Child visitors

This page explains whether you can come to the UK as a child visitor.

The ‘child visitor’ category is for nationals of countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

To come to the UK as a child visitor, you must be able to show that:

• you are under 18 years old;
• you intend to visit the UK for no more than 6 months (or 12 months if you will be accompanying an academic visitor);
• you intend to leave the UK at the end of your visit;
• you have enough money to support and accommodate yourself without working or help from public funds, or you 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 UK – and, if a foster carer or relative (not a parent or guardian) will be responsible for your care, the arrangements must meet the requirements set out in our guidance;
• you have a parent or guardian in your home country who is responsible for your care, and you can provide their address, their landline phone number; and
• confirmation that they consent to the arrangements for your travel to, and reception and care in, the UK;
• 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’ (Ireland, the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands).

You must be able to show that, during your visit, you do not intend to:

• take paid or unpaid employment, produce goods or provide services, including the selling of goods or services directly to members of the public;
• marry or register a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership; or
• receive private medical treatment.

You can undertake a short course of study during your visit, if it is provided by an organization which is:

• a licensed sponsor under Tier 4 of the points-based system; or
• accredited by an accreditation body which has been approved by the UK Border Agency (see below); or
• inspected by either the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education in Scotland, Estyn, Northern Ireland’s Education and Training Inspectorate or the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI).

You may also participate in a short visit exchange programme with or educational visit to a UK school. This must be a maintained school, a non-maintained special school or an independent (fee-paying or non-fee-paying) school. You must submit full details of the school offering the programme, and full details of the care arrangements in place covering your full stay in the UK.

There are additional requirements, depending on whether you will be traveling to the UK with an adult (‘accompanied’) or without an adult (‘unaccompanied’)

Unaccompanied child visitors

If you will be traveling to the UK without an adult (someone over the age of 18), we will treat you as an ‘unaccompanied child visitor’. Your parent or guardian will need to provide:

• their written consent for you to travel to the UK;
• their full contact details;
• evidence that suitable living arrangements have been made for your stay in the UK;
• the name and date of birth of your intended care;
• address where you will be living;
• relationship of foster carer to you;
• authority from your parent(s) or legal guardian allowing your carer to care for you during your stay in the UK; and
• a letter from the school to include details of the care arrangements, confirming they have or will notify the local authority. They must include the reply from the local authority if they have one.

Accompanied child visitors

If you will be traveling to the UK with an adult (someone over the age of 18), we will treat you as an ‘accompanied child visitor’. If you apply for a visa, you must identify this adult in your visa application. The adult’s name will appear on your visa, and you will be refused entry to the UK if you arrive in the UK without that adult. You can identify up to 2 adults in your visa application, and your visa will only be valid if you travel with at least 1 of those adults.

The adult can apply for a visa at the same time, but you must each complete separate applications.

This page contains information about the documents that you may want to provide to support your application to come to the UK as a child visitor.

If you apply for a visa, you should provide these documents with your visa application. If you travel to the UK without a visa, you should bring them with you so that you can show them to our officers at the border.

You should provide as many relevant documents as you can to show that you qualify for entry to the UK. If you do not provide them, we may refuse your application.

You must decide which documents will best support your application. We advise you to consider providing documents that contain:

• information about you
• information about your finances and employment
• your accommodation and travel details
• information about your visit to the UK

This page explains whether you will need to obtain a visa before you come to the UK as a child visitor.

This page explains whether you will need to obtain a visa before you come to the UK as a child visitor, and how you can apply for a visa.

You will need a visa if you:

• are a visa national (see ‘More information’ below); or
• are stateless (you do not have a nationality); or
• hold a non-national travel document (a travel document which does not give you the nationality of the country that issued it); or
• hold a passport issued by an authority that is not recognized in the UK.

Even if you do not need a visa, you may decide that you should apply for one anyway – see ‘More information’ below.

This page explains whether and how you can extend your stay in the UK as a child visitor.

If you come to the UK as a child visitor, you are allowed to remain here for a maximum of 6 months (or 12 months if you are accompanying an academic visitor). When you enter the UK, we will stamp the duration of your permission to stay in your passport.

If we give you permission to enter for less than 6 months, and you later want to extend your stay to the maximum of 6 (or 12) months in total, you must apply for an extension – see below.

If we give you permission to enter the UK for less than 6 months as a child visitor, and your 18th birthday is during this period, you can apply to extend your stay in the relevant visitor category – you can find a list of visitor categories on the Visiting the UK page. The maximum total time that you can stay in the UK will be 6 months (or 12 months if you are accompanying an academic visitor).

If we allow you to extend your stay, you must continue to meet the requirements for child visitors.

When your permission to stay, we expect you to return home. You cannot ‘switch’ into a different immigration category, except as described above.

You must apply using application form FLR(O). You can complete and submit this application form online, or you can print out the form, complete it by hand and submit it by post, by courier or in person.

You should read the FLR(O) guidance notes before you complete the application form. You will need to pay a fee when you apply, and we will not refund your fee if we refuse your application or if you withdraw it.

The application form gives details of the documents you must send with the form. You should send the original documents, not copies. In exceptional circumstances, we may accept a photocopy that is certified as an accurate copy by the body or authority that issued the original, or by a notary. You must include a letter explaining why you are providing a certified copy rather than the original document.

You must be in the UK to apply, and you must apply at least 4 weeks before your permission to stay in the UK ends.

If you apply by post, you must send your application to the address given on the form. If your application is straightforward, you can apply in person using our same-day service at one of our public inquiry offices for a premium fee.

This page explains what you can do if we refuse to allow you to enter the UK as a child visitor.

We will make a decision by carefully checking your application, immigration history and supporting documents, to see whether you meet the Immigration Rules. If we cannot make an immediate decision, we may need to interview you.

If we refuse your application for a visa or to enter the UK, our immigration officer or entry clearance officer will send or give you a notice of refusal. This document will list the reasons for the refusal, and will tell you whether you have the right to appeal. The notice will also give you advice on where to send your appeal.