A UK visit visa, explained properly
Pakistani passport holders need a Standard Visitor visa before travelling to the UK. It covers tourism, visiting family and friends, and most short business activity such as meetings and conferences. The Home Office fee is £135 for the usual six-month visa, rising to £506, £903 and £1,128 for the two, five and ten-year versions, and the published decision time outside the UK is three weeks.
Two things matter more than any document list. The fee is not refunded if you are refused, and a visitor refusal carries no right of appeal — your only route is a fresh application with the weakness actually fixed. That is why the file is worth getting right the first time.
The UK is the hardest of the popular destinations to write about honestly, because almost nothing about it is mechanical. There is no points test, no published balance requirement and no checklist that guarantees anything. One caseworker reads your file and decides whether they believe you will go home. Everything useful on this page is about that single question.
We have also found that the fee quoted on most Pakistani visa pages is out of date, often by two increases. The figures below come from the Home Office's own fee table, and the date they were checked is on the page so you can see how fresh they are.
Which visitor visa you need
For a holiday, a wedding, a family visit or a business meeting, the answer is the Standard Visitor visa. The only real decision is how long you want it to last.
| Visa | Valid for | Stay per visit | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Visitor, 6 months | 6 months | Up to 6 months | A holiday, a wedding, visiting family, a conference or a run of meetings. This is what almost everyone applies for. |
| Long-term Standard Visitor, 2 years | 2 years | Up to 6 months each visit | Someone who will travel two or three times inside two years — close family in the UK, or a recurring trade fair. |
| Long-term, 5 years | 5 years | Up to 6 months each visit | A frequent traveller with a strong, settled travel history already on the passport. |
| Long-term, 10 years | 10 years | Up to 6 months each visit | Rarely the right answer unless the passport will stay valid and the travel pattern is already established. |
| Visiting academic | Up to 12 months | Up to 12 months | An academic on sabbatical carrying out research. A narrow category with its own conditions. |
| Transit, landside | Single transit | Passing through only | Changing airports or leaving the airside area on the way somewhere else. |
A long-term visa does not let you stay longer on any single trip. GOV.UK is explicit on both points: "you can usually stay in the UK for up to 6 months," and you cannot "live in the UK for long periods of time through frequent or successive visits." A ten-year visa used as a way of living in Britain six months at a time will eventually be refused at the border.
What the Home Office charges
These are the fees in the Home Office fee table in force from 8 October 2026. They are what you pay the UK government. They are not our charges, and no part of them comes to us.
| Application | Home Office fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Visitor, up to 6 months | £135 | The ordinary visit visa |
| Long-term visitor, up to 2 years | £506 | |
| Long-term visitor, up to 5 years | £903 | |
| Long-term visitor, up to 10 years | £1,128 | |
| Visiting academic, 6 to 12 months | £234 | Separate category with its own conditions |
| Transit visit visa, landside | £74.50 | Only if you are passing through |
| Visitor extension, applied for inside the UK | £1,172 | Applied for from within the UK, not from Pakistan |
| Priority service, added to the above | +£500 | Faster decision, where the service is offered |
| Super Priority service, added to the above | +£1,000 | Fastest decision, where the service is offered |
Source and date. Taken from the Home Office's published fees and unit cost table, the edition effective 8 October 2026, and cross-checked against the Standard Visitor guidance on GOV.UK, both read on 10 October 2026. The Home Office can raise or lower these fees at any time, and the figure you pay may be higher or lower than the one shown here — the UK usually revises visa fees at least once a year. The rupee amount also moves with the exchange rate, and the fee is charged in pounds. Confirm the current figure on GOV.UK, or ask us, before you pay anything.
Before you pay: two things the fee does not include, and one it does not do
The visa fee does not cover the visa application centre's own charges for optional services such as a premium lounge, courier return, SMS updates or form-filling help. Those are sold at the centre and are not Home Office fees. Decline the ones you do not want.
It also does not cover a TB test, where one is needed, or the biometric appointment travel to Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi.
And it is not refunded if your application is refused. A refused £135 application costs £135 and gives you nothing back but a refusal letter. That letter, though, is the most useful document in a re-application — see the refusal section below.
Is a long-term visa worth it?
The arithmetic looks obvious and is usually wrong. Five years at £903 is the price of about six and a half separate six-month visas, so on paper it pays for itself if you travel more than once every ten months. In practice two things get in the way.
A long-term visa makes sense when
- Your passport already shows UK, Schengen, US or Canadian travel that you used properly and returned from
- You have a concrete, repeating reason to travel — immediate family settled in the UK, or a trade event you attend every year
- Your passport has enough validity left to be worth the longer visa
- Your income and ties in Pakistan are documented and stable, not newly arranged
It usually does not when
- This is your first UK application and the passport is thin on travel history
- You are applying for a specific, one-off trip — a wedding, a graduation, a short holiday
- You would be stretching to afford the higher fee, which is money lost if the decision goes against you
- You are hoping a longer visa signals seriousness. It does not. The same credibility test is applied, and a weak file refused at £903 is a far more expensive lesson than the same file refused at £135
Our usual advice to a first-time applicant is the six-month visa, used well, followed by a long-term application later when the passport can show a clean UK trip. That sequence costs more in total and is considerably more likely to work.
