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Family visitors

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Can you come to the UK as a family visitor?

This page explains whether you can come to the UK as a family visitor. A family visitor comes under the immigration category of ‘general visitor’.

Only nationals of countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland can be family visitors. If you are an EEA or Swiss national, or a family member of an EEA or Swiss national, the European nationals section explains how you can come to the UK.

To come to the UK as a family visitor, you must be able to show that you will be visiting the following family members in the UK:

  • spouse, civil partner, father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister;
  • grandfather, grandmother, grandson or granddaughter;
  • spouse or civil partner's father, mother, brother or sister;
  • son or daughter's spouse or civil partner;
  • stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother or stepsister; or
  • a person you have been living with in a genuine and subsisting relationship, like marriage or civil partnership, for at least 2 years before the day you apply.

If you want to visit a family member who is not listed above, you should come to the UK as a general visitor.

If a child is adopted under an adoption order, that is recognised in UK law, we will treat the child as if they are the natural children of the adoptive parents.

Additionally the family member you are visiting must :

  • be a British citizen;
  • be settled in the UK;
  • have been granted asylum in the UK; or
  • have Humanitarian Protection status.

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

  • live in the UK for extended periods through frequent or successive visits;
  • take paid or unpaid employment, produce goods or provide services; including the selling of goods or services directly to members of the public;
  • do a course of study;
  • marry or register a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership;
  • carry out the activities of a business visitor, a sports visitor or an entertainer visitor; or
  • receive private medical treatment.

You must also be able to show that:

  • you are 18 or over;
  • 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 and any dependants will be supported and accommodated by relatives or friends;
  • 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).

For information about your rights and responsibilities while you are in the UK, see the Visitors' rights and responsibilities section.

You should provide documents to show that you meet the above requirements. The Documents page contains more information.

You may need to obtain a visa before you can come to the UK as a family visitor. The Do you need a visa? page contains more information.

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Terms explained

  • Asylum

    Asylum is protection given by a country to someone who is fleeing persecution in their own country. It is given under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. To be recognised as a refugee, you must have left your country and be unable to go back because you have a well-founded fear of persecution.

  • Humanitarian protection

    Protection given to someone under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is not the same as asylum, which may be given only to those who are fleeing persecution, under the terms of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. We may give humanitarian protection to someone whom we believe does not qualify for asylum if we think there are humanitarian reasons for allowing that person to stay in the United Kingdom.

  • Settled status

    You are normally resident in the United Kingdom with no immigration restriction on the length of your stay. To be free of immigration restriction you must have the right of abode or indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom.

All glossary terms

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