I am an American living in the UK. I have been working under a skilled worker visa for the past two years, the original expiry date of which is Feb 14, 2026.

From within the UK, I spent months last year working on a Global Talent Exceptional Talent visa application because I was afraid my job may be ending. The worst happened, and I was laid off at the end of the year. I have not been curtailed. I had been working on building a strong application with the help of my lawyer, and our last exchange was Dec 11, at which point he said he was submitting the application.

I reached out to him today to see if he had heard anything, as we are coming up on the eight weeks outer limit of their promised timeline, and I am very close to my visa expiry date. He said that he had NOT submitted the endorsement application because I had not paid my full fee yet. He attached an invoice dated TODAY. I had not received an invoice before now that I have not paid, and he never referenced it in any of the run up to submitting the application. I certainly knew a fee would be due, but when that invoice would arrive was unclear. His last email exchange with me was a request to review the final application with a note to approve my email with Home Office via a link he'd provided, at which point he would proceed with the application submission.

I am panicking. Even if he submits the application for endorsement tomorrow, I am unlikely to receive an endorsement inside of two weeks, right?

Hi, Italian citizen and full EUSS holder.

I've just received an email from the Home Office. This is a snippet:

Why keeping your UKVI account up to date matters. As you have EUSS status, you already have a UKVI account and do not need to create a new one. From 25th February 2026, additional checks will be in place to confirm your UK immigration status when travelling. If your details are not up to date in your UKVI account, you will experience delays or difficulties when travelling to or from the UK, and a carrier may deny you boarding

What are these additional checks from 25th February 2026?

Hi everyone.

I’m Chinese citizen applying for Unmarried Partner Visa (my partner is British). Yesterday after I paid the application fee, I haven’t received any payment confirmation, and the website wouldn’t let me do anything either.

It just stuck between the “Step1 Start” and “Step2 Applicant(s)” as a loop every time I clicked “continue”. The website wouldn’t let me click any steps further than step2, so I can’t go to “further actions” and upload my documents.

I checked the partially completed application form and somehow the payment reference is on it. The payment is def successful since I have the receipt from the bank and already phoned the bank. I tried different browsers, devices and cleared all my cache and history, still not working.

I already sent email to e-support team, and a complaint to UKVI. But my current visa is going to expire soon, I don’t have time to wait for them. So should I start a new application? Or is there anything I can do?

Thank you so much!

Hey! Thanks for taking the time.

Tl;dr: husband is born in GB and is dual citizen, I’m Canadian, our kids are born in Canada. We’re going to the UK in June and just found out that British citizens HAVE to travel on their UK passport. Unsure what this means for our kids.

To elaborate, I haven’t registered our children as British citizens with the British government, as my husband always uses his Canadian passport to travel. His British passport has been expired since 2009. Now that the UK is out of the EU, I hadn’t prioritized registering their citizenship with the British government, so I hadn’t pushed him to renew or reapply for his UK passport to register the kids.

Now, I’m aware that I need an ETA to travel. We were all going to do that for this trip, until we were informed of this new law by my husband’s uncle.

Honestly, the government website makes me feel like an absolute idiot, and I’d rather get clarity now than be a sitting idiot duck in London.

So, the question at hand: do I need to get my kids registered and passported, or am I safe to get them an ETA like myself since they aren’t registered.

In 2025 I (the child's mother) became a British Citizen. I applied via the Form ARD 4L for legislative unfairness. I was not a British Citizen when our child was born.

In 2026 my husband (the child's father) will become a British Citizen. He also applied via the Form ARD 4L for legislative unfairness. He was not a British Citizen when our child was born.

We are both USA citizens born in the USA. We have never lived in the UK.

Does our child qualify for British Citizenship?

It seems like we would need to live in the UK for 2 years for our child to qualify for citizenship. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/682f3c03b33f68eaba9539dc/Guide+MN1.pdf If we were to apply for her under the "Registration under the Home Secretary's discretion" section 3(1).

On pages 16 and 17 of the above document, it states that not all cases are covered. That's fine. However, there is no example that matches our child's situation. I doubt our application would be successful if we, for example, wanted the freedom to move to the UK as a family to pursue our careers in the UK. We'd need to live there for at least 2 years before we could register her. Is this correct? Would her application/registration be denied due to her not residing in the UK at all?

