Categories
Visitors
Tourism or visiting friends .
Transit
Visitors in transit (If you want to transit between 2 UK airports/ports or you need to change airlines and clear UK immigration control or you have a brief stopover of less than 48 hours. Your intention must be to transit and not visit the UK.
Direct airside transit (if you are changing planes at a single UK airport and do not need to clear UK immigration).
Crew members - seafarers.
Visitors for business
Business (general).
Academic visitors.
Doctors coming for Professional & Linguistic Assessment Board Test(PLAB).
Doctors undertaking clinical attachments.
Dentists undertaking clinical observer posts .
Professors accompanying students undertaking study abroad programmes.
Religious workers .
Sports visitor .
Entertainer visitor.
Special visitors
Private medical treatment.
Visitors coming to get married.
Parents of children at school in the UK.
Student visitor (As a student visitor you may take a short course of study during your visit to the UK, providing you are attending an educational institution that is on the Tier 4 sponsor register, is accredited by a designated accreditation body or forms part of an overseas higher education institute. Under this category you will be regarded as a visitor and not a student and for this reason you cannot work or extend your stay.
Prospective students.
Long term visit visa
Long term visit visa. You should give careful consideration before applying for a long term visit visa valid for 1, 2, 5 or 10 years as there is the possibility that the visa may be refused, or issued for a shorter period than you have applied for. If the application is refused or the visa is issued for a shorter period, you will not be refunded the difference in the visa application fee.