What type of visa will I need?
Dear Mr Bassie,
IAM planning on sending my child to an independent school in the United Kingdom. What type of visa would I need to visit him?
– D.N.
Dear D.N.,
Persons can apply for a Parent of Tier 4 child visa if the child attends an independent, fee-paying day school in the United Kingdom; they are from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland; and if they meet the other eligibility requirements.
Persons can apply for a visa up to three months before the date of travel to the United Kingdom. Persons should get a decision on the visa within three weeks when they apply from outside the United Kingdom.
A Parent of a Tier 4 child visa costs £516. This visa usually lasts for either six or 12 months. After that, persons can get extensions for 12 months at a time until the child reaches 12 years of age.
Persons will be given a shorter visa and will not be able to extend that visa if the child is going to have their 12th birthday in the next 12 months and/or finish their final year at school in the next 12 months.
Persons must leave the United Kingdom when the visa expires in either case and cannot switch to a different visa category. If the child is staying in education in the United Kingdom without the parent, arrangements must be made for their ongoing care.
WHAT PERSONS CAN AND CANNOT DO
Persons can extend their visa for 12 months at a time, as long as they continue to meet the eligibility requirements. Persons cannot:
• Switch into a different immigration category from a ‘Parent of a Tier 4 child visa’ when it expires.
• Get public funds.
• Make their main home in the United Kingdom.
• Take paid work.
• Study.
• Take other family members (‘dependents’) with them on their application – those persons must apply separately.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for a Parent of a Tier 4 child visa, persons must:
• Have enough money to support themselves and any dependents while in the United Kingdom.
• Maintain a second home outside the United Kingdom.
• Plan to leave the United Kingdom at the end of their visit.
• Be able to meet the cost of the return or onward journey. The child must:
• Be under 12 years old.
• Be studying at, or about to start studying at, an independent fee-paying day school in the United Kingdom.
• Have a Tier 4 (child) visa or be in the category ‘students in the United Kingdom under the immigration rules in place before March 31, 2009’.
I hope this helps.