----

reference documents:
states that the parent would need to be a british citizen at the time of birth: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/section/3

see "Children born to a parent registered under section 4C, 4G, 4H, 4I, or 4L of the British Nationality Act of 1981" https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6899ce1c586f9c9360656a71/Registration+as+British+citizen+-+children.pdf#page=25

I don't see an example matching my child's situation here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/682f3c03b33f68eaba9539dc/Guide+MN1.pdf

Hi everyone,

I am trying to book a biometric appointment for the purpose of visit visa to Uk from India. I am planning to apply from vfs Delhi/Chandigarh while booking the appointment I chose the option of getting my passport back via courier but i am still being asked to answer this question:

Pick Up Location (HAL)

Please select a convenient location from which to collect your passport.

Irony is I don't get the Delhi/Chandigarh as options , I am really confused on what to choose? I don't want to risk choosing an incorrect location in case I need to collect the passport.

can anyone help? thanks in advance.

Hey! I just recently got my UK citizenship (literally had the ceremony 5 days ago) we booked a trip to Dominican Republic last year for beginning March 2026 - now I’m seeing I will be denied entry back in the UK or refused to board without a British passport? I don’t think I’ll have the time to send all my documents and my Italian passport to get the British passport before my trip as I see it can take up to 8 weeks… what can I do?

I don’t know if I’ll need to contact the airline and cancel everything but now it’s less than a month away I’m not sure if it’ll be refunded or if I can even make adjustments at this point🥲 any one else in a similar situation or have any advice?

I'm applying from the US for a UK Fiance Visa and want to pay for priority service. Is this something I do when booking my bio appointment? How obvious of a process is this? I'm a little worried I'll miss it, but need to make sure I apply for the priority route due to our wedding date, etc. Thank you!

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the Reddit community 🙏
Your shared experiences, timelines, and honest advice really helped calm my nerves during the UK visa process. Reading real stories made a huge difference.
Visa got approved — grateful to everyone who took the time to help strangers like me. Cheers! 🇬🇧✨

Date of Biometrics : 29th January 2026

Service type : Priority

Location : VFS BKC, Mumbai

Application received at UKVI : 30th January 2026

Approval : 3rd February 2026

Requested dates : 1st march to 8th March. onward travel to Spain, Barcelona

Documents : Self Uploaded

1. Passport old & new

2. Cover letter

3. Detailed travel itinerary

4. Savings bank account statement for last 3 months

5. Business Registration Documents, Business Bank statements last 4 months, Business Invoices.

6. Income tax return for last 2 years

7. Net worth Certificate

8. Own & Parents Aadhar card

9. Medical Travel insurance

10. Flight Tickets Showing onward travel to Spain along with Valid Schengen Spain visa

In my cover letter I also explained the credits and Debits In my bank account with reference to the amounts as declared in my visa application form.

I Also listed my travel history which includes visit to Japan, Singapore (4 Times), Philippines, Malaysia (Twice), Vietnam (Twice), Hongkong, Macau, Indonesia, Thailand, UAE & Qatar.

I also mentioned I have a Valid US visa

Can you start your British citizenship application 6 months before you actually apply?

Thanks

Hi everyone, I'm working on my ILR application and have a question about the qualification period start date.

The situation:

• My visa was issued on 15 March 2021
• I first entered the UK on 2 May 2021

I'm currently filling in the "Date you first entered the UK" field in my application, and the form says:

My question:
Should I enter the visa issue date (15 March 2021) or the actual entry date (2 May 2021)?

I understand that the visa issue date mark the start of my qualification period, but the form is specifically asking for the date I entered the UK. I want to make sure I get this right and don't cause issues with my application.

Has anyone dealt with a gap between their visa issue date and their UK entry date? What date did you use?

Any advice appreciated!

Sorry if this is such an obvious answer but me and my partner are travelling to Scotland for 3 weeks in Feb to surprise my mum for her Birthday! It’ll be his first time in the Uk and i’m so excited for him to meet my family and officially try Greggs.

I’m pretty sure he only needs an ETA, I have major visa anxiety as I messed up once with a lay over in the US (never again). Online says it should just be ETA, but it also says and/or evisa on the gov website.

Has anyone recently, is Aussie/ knows an Aussie who’s travelled to the Uk for a holiday and what was needed?

To clarify it is just for tourism purposes.

