Private Life

Applying for a Family Visa on the basis of your Private Life

Are you or your client looking for a Family visa that will allow you to stay in the UK for up to five years based on your private life? Providing you can satisfy the necessary criteria, you should be able to apply on this basis, with settlement becoming an option after five or ten years depending on your age and circumstances.

At Imperium Chambers, our specialist immigration barristers are on hand to advise you on your suitability for a range of Family visas, including on the basis of your private life.

About Family visa private life applications

Family visa private life applications are granted in recognition of an individual’s private life in the UK.

To apply, you will need to be either:

Under 18 and have lived in the UK continuously for a minimum of seven years, and it would be unreasonable for you to leave the UK.
Between 18 and 24 and have lived in the UK continuously for over half your life.
Aged 18-plus, having spent less than 20 years in the UK and would experience considerable problems reintegrating into your home country.
Living in the UK continuously for at least 20 years.
Born in the UK to someone with permission to remain here on the basis of their private life, or who is in the process of making an application on that basis.

On this visa, you will be able to remain in the UK for two years and six months, unless you are under 18 and have lived in the UK continuously for at least seven years or are aged between 18 and 24 and have spent half your life in the UK, in which case you can apply to stay for five years. You may extend this visa for two years and six months in both cases.

You may settle in the UK after five years if you’re either under 18 and have lived here continuously for at least seven years, or aged between 18 and 24 and have spent half your life in the UK.

If you’re 18 or over, have 20 continuous years in the UK and would have considerable problems reintegrating into your home country, or were born in the UK to someone with permission to stay in the UK on the basis of their private life, or who is in the process of making an application on that basis, then you may apply to settle after 10 years.

How Imperium Chambers can help

Our specialist immigration barristers are on hand to guide you or your client throughout your Family visa application. Firstly, we will advise you on whether you meet the criteria to apply using the family life route. We’ll then work with you to compile the host of information and documents required to support your application. The better the quality of your evidence and submissions, the greater your chance of success in obtaining the visa you need.

We regularly assist individuals who have been in the UK for more than 20 years, but who lack the documentation required to prove they were here continuously for that time. In such cases, we adopt a meticulous approach to compiling the available evidence and, where there are gaps, prepare highly detailed representations to the Home Office to explain the reasons for the omissions.

If you or your client has found yourself in this situation and have been under the opinion that your application may not be successful, please do get in touch, as there is a good chance we may be able to help.