The UK Ancestry visa allows individuals who have British ancestral heritage to come to live in the UK. In this blog post, we will be going into detail about what the UK Ancestry visa is, what requirements need to be met for an application to be successful, the benefits and drawbacks of the route, the application process and the timescales and costs involved.

What is the UK Ancestry visa?

The UK Ancestry visa is a route available to individuals who have a grandparent that was born in the UK, Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man. To qualify, you must be one of the following:

• A commonwealth citizen
• A British overseas citizen
• A British overseas territories citizen
• A British national overseas
• A citizen of Zimbabwe

The visa allows you to live, work, and study in the UK and is granted for a period of five years. Once you have held the visa for five years, you can either extend your leave in the UK, or apply for a permanent status known as settlement.

What requirements need to be met?

As mentioned above, the route is only available to certain nationalities and you must meet one of the following ancestry requirements:

• You have a grandparent born in the UK, Channel Islands, or Isle of Man.
• You have a grandparent born in the Republic of Ireland on or before 31 March 1922.
• You have a grandparent born on a British-registered ship or aircraft.

You can still qualify for the visa if you or your parent were adopted (evidence of a legal adoption would need to be provided), or if your parents and/or grandparents were not married. However, you cannot qualify through your step-parents.

You must also be able to support yourself and your dependants in the UK without accessing public funds. For the UK Ancestry visa, there is no specific income threshold so the income or funds you need to show will depend on the size of your family and housing costs.

You will also need to prove you are able to and intend to work while in the UK. The type of work you can plan to do includes paid or voluntary work, full-time or part-time work, and you can be self-employed or employed by somebody else.

You must be over the age of 17 to apply for this visa.

What are the benefits of the UK Ancestry visa?

One of the main benefits of the UK Ancestry visa is the freedom it allows in terms of employment. It is accepted that you can work a diverse range of job types and unlike other visa routes, there is no minimum number of hours that would need to be worked or a minimum salary requirement to meet. You can work for anyone, including yourself. As well as having freedom in your employment options, you are also entitled to study and seek further education if you wanted to.

The Ancestry route also allows applicants to bring their dependants with them to the UK. This means that you can come to the UK with your partner and/or children if you wish to do so.

Furthermore, the Ancestry route is much more cost effective than other visa routes, such as the partner visa route. Successful applicants are granted leave to remain in the UK for five years after which they are eligible to apply for settlement. This means that it is a more direct route to settlement in comparison to other routes, such as the partner visa route where applicants need to apply to renew their visa at least once before being eligible to apply for settlement. As the application cost is generally a lot lower than other types of application and the grant of leave does not need to be renewed before applying for settlement, a lot of time and money is ultimately saved on applications.

What are the potential drawbacks of the UK Ancestry visa?

Although there are many benefits to the UK Ancestry route, there are also some restrictions which should be considered before applying. For example, you are unable to switch into this visa type from within the UK. If you are already in the UK on another visa, you would need to leave the country before you can make the application.

For an application to be successful, evidence of the applicant’s British heritage needs to be provided. However, it can sometimes be a challenge to gather enough relevant evidence, particularly for those whose grandparents were born in the UK a while ago. Some people might find it difficult to retrieve the necessary evidence and may wish to seek assistance with this.

Finally, when applying for settlement, main applicants and dependants usually must not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period. Only in specific exceptional circumstances are longer absences allowed. So, although the UK Ancestry visa is generally a more direct route to settlement, you should ensure you do not exceed the total number of absences otherwise you may need to pay to extend your visa before you can apply to gain settlement.

What is the application process?

An online application should be made from outside the UK. The application should be submitted no more than three months before you plan to travel to the UK.

After submitting the online application and paying the necessary fees, you should book an appointment at a visa application centre to provide your biometric information. This includes having your fingerprints taken and facial scanning.

Supporting documents should be uploaded online prior to the biometric appointment. This is because once biometrics are provided, UKVI will start to consider the application.

How long does a decision on an application take?

A decision should be made on an application within three weeks. However, it may be possible to pay a further fee for a decision to be made sooner.

What costs are associated with the application?

The following fees need to be paid at the time the application is submitted:

Type of fee	Amount
Application fee	£637
Immigration Health Surcharge (per person) – over 18	£5175
Immigration Health Surcharge (per person per) – under 18	£3880

Other fees might include costs for translating documents where required, or costs for expedited processing.

Need further assistance?

If you would like further advice about the UK Ancestry visa, please contact us and we would be happy to arrange an advice consultation with you and let you know how we can assist.

You can also find out more about the services we provide and our fees here.