Documents, and what the caseworker is actually testing
GOV.UK does not publish a document checklist for visitors. What it publishes is a set of things you must be able to show, and the documents exist only to prove them. The requirements, in the Home Office's own words, are that you have a valid passport or travel document, that "you'll leave the UK at the end of your visit," that you are "able to support yourself and your dependants during your trip," that you can pay for your return or onward journey, and that you will not live in the UK through frequent or successive visits.
In practice a Pakistani visitor file has two halves. One half is the same whoever you are. The other depends entirely on what you do for a living — and it is the half caseworkers read hardest, because it is where "will this person go home" is actually answered.
The same for all four
Identity
Who you are- Passport valid for the whole stay, plus old passports carrying previous travel
- CNIC
- NADRA Family Registration Certificate where family relationships matter
- A photograph to the published specification
Money
That you can afford the trip- Six months of bank statements from an account genuinely yours and genuinely used
- Evidence that the money has a source matching those statements
- No minimum balance exists for a UK visit visa — the shape of the account matters, not a number
The trip
That the plan is real- Dates, and where you will stay for each of them
- A flight reservation — not a purchased ticket
- Who is paying, if it is not you
- If someone in the UK is hosting you: their invitation, address, status and financial evidence
What changes with your profile
If you are salaried
Proving the job exists, pays you, and is waiting when you return- An employer letter on company letterhead confirming your role, salary, length of service and that your leave is approved for the exact dates
- Last six months of salary slips
- Your employment contract or appointment letter
- Salary credited into the same account as the bank statements — if the salary is paid in cash, say so early, because the file is built differently
- For government employees, a No Objection Certificate from the department
If you own a business
Proving the business is real, is yours, and needs you back- Business registration — SECP incorporation, partnership deed, or sole proprietorship proof
- NTN certificate and FBR tax returns for the last two to three years
- Six months of business bank statements, on letterhead, separate from your personal account
- Chamber of Commerce membership certificate if you hold one
- A short, plain explanation of what the business does and who runs it while you are away — the thing most business files leave out
If you are retired
Proving a settled income and a life here- Pension book or pension payment order
- Retirement or relieving letter from your last employer
- Six months of statements showing the pension actually arriving
- Any other income — rent, a shop, investments — with the paperwork behind it
- Property documents, which carry more weight for a retired applicant than for anyone else
If you are a student or dependent
The file is really about your sponsor, and about you coming back- Student card and a bonafide letter from the institution confirming enrolment and that your leave is approved
- Your sponsor's documents in full — their employment or business proof, their six months of statements, their tax record
- A sponsorship letter stating plainly that they are funding the trip and why
- Proof of your relationship to the sponsor, usually the NADRA Family Registration Certificate
- If a child travels without both parents, a notarised consent from the parent not travelling, with a copy of their CNIC or passport
The mistake that causes the most refusals we see
A bank account topped up with a large deposit a few weeks before applying. Caseworkers look at the shape of the statement, not the closing balance, and a sudden lump sum with no explanation is read as money borrowed to pass a test rather than money you have. It frequently does more harm than a lower balance would have done.
There is no published minimum balance for a UK visit visa, and any agency quoting you one is inventing it. What is tested is whether the money is credibly yours and clearly enough for the trip you have described. A modest, steady, well-explained account beats a large unexplained one every time.
The other serious one: never submit a document you cannot stand behind. A false document or a false statement is dealt with under the suitability rules and can bar you from the UK for ten years. It is not worth it, and we will not prepare a file that relies on one.
How the application works
The UK process is online first, in person second. GOV.UK states that you "must apply for a Standard Visitor visa online before you travel to the UK." After the form and payment you book an appointment at a visa application centre to give your fingerprints and photograph. In Pakistan those centres are in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, so build the travel to one of them into your timeline.
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We work out the trip and the right visa first
Dates, purpose, who is travelling, who is paying, and whether a six-month or a long-term visa actually fits. This conversation is where most of the value sits, because the wrong visa choice cannot be fixed later in the form.
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The documents are assembled and checked before anything is paid
We go through the bank statements, the income evidence and the ties in Pakistan, and we tell you honestly where the file is weak. If something needs three months to look right, you hear that now rather than after a refusal.
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The online application is completed carefully
Every answer is checked against the documents, because inconsistency between the form and the file is a refusal reason in itself. Travel history, previous refusals by any country and family in the UK must all be declared accurately.
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Fee paid, appointment booked, biometrics given
The Home Office fee is paid online, in pounds. You then attend the visa application centre in Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi for fingerprints and a photograph, and submit or upload the supporting documents.
