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UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is responsible for making millions of decisions every year about who has the right to visit or stay in the country, with a firm emphasis on national security and a culture of customer satisfaction for...

• Updated: 3 April 2025

You may need a visa to come to the UK to visit, study or work.

UK border control - passport checks, visas for entering, customs, transiting and layovers.

• Overview

  Your identity document (for example your passport or identity card) will…

• Before you leave for the UK

  Check what documents you’ll need to enter the UK. You’re a British citizen…

• At border control

  You’ll need to show your identity document, such as your passport or…

• Baggage checks

  You must co-operate if you’re stopped and asked about your baggage. If you…

• Layovers and transiting through a UK airport

  Passing through a UK airport while on the way to another country is called…

Information about the UK’s points-based immigration system for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens.

• Updated: 9 September 2023

Compare visas to visit, work, study or join a family member already in the UK. How to apply and what the decision on your application means.

UK Visas and Immigration now manages applications for people who want to visit, work, study or settle in the UK. Previously, this was part of UKBA (UK Border Agency) which closed in 2013.

• Updated: 15 April 2021

Apply for a High Potential Individual (HPI) visa if you've been awarded a qualification by an eligible university in the last 5 years - eligibility, fees, documents, switch, bring your partner and children

Apply for a UK Ancestry visa if you're a Commonwealth citizen and can prove that one of your grandparents was born in the UK - eligibility, fees, documents, how to apply, how long it takes and how to settle

Guidance for applicants outside the UK. It explains the steps to applying for and being granted a visa to live in the UK.

• Updated: 15 July 2025

Apply for a British National (Overseas) visa (known as a BNO visa) to live, work and study in the UK if you or a family member are from Hong Kong and registered as a British national (overseas).