Even though I hold a degree in Law, a Masters in Law (LLM in International Human Rights Law) and currently studying for the Legal Practice Course (LLM in LPC–a second Masters degree) to qualify as a solicitor, I am not an Immigration advisor and this article should be treated as a mere contribution to a wider online immigration conversation.
Also, I have gone through a few of the UK visa stages and my girlfriend who has never traveled out of Ghana has recently obtained a 6 months UK visitor visa to come and spend the Christmas holidays with me. So I am writing this mainly from previous and recent experiences, backed by my many years of legal education, including having studied a whole module on UK Immigration Law.
However, note that this still remains a mere informal contribution or guide to just help you with an application. I decided to write this piece to cover some of the most searched questions in relation to applying for UK visitor visa.
The First Question to Ask Yourself Before Applying for A UK Visitor Visa
There are several countries in the world, a lot of them are closer to your home country—so why do you want to visit the UK?
The first question to ask yourself is; what’s the legitimate or compelling reason why you want to visit the United Kingdom—such that an Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) should grant you a visa?
If you have no genuine compelling reason to visit the UK, then don’t bother. Wanting to go to the UK to eat at Burger King alone is not a good enough reason.
Of course, wanting to go there as a tourist for sightseeing and shopping is a valid reason—provided you have the means to do what you say you will do.
What Are the Chances That You Will Get the Visa?
Every application is treated on individual merits but subjected to the existing Immigration rules that apply to the category of visa a person is seeking. For a UK visitor visa, I believe these three things roughly determines whether you will be granted the visa or not:
- Your ability to provide adequate supporting evidence for the information you put on the application form.
- Your ability to show the ECO that you will return to Ghana (home country) after you have visited the UK just as you state on your application.
- Your ability to fill the application form out properly.
- (And if you are being invited by your girlfriend, boyfriend, sister, mother or whoever—your ability to prove with evidence that the relationship you claim exists between the two of you really exists in a genuine form).