UK Standard Visitor Visa Documents Checklist

According to UK Visas and Immigration's (UKVI) "Visiting the UK: guide to supporting documents", you need to show that you are a genuine visitor. That means proving four things:

• You are coming to do a permitted activity (a holiday, a family visit, a meeting and so on).
• You will leave the UK at the end of your visit.
• You can support yourself and any dependants for the whole trip.
• You can pay for your return or onward journey and any other costs of the visit.

The documents in the guide are examples, not an exhaustive list. When you scan and upload them, take digital images of the originals rather than of copies wherever possible.

The guide recommends documents that show your circumstances and ties at home. Depending on your profile, that means:

• Employee: a letter from your employer on company headed paper stating your role, salary and length of employment, plus statements for the account your salary is paid into.
• Self-employed or business owner: business registration documents or recent invoices confirming that your business is ongoing. In Türkiye these could be, for example, your tax registration certificate, trade registry gazette or certificate of activity.
• Student: a letter from your school or university on headed paper confirming your enrolment and your leave of absence for the trip. If your family is paying, sponsor documents are needed too (see below).
• Retired: the guide has no separate list for retirees. You are expected to show your regular income and savings through bank statements that detail the origin of the funds (for example, the account your pension is paid into).
• Under 18: a document showing your relationship to a parent or guardian (such as a birth certificate) and the photo page of at least one parent's passport. If you are not travelling with a parent, a signed letter from them giving consent, naming who is travelling with you and who will look after you in the UK.

For business visits such as meetings, conferences or trade fairs, the guide asks for:

• Attending an event or conference: a letter of invitation from the event organiser.
• Intra-corporate visits: if you are going to work with UK-based colleagues, a letter from your employer confirming this. If you will also work with clients, your employer should confirm that this is not the main purpose of the visit.
• A company covering your costs: the same evidence as for any sponsor.

The limits of permitted business activity are set out in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities of the Immigration Rules; you cannot work for a company in the UK on a visitor visa.

Any document not in English or Welsh must come with a full translation that the Home Office can independently verify. Each translation must contain:

• Confirmation from the translator that it is an accurate translation of the original
• The date of the translation
• The translator's full name and signature
• The translator's contact details

If you apply as a family or group at the same time, you do not need to provide multiple copies of the same document.