable arrangements have been made for your travel to, and your reception and care in, the United Kingdom;
- you have a parent or guardian in your home country who is responsible for your care, and you can provide their address and landline telephone number;
- you can meet the cost of the return or onward journey; and
- you are not in transit to a country outside the common travel area.
You must also show that, during your visit, you do not intend to:
- take employment, produce goods or provide services, including the selling of goods or services direct to members of the public;
- marry or form a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership; or
- receive private medical treatment.
If you have been accepted on a course of study, you must be able to show that your education provider is:
- a licensed sponsor under Tier 4 of the points-based system; or
- accredited by an accreditation body that is approved by the UK Border Agency; or
- an independent fee-paying school registered with the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
To allow an overseas national to enter the country as a child visitor, we must be provided with the following documents:
- We will need to see evidence, where known, of the travel arrangements for the child and - unless they are travelling unaccompanied - the person with whom they are travelling. This may simply be evidence of the child's inclusion in their parent or guardian's travel arrangements.
- We will also need evidence of where the child will be staying and with whom. This may simply be evidence of the parent or guardian's accommodation arrangements in the United Kingdom. In other cases, we will need to see details of the person the child will be staying with, including their address and a landline telephone number.
- If the parent or guardian is not making the visa application on the child's behalf, we will need to see a letter from the parent or guardian giving their permission for the child to make the visit, confirming their relationship to the child and providing their full contact details.
