• VAT2.1 What are the requirements
• VAT2.2 What is the visa endorsement for visitors?
• VAT2.3 Do visitors have full rights of appeal?
• VAT2.4 What is a family visitor?
• VAT2.5 What is the visa endorsement for a family visitor?
• VAT2.6 Do family visitors have full rights of appeal?
• VAT2.7 Visitor refusal wordings

See other guidance information VAT1 Visitors: General VAT10 Special Visitor: Prospective student VAT11 Business Visitors VAT12 Business Visitor: Academic Visitor VAT13 Business Visitor: Visiting Professors VAT14 Business Visitors: Religious Workers VAT15 Business Visitor: Doctors coming for PLAB test VAT16 Business Visitor: Doctors undertaking clinical attachments VAT17 Sports Visitor VAT18 Entertainer Visitor VAT19 Visitors under the Approved Destinations Status MoU with China VAT20 Foreign armed forces (not NATO/Commonwealth) VAT21 Archaeological excavations VAT22 Appellants seeking admission VAT23 Parents with access rights to children in the UK VAT24 Child minders for relatives VAT25 Visitors seeking visas or settlement visas for other countries VAT26 Persons coming for job interviews VAT27 Court reporters VAT28 Witnesses attending trials in the UK VAT3 Special Visitor: Child visitors VAT3A Special Visitor: Student exchanges VAT4 Special Visitor: Child visitors sponsored by charities VAT5 Special Visitor: Parents with children under 12 at school in UK VAT6 Special Visitor: Marriage/Civil partnership visit (not settlement) VAT7 Special Visitor: Private medical treatment VAT8 Special Visitor: Visitor in transit VAT9 Special Visitor: Student visitor  

VAT2.1 What are the requirements

Immigration Rules for visitors: Paragraphs 40 and 41

The main points on which an ECO must be satisfied:

• that the applicant is giving a true account of what (s)he intends to do during his/her stay in the UK and the length of time (s)he will stay in the UK; and
• that, during his/her stay, (s)he does not intend undertaking any activity which is not allowed by the Rules relating to visitors; and
• that there are sufficient funds available to finance the stay (and that of any dependants) and the onward or return journey.

 

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VAT2.2 What is the visa endorsement for visitors?

C: VISIT, LTE 6 months, Code 3

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VAT2.3 Do visitors have full rights of appeal?

No. However, even if not the main purpose of their visit, if an unsuccessful applicant intended at some point in the visit to meet a qualifying family member they should be notified of full rights of appeal.

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VAT2.4 What is a family visitor?

The same as for a visitor. Under the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2003, a family visitor is defined as:

1.  the applicant's spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or first cousin (NB: "first cousin" means, in relation to a person, the son or daughter of his uncle or aunt);
2. the father, mother, brother or sister of the applicant's spouse;
3. the spouse of the applicant's son or daughter;
4. the applicant's stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother or stepsister; or
5. 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.

ECOs should not seek documentary evidence of a claimed relationship unless there are strong grounds to doubt it (such as a disparity in age that makes the relationship biologically unlikely).

 

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VAT2.5 What is the visa endorsement for a family visitor?

C: VISIT- FAMILY VISIT LTE 6 months Code 3

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VAT2.6 Do family visitors have full rights of appeal?

Those applicants who intend to visit a qualifying member of their family in the UK (whether as the main purpose of the visit or as incidental to the main purpose of the visit to the UK) have full rights of appeal against any refusal. The qualifying relationships are listed in the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2003 (and Entry Clearance Guidance VAT2.4).

If the ECO has clear evidence that the applicant is not visiting a family member e.g. evidence that the person to be visited is not a qualifying family member or that the applicant is not related to the person visiting as claimed, or the applicant has failed to answer the question set out in the VAF then limited rights of appeal apply.   The refusal notice should give clear reasons as to why they do not have a full right of appeal, for example "You have applied to visit xxxx but he/she does not qualify as a family member under the Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2003. You therefore do not have a full right of appeal against this decision."  

All applicants must be served with individual refusal notices.  However, a child visitor’s notice of refusal should be served on the parent or guardian.  It is inappropriate to give a teenage child a notice of refusal that makes negative references to their parent’s circumstances or financial information.  However, if the family group has provided one set of financial documents to support all the applications, it is appropriate to refer to these in each notice. Equally, when refusing other, non related groups, e.g. a tour group, ECOs must take care to ensure that no applicant receives inappropriate information about another group member on their notice of refusal.  

Sometimes members of the same family group who have been refused visit entry clearance will have different rights of appeal under The Immigration Appeals (Family Visitor) Regulations 2003. For example if the family (mother, father and 2 children) are visiting the mother’s aunt , the mother will have a right of appeal but not the father or children.  The individual refusal notices must reflect the correct rights of appeal for each individual.

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VAT2.7 Visitor refusal wordings

Wording for refusals: Section 1-5

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