Hey guys, I’m asking on behalf of my friend. She wants to know if the 6 month UK visa is a fixed start and end date or whether they simply count the number of days in the UK until it reaches 180?
For example, she wants to spend December 2017 in the UK. and then come back for 5 months July-Dec 2018. Would she simply be allowed to stay Dec 17 to May 18 or will the count stop when she leaves at the end of Dec 17 and start again in July 18?
Hope that makes sense. Thanks in advance
It has a fixed expiration date.
Not the cumulative 6 months.
Thanks. So entry on Dec 16th for example would grant a visa through to June 15th. Then if she tried to re-enter in August she’d need a brand new 6 month visa, which perhaps might not be granted as it’s the second in the space of a year. I wonder if they’d take into account that only 2 weeks of the first 6 month visa was actually in the UK?
Is it single entry or multiple entry?
It’s the 6 month visa waiver. Technically not a visa in itself. It’s multiple entry
a visitor visa is different from visa waiver. So, your friend’s case is a visa waiver?
Yes, sorry. All Taiwanese get a 6 month visa waiver for the UK.
In the case of visa waiver, it is the cumulative 6 months per year. The year starts from the 1st day of her 1st visit.
To be allowed 6-months stay, or any shorter length, with visa waiver, she may need a valid reason to stay and a round ticket. She may not be automatically granted a stay permission for 6 months, unless UK and taiwan have a special agreement. It will be just for the days an officer thinks appropriate for her purpose of the stay.
And even if the cumulative days of stay are less than 180days, a suspicious frequent visitor could be denied by an officer.
Thanks Tando. She visited last year for just two weeks and they automatically gave her a 6 month visa waiver. It’s automatically given to Taiwanese. So with this in mind the following plan would work?
Stay for Dec 2017, leave and come back for August to Dec 2018 - a total of 6 months and all using the same 6 month waiver.
Ok, I understand her situation.
You seems to be somehow confusing visa, visa waiver, and stay permission.
Visa waiver means, if your stay in UK is shorter than 6 months, you don’t need to get a visa as an entry permission. There is not duration for the visa waiver itself.
I believe her stay permission was till the date of her returning ticket.
When you visit UK multiple times, the days of your stays are accumulated, and when it reaches 6 months, you can not use visa waiver anymore for the year. You probably should wait for 6 months before using the visa waiver again.
In your friend’s case, as far as the total of her stay is shorter than 6 months per year, she can enter to UK
with the visa waiver multiple times. She is better to have supporting documents that she wouldn’t live in UK, because her stay is longer than a typical tourist. Usually a returning ticket is enough, but an officer at the border might ask for more.
Sorry to contradict you but the visa waiver for Taiwanese is six months. This is clearly stamped in the passport (clearance to enter the UK for a period of six months). Some people have told me this starts on the day they enter and continues for the next six months whether they are in the UK or not. Others have said you can leave part way through and the day count pauses and restarts again when you re-enter later in the year.
You’ve told me the days are accumulated as long as the total time for the year doesn’t exceed 6 months. Someone else has told me it doesn’t pause when you leave the country and if you try to re-enter more than six months after the first entry a new visa waiver will be needed. I can’t find any official information online. Is your information based on experience or something you’ve heard? Are you Taiwanese / British? Thanks for your help so far!
I see. This means she was allowed to enter the UK and stay there for the period up to 6months, with visa waiver, in other words, without a visa. The period of 6 months is the allowed duration of her stay, and not the duration of visa waiver. Does this explanation make a sense?
This is not a visa not a multi-entry visa, so at her next entry by a visa waiver, she will get another stamp on her passport. And, the total days of her multiple visits should be less than 6 month per year.
Add:
She may get the same stamp at the 2nd entry. In that case, she can legally stay for up to 6months, not just 4 months.
However, if she will visit UK after that, her total days in UK already exceed 6 months, so she cannot enter UK with visa waiver, she will need a visa, for the 3rd entry.
Thanks. We’re on the same page! Appreciate your help.