'six months at a time' or 'six months in one year'?

Hi everyone,

For the six-month visa-free stay for Canadian citizens visiting the UK, is that interpreted as 'six months at a time' or 'six months in a year'?

If the former is true, doesn't that mean one can enter the UK, stay for 6 months, come back to Canada for a few weeks and re-enter and the 'clock' will restart?

If someone would please let me know how it works it'd be greatly appreciated -- I am planning on spending roughly 7 months in the UK next year.

Thanks

Beckett

Can we ask what's the purpose of your visit in the UK?

VisaWise | Immigration Consultancy
OISC Registered Immigration Advisers
London, United Kingdom
info@visa-wise.co.uk
www.visa-wise.co.uk

I will be visiting a research group at Cambridge University to hold informal discussions to exchange ideas. I am trying to write a paper. Note that I will not be paid by Cambridge. My research adivsor here is still paying my salary.
So I think I can enter the UK as a 'visitor' which will allow me 6 months visa-free stay. (If this assumption is not true, please let me know)

So the question now is whether the '6-month limit' is 6 months at a time or 6 months in a whole year. Because I was planning on arriving in the end of January but come back in the end of May (~4 months total) for about 2-3 weeks, and then re-enter the UK and stay there till the end of the summer.

Either way, my total time spent in the UK will be more than 6 months but just under 7... any suggestions as to what I can do?

Thanks a lot

Beckett

Hello,

I too, am curious as to how this works. I plan to move to the UK to live with my boyfriend (who is a UK citizen). It is difficult to obtain a visa due to my age and we plan to marry but do not want to rush into it. From what I understand, I can stay for up to 6 months at a time. Can I just come back home to Canada for a few weeks and then go back for another 6 months?

Shireen

Hi! I am in a very similar position to Shireen as well, tho Im married to a UK citizen. Ill be applying for spouse visa when I return to Canada in January, but his father is ill and I would like reassurance that Ill be able to re-enter the UK if needed in the case of an emergency though Ill have been here for 5 months by the time I go back home to Canada.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers!

Hi there, my boyfriend and I are also in a very similar situation. My boyfriend is English and I am Canadian. I recently applied for a 6 month visit visa, which I know Canadians don't normally need but I applied for it at the advice of Immigration at London Heathrow because at the end of this summer I was refused entry there when I arrived on my passport alone. As I had already had a 2 year UK visa, which is when my boyfriend and I met, and it only expired a month before my return to England, they felt that my re-entry was too soon after my previous visa had expired. Also, they did not believe that I would leave at the end of the visit, even though I had a pre-paid return ticket to bring me back to Canada. Furthermore, they did not believe that I had "genuine" reason to be in the UK as a visitor, despite speaking themselves to my boyfriend, who was awaiting me in the arrivals area.

Anyway we hired a professional visa service, Global Visas, because I had had success with them before. We supplied copious amounts of documentation to prove our relationship, our financial situations (my boyfriend is a long-time borough council employee), and included air line tickets to show my past on time departures from the UK as well as an airline ticket to show my future intended departure from the UK. My visit visa application has still been refused!!! They do not believe that I am a genuine "visitor" nor do they believe I will leave the UK.

We know we want to be together for the rest of our lives, we are 100% committed to each other and we do intend to marry one day; but we would like a proper courtship, which the authorities are not allowing us to have, seemingly! How is a couple meant to have a proper courtship when they are not given the opportunity to nurture and develop their relationship by being together? My parents had most of their courtship apart whilst my father was stationed overseas in the early 70's, so if they can do it so can we, but because I have a refused entry stamp in my passport now, and a refused visa stamp as well, my boyfriend can only come here to Canada to see me until we get another visa (our plan is to go for the fiancee visa, which has a right of appeal if it is refused), and my boyfriend is going to do come over to Canada this Christmas and I am SOOOOO very much looking forward to seeing him cos we have been apart since July.

I think they look upon relationships as being the reason for entry as a visitor in a very suspicious light, even when the relationship is 100% real and genuine like me and mine. I don't know if this helps any of you, and I hope I haven't discouraged anyone too much; I hope that you all can find a way too of being with your partners...

Yes, it's true. When the immigration officers are not convinced that someone will go back after a certain time, they refuse them entry. If this person has a boyfriend/girlfriend in the UK, it is sometimes assumed that the visit is only an excuse in order to enter and stay in the UK for a longer period. The emphasis should not be put on the relationship but on the reasons to go back after your visit.

As for the length of the allowed visiting period, it's normally "six months at a time", but if one leaves the UK after 6 months and then come back a few weeks later, they might be refused entry as some immigration officers may think that visiting wasn't the true purpose of their stay in the UK.

VisaWise | Immigration Consultancy
OISC Registered Immigration Advisers
London, United Kingdom
info@visa-wise.co.uk
http://www.visa-wise.co.uk

Thank you VisaWise, I think that is absolutely correct as we have found out... there is such a suspicion over relationships as being the reason for entry, and they don't seem to give the benefit of the doubt to people like my boyfriend and I, who are genuine with good intentions.

When we went to Global Visas to apply for the visit visa, the immigration lawyer who managed our case got us to provide loads of evidence to prove our relationship for the authorities. Based on what you've said, he ought not to have advised us to put such heavy emphasis on our relationship, in the way of pictures, emails, a phone record showing our daily telephone contact often lasting up to and sometimes over an hour and a half, etc., etc.

We know, and our families know, that our relationship is genuine and that our intentions are only good ~ that if the law states that I have to leave at the end of a certain period then I will, as I always have done before. Is it a good idea to state our concerns, in a non-confrontational way, to the powers that be at the visa office in Ottawa, or will that negatively impact our future visa applications? If anyone can shed some light on this, we'd very much appreciate it...

Thanks...