LEGAL COLUMN

In this article we plan to briefly cover the rules in relation to requirements for what is called an “Entry Clearance Certificate” (a visa) for visitors wishing to travel to the United Kingdom.

Visitors from Asia and Africa save for a very few other exceptional countries require a visa either before boarding on a flight to the United Kingdom or before they are allowed at an airport in to the UK.

The current rules require that a visa can be obtained at the British Embassy/High Commission based in the visitor’s own country.

The current rules are found at 41-46 of the Immigration Rules.

Many of those who are refused a visa that we come across often do so because they do not have the correct or legible documents to support their application. A visitor needs to satisfy the interviewing immigration officer that they are genuine visitors to the United Kingdom. The requirements are:

 Stay must be for 6 months or less.
 That they intend to leave at the end of their stay
 That they will not take up employment
 That they intend not to carry out any business
 That they do not intend to study
 Either that they can maintain and accommodate themselves at their own expense or that they will be maintained and accommodated by relatives or friends settled in the United Kingdom
 That they can meet the cost of their return journey.

Most applicants particularly from the sub-continent tend to fall foul of the requirements of maintenance and accommodation. They tend to produce evidence of their own financial standing. In nearly every case the visitors tend to be farmers or in relatively low paid jobs. Notwithstanding this they tend to show that they have sufficient income of their own to meet the cost of the trip to the United Kingdom. There is no need to go down this route of providing and showing that you have sufficient income. The current Rule provides that if a person settled and living in the United Kingdom is able to maintain and accommodate the visitors, the financial standing of the visitor in their own homeland is immaterial for the purpose of these Rules.

Where visitors are sponsored by a person settled here they should prepare a detailed statutory declaration in which they should produce evidence of:-

 Their income
 Accommodation
 Their family connections with the visitors.
 They should also resist from using local agents for advice, assistance and completion of the application form. In every case these agencies have no knowledge of English law practice.

A decision of an Entry Clearance Officers (ECO) can be appealed. In the next issue we will deal with the appeal procedures.

If you have specific questions in relation to this article or any others please send your questions to the email address below and your permission that we can publish the question and answers in the next issue.