I believe you can spend 6 months in the UK visa free and there’s no rule against more than 6 months out of the year. My understanding is that visitors will be vaccinated and treated for Covid by the NHS—you may need to pay some modest fee.
This is really interesting; thanks for sharing. I’d actually written above that I thought the limit was 90 days, so I was particularly incorrect there. Reading the freemovement link, it seems:
The maximum permitted stay per visit is 180 days
There is no maximum time per year someone can stay in the UK. In theory, you could leave on day 180, come back on day 181, and stay again in the UK so you’ve spent nearly every day of the year there.
The main barrier to doing something like #2 is the immigration officer must assess that your entry of the UK is for a genuine, temporary, ‘visit’. They likely will take into account how long you’ve been there in the past and how recency, as well as other factors, when deciding whether or not it is a ‘visit’.
@Owain_Evans do you know of instances of people successfully spending more than 180 days in the UK without e.g. a work visa?
I don’t know of instances. But I’m also interested to know if people have good sources on this.
My understanding is that people entering the UK by air (e.g. from the US) now enter via ePassport gates and so don’t need to talk to a border/immigration official. This might make it easier to enter than before. At the same time, I would be wary (based on what little I know) of entering without a clear explanation and evidence you are not working in the UK (e.g. epic holiday in UK, clear family reasons).
I believe you can spend 6 months in the UK visa free and there’s no rule against more than 6 months out of the year. My understanding is that visitors will be vaccinated and treated for Covid by the NHS—you may need to pay some modest fee.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_the_United_Kingdom
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/there-is-no-180-day-rule-for-visitors-to-the-uk/
This is really interesting; thanks for sharing. I’d actually written above that I thought the limit was 90 days, so I was particularly incorrect there. Reading the freemovement link, it seems:
The maximum permitted stay per visit is 180 days
There is no maximum time per year someone can stay in the UK. In theory, you could leave on day 180, come back on day 181, and stay again in the UK so you’ve spent nearly every day of the year there.
The main barrier to doing something like #2 is the immigration officer must assess that your entry of the UK is for a genuine, temporary, ‘visit’. They likely will take into account how long you’ve been there in the past and how recency, as well as other factors, when deciding whether or not it is a ‘visit’.
@Owain_Evans do you know of instances of people successfully spending more than 180 days in the UK without e.g. a work visa?
I don’t know of instances. But I’m also interested to know if people have good sources on this.
My understanding is that people entering the UK by air (e.g. from the US) now enter via ePassport gates and so don’t need to talk to a border/immigration official. This might make it easier to enter than before. At the same time, I would be wary (based on what little I know) of entering without a clear explanation and evidence you are not working in the UK (e.g. epic holiday in UK, clear family reasons).