Visitor visas

Please complete the International Visitor Form before you apply for your visa or arrive to the UK. We will need your personal details and information about the reason for your visit.  You will also need to send a scan of the information page of your passport to immigrationcompliance@bathspa.ac.uk.

This form also gives you the option to apply for an invitation letter from the University. You can use this in your visitor visa application as supporting evidence or have it handy with you at the border if applying there. 

Please complete the International arrivals form once you have arrived. We will need you to upload a copy of both your passport and your boarding pass used to enter the UK.

If you're a visa national then you must apply for entry clearance as a visitor before you travel to the UK.

For the application, you will need:

• To complete the online application
• A valid travel document
• To pay the visitor visa application fee. The current application fee is £100 for a six month visitor visa but you can also pay for longer visas which are £376 for a two-year visa, £670 for a five-year visa and £837 for a ten-year visa.
• Evidence that you have enough money to support yourself while you are in the UK, including accommodation, living expenses and tuition fees (if you are coming to study). 
  • There are no specific requirements which state the amount of money you must show when you apply for a visitor visa but it would be reasonable to show that you have the equivalent of £1,023 per month, or £1,334 per month if staying in London, for the duration of your visit. 
  • If you'll be staying with friends or family while in the UK, which will decrease your living costs, you can include evidence of this.
  • The Home Office have a guide to supporting evidence for your application.
• If you're coming to study at Bath Spa for an exchange, you'll also need an acceptance letter confirming that you'll be studying with us. 

You must submit original documents. You'll also need to provide a translation of any documents which are not already in English. 

Once you've applied online, you must then submit your completed immigration application with your supporting evidence to your nearest UK visa application centre. You do not need to apply in the country where you live.

If you're a non-visa national it is not compulsory to apply for entry clearance before you travel; instead you can apply to enter the UK as a visitor on arrival to the UK.

To do this you'll need to produce the same documentation which visa nationals need to include as supporting evidence in a visa application. The difference however, is that you can apply at the border rather than making the application online and visiting a visa application centre. 

When you arrive to the UK border you'll need to present all of your supporting evidence to the Border Force Officer.

If you are from an EU country, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the USA, you have the option of using the eGates instead of applying for entry clearance or permission to enter in advance online or applying with documents at the border. 

If you use the eGates to enter the UK as a visitor, you won't receive a stamp endorsed in your passport as you do not have to see a Border Force Officer in order to use one. Following using the eGates, you'll be permitted to enter the UK as a visitor for a period of six months.

In order to use an eGate, your passport must have a biometric symbol on the cover and you must be above the age of twelve in order to use one. Visitors between the ages of twelve to seventeen must be accompanied by an adult.

It's important that you retain some form of evidence of your date of arrival in the UK if you use the eGates such as an e-ticket or paper or electronic boarding pass. This will help you to remember the exact duration of your six month stay. If you're coming to the University as a guest or to study, we'll also need to see your boarding pass as evidence of arrival to the UK.