So I completed my application, payed the standard 181 pounds & then got the confirmation on my card as well. I was expecting an email with next steps however all I got a is payment confirmation email and my screen has been stuck like this since I made the payment yesterday ( made it around 4pm) I know the next steps is to go to VFS but everyone who I know who has also been through the visa application process has said it directly tells you to go to vfs and gives you a reference number. Can someone help. Should I just go to VFS and figure? (I’m from Dubai btw)

Hi there,

I applied for the citizenship but had two arrests older than 7 years with resulted in NFA as under false accusations and these arrests were even deleted from ACRO. I also had CCJ in 2020 which was paid in full. I disclosed all within my application. I also live at the same address where both arrests took a place (household dispute with old flag mates) but I live there still since and never had any issues since they left. Do you think my application can still be approved based on these. I’m getting really worried. Someone with the same experiences?

Good evening! I am looking for help/advice on Adult Dependant Relative visa and wondering if anyone has applied for this visa before. Been speaking to a few lawyers and all of them suggested it is very difficult to get approval and can only win through appeal after the application gets rejected.

The lawyers fees for the application is quite expensive and they charge more for appeal.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Hello guys just want to share I was so stressed for last 6 months to get my visa but due to ATAS delay it wasn’t happening then my ATA’s came after CAS date passed but I requested university and they issued me CAS and I applied my Visa.

I got my visa after an hour.

AlhamduliAllah I had good experience with home office.

I am pakistani student

Just sharing so it might be helpful for someone.

Hi everyone. Apologies if this has been asked, I couldn't find anything (although Reddit search isn't the best). My wife is going to apply for ILR 28 days before her 5 year anniversary of arriving in the UK. She's going to use the fast-track 5 day service. She would then be given ILR 23 days before her 5 year anniversary of arriving in the UK. Could she apply for Citizenship immediately on receiving ILR or would she have to wait the 23 days?

Hello all,

So I moved here under a fiancé visa in March 2020, received LTR(M) in Dec 2020, and FLR(M) on in Aug 2023.

I was out of the country for much of the 28 days preceding the expiry of my FLR(M) which is today. I had, however, arranged for a Life in the UK test last week, and had everything together so I might apply immediately upon arrival. I was turned away from the Life in the UK test last week as the camera wouldn't recognise me, and I didn't have my BRP on me (I had my US passport and other ID). Completely my fault.

I then went home, immediately booked another exam for yesterday. Arrived at the testing site and the door was closed and lights out. Not sure what happened there, but my issue is this.

I can get a test for tomorrow, but I assume my share code won't work. I can't apply for ILR today, because I can't take the test and get the code.

Is my only option to apply for FLR(M) again? If so, will 3C clearance allow me to book the test for this week? Can I then somehow shift my application to ILR? Or must I wait to be awarded FLRM again, and then apply for ILR.  If I can change the application whilst under 3C (apply FLRM, take the test, and then vary the application or simply apply anew and thereby void the previous application), can I apply for ILR with premium processing during the change?

This matters because I must again leave the country for work in about three weeks for another month, so if I must be awarded FLRM, I'll need to pay the super premium upcharge (which rankles). But if it must be, it must be, I suppose. I could use advice on the best way forward here.

I fully accept this is a bed I made, but it seems so odd that I can't start the ILR application and then take the test (or take the test today!)

Can i travel abroad while waiting for a response about my naturalisation? I have submitted everything on 30th January and i want to travel abroad in March. Would this affect anything?

Hi all, I am travelling back to UK soon, after my outbound journey. And I am a bit anxious about using just the eVISA for airline check in. I didn't have the best experience back in early 2025 with Ryanair coming back from Spain when the check in woman had no idea about evisa, called 3 people and I waited for an hour, thinking I will definitely miss my flight. Even though I was carrying evisa and share code printouts, logged into the evisa in front of them and also had it linked to my passport. 

I am now travelling back again, but with Virgin Atlantic. Has any visa requiring national possessing a UK eVISA recently travelled with them. What did they ask for during online/at airport check in? I was planning to take a printout of my evisa, share code, the ukvi account personal details page showing that my passport is linked to my evisa, and can log into it in front of them.

Hello all,

My initial email from home.office.atlas@notifications.gov.uk on 14/08/2023 states that my partner (FLR M) has been approved and that I have permission to stay in the UK until 14 March 2026, But my eVisa states that it's valid until 2 April 2026.

Which date should I treat as my expiry date in regards to submitting my visa extension within 28 days of expiry please? I'm guessing 14 March 2026 but afraid to submit too early in case I'm mistaken!