# Visa for visit longer than 6 months?



## dmoore (Jun 16, 2010)

Hi all! My wife and I are contemplating spending most of next year in London with our two children, 6 & 3. The duration of the trip would be from just after the new year until mid-August, which would exceed the 6-month limit for a non-visa stay. (We're all US citizens.)

I've not been able to find much information about the Long Term Visit Visa in the forum or through google, does anyone have experience with applying for this? For an 8-month stay, should I expect it to be more or less a rubber stamp? Can we leave and reenter the country freely for short trips into France/Italy or visits back to the States?

Thanks for any help provided!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

dmoore said:


> Hi all! My wife and I are contemplating spending most of next year in London with our two children, 6 & 3. The duration of the trip would be from just after the new year until mid-August, which would exceed the 6-month limit for a non-visa stay. (We're all US citizens.)
> 
> I've not been able to find much information about the Long Term Visit Visa in the forum or through google, does anyone have experience with applying for this? For an 8-month stay, should I expect it to be more or less a rubber stamp? Can we leave and reenter the country freely for short trips into France/Italy or visits back to the States?
> 
> Thanks for any help provided!


There isn't any long-term tourist visa, period, and six-month visitor's leave to enter cannot be extended - you have to leave UK at the end, and you aren't supposed to return for 6 months.
The only way you can spend longer than six months is to qualify for some other visa, like academic (if you are a visiting professor or something), work (if you have shortage skills), student (if you enrol on a course of higher education) or investor (making substantial investment in UK). There are others like artist or writer (but you must be world-renowned in your field), entertainer/actor/musician (ditto, and a member of US Equity or similar body) or sportsperson (with international repute). 
Best solution is to divide your time between UK and other European countries. You can spend 3 months in Ireland, and 90-in-180 days in Schengen area (most of continental Europe). So after six months in UK, leave for continental Europe (and get an open-jaw air ticket). You can return to US for a while as well.


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## dmoore (Jun 16, 2010)

Joppa said:


> There isn't any long-term tourist visa, period, and six-month visitor's leave to enter cannot be extended - you have to leave UK at the end, and you aren't supposed to return for 6 months.


I must have misunderstood the description of the long term visit visa on ukvisas.gov.uk, darn. Moving to continental Europe for the tail end of the trip is something we've considered, so that would probably work. Make me spend time in Copenhagen. Twist my arm. 

Another option would be that I could qualify for a Tier 1 (General) visa on points fairly handily, which would certainly cover the amount of time we'd be living in London. Lots of planning to do; thanks for the advice!


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## dmoore (Jun 16, 2010)

It does, thanks!


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