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Decision, then collection
The passport comes back with the visa or with a refusal letter. If it is a refusal, keep that letter — it names the specific grounds and is the starting point for anything we do next.
Processing time
GOV.UK gives three weeks as the published decision time for a Standard Visitor visa applied for outside the UK. Paying for the Priority or Super Priority service shortens that, where the service is being offered — availability is suspended from time to time, so it is worth confirming before budgeting for it.
Three weeks is a target, not a promise. GOV.UK notes that an application may take longer for reasons including inaccurate information, a required interview, or increased demand, and that "you will be contacted within the current processing times if your application will take longer."
Our practical advice: apply six to eight weeks before you travel, and do not buy non-refundable tickets before the visa is in your hand. You may apply up to three months before your intended travel date, which is usually the right window to aim for.
Do you need a TB test?
Pakistan is on the Home Office's list of countries where a tuberculosis test is required, so this applies to applicants here — but only for longer stays. GOV.UK sets the rule out as: you need a test if you are coming to the UK for six months or more, you have lived in a listed country for six months or more, and you were living in a listed country within the last six months.
Read carefully, that means an ordinary six-month visit visa used for a holiday of a few weeks does not need one, because the test is tied to the length of stay you are coming for. A certificate, where you do need one, is valid for six months from the date of your x-ray, and the test must be done at a clinic the Home Office has approved — a report from any other clinic is not accepted. The approved clinic list for Pakistan changes, so check the current one on GOV.UK rather than relying on a list in an agency's blog post.
If your UK visa has been refused
This is where most Pakistani applicants need real help and get the least of it, so it is worth being precise.
There is no appeal against a visitor visa refusal. There is no tribunal hearing to ask for and no form to lodge. What you have is the right to apply again, and in limited cases to challenge the decision by judicial review — which is a court remedy about the lawfulness of the process, not a second look at your documents, and almost never the right answer for a visitor.
So the only thing that matters is whether the second application is different from the first in the way the refusal letter identified. There is also no waiting period: you may apply again immediately. Whether you should is another matter entirely.
Your refusal letter names the specific grounds. Read it as a list of instructions, because that is what it is. The grounds we see most often on Pakistani files are:
- Not satisfied you will leave at the end of the visit. The broadest ground and the most common. It is a conclusion about your circumstances overall, not about one missing paper.
- Not satisfied about your finances. Usually an unexplained deposit, an account that does not match the stated income, or statements from an account that is not really used.
- Not satisfied about your employment or business. Documents that do not corroborate each other, or a business with no verifiable trace.
- Inconsistency between the form and the documents. Dates, addresses, salary figures or an undeclared earlier refusal.
- Purpose of visit not credible. A trip whose cost does not fit the stated income, or an itinerary that does not match the sponsor's invitation.
Applying again within a fortnight with the same documents and a slightly different cover letter is the single most common and most expensive mistake. The second refusal usually cites the first, and a pattern of refusals is itself a problem on your record.
Send us the refusal letter and the file exactly as it was submitted. We will tell you which ground was actually relied on, what can realistically be changed, and how long that will take. If we think a re-application will fail, we will tell you to wait and why — a straight answer costs you nothing, and another £135 refusal costs you £135 plus a worse record.
What changes your total cost
We do not publish a single service charge for a UK visa, because there is no single number that would be honest. The Home Office fee above is fixed and public. What a file costs to prepare is not, because it depends on things that differ from one applicant to the next:
- Which visa. A six-month tourist file and a five-year application built on a documented business are different pieces of work.
- How many travellers. A family applying together shares much of the preparation, so the per-person effort drops.
- How complete your documents already are. A salaried applicant with clean statements and an employer letter needs far less work than a business owner whose accounts have to be assembled.
- Whether anything needs fixing first. A previous refusal, a name that differs across passport and CNIC, or an account that needs three clean months all add work.
- Urgency. A file that has to go this week is handled differently from one with two months on it.
Send us the trip and you get the Home Office fee and our charge quoted separately, so you can see exactly what goes where. The form on this page is the quickest way — it reaches us with your details already filled in.
How we prepare your file
Breeze Travels & Tours is an IATA-accredited agency working from a walk-in office on Davis Road, Garhi Shahu, since 2003. You can sit across the desk from the person handling your application, with your documents in front of both of you, rather than sending scans to a number you found online.
On a UK file that means we read your bank statements properly before the form is touched, check that your income evidence and your statements tell the same story, make sure the form matches the documents line for line, and say plainly when the honest answer is to wait three months and apply with a stronger file. We do not write invitation letters for sponsors we have not spoken to, and we do not prepare a file that depends on a document you cannot stand behind.
If your UK trip also needs flights or hotels, the same team handles them: air tickets on our own IATA setup and hotel reservations with dates that match your application. Travelling for meetings or a trade fair rather than a holiday? See business visas, or read how we work on files generally under visa consultancy.