Start date for 6 month visa to UK?

[Khundon1975]

I met a Thai couple the other night at a function, who were visiting their Thai daughter (a British citizen for ten years) on a six month visitor visa to the UK.

He was a bit unhappy that he "Had lost 3 weeks off his six months visa, due to the visa date stamped on their visa and actually getting a flight to the UK".

Am I wrong in thinking, that the six month visa starts on the day you arrive in UK and not the date that the visa is issued?

We had the in laws over for 6 months a while ago and they stayed for six months (less one day) from the day they entered the UK and had no problems on exiting the UK. They, however, did get a flight to UK the day after they got their visa's, so we did not encounter this couples problem.

We are planning another 6 month visit to the UK by our in laws, early in 2014 and don't want to get caught out by this rule (if it is a rule) if they do not get a flight a couple of days after getting their visa stamp, so would welcome any advice on what the legal position is.

[Dannie Boy]

It's 6 month from the date the visa is issued - I've just checked my wife's visa from last year and it expired 6 months after the date of issue, which was no problem for us as we were going for just under a month.

[Bristolian]

Agreed, it is the visa issue date that is the start date. I took my wife to the uk a couple of years ago and could not start the visa process too early so as to ensure that it covered our visit dates.

[Khundon1975]

Thanks for that guys.

We were lucky first time round then, as I had pre-booked 2 first class tickets for them and we had cut it fine on getting the visa's or losing the flight booking and the ticket costs!

Think I will do the same again but leave a few more days between when we expect the visa's to arrive and the flight date, just in case of any delays.

Surely, it would be possible in this electronically linked age, for the date of visa issued at the British embassy in BKK to be accessible to immigration department computers at LHR, so that the 6 months starts on the date of entry to UK. Too much to hope for I suppose!

[lomuamart]

I hope I'm not going to put a spanner in the works here as my forte is not UK visas. However, I would think that there are two issues.
1. Visa validity which, as said, is 6 months from date of issue. But this only means that you must arrive in the UK within those 6 months otherwise the visa in invalid.
2. "Permitted to stay". Surely, this will be 6 months from date of entry? So, in the case above, the Thai person wouldn't have "lost 3 weeks". He would have been entitled to stay the full 6 months even though the visa would have expired 3 weeks before he left.
At least that's the way it works here in Thailand and on visas I've had for other countries as well.
Having just looked at my wife's recent Family Visit Visa (also 6 months validity), it's strange that Heathrow Imm only stamp the arrival date not the date by which she had to leave as well. Even more strange is that there's no exit stamp. No wonder the authorities don't know where people have got to. Same happened 7 years ago when she traveled last.
I still think it's worth looking into though - about the 6 months stay.
Apologies if I've muddied the waters.

[Big Boy]

That was my understanding i.e. it's the way it used to work. However, I've not obtained a UK visa for anybody since 2005.

[Bristolian]

I hope I'm not going to put a spanner in the works here as my forte is not UK visas. However, I would think that there are two issues.
1. Visa validity which, as said, is 6 months from date of issue. But this only means that you must arrive in the UK within those 6 months otherwise the visa in invalid.
2. "Permitted to stay". Surely, this will be 6 months from date of entry? So, in the case above, the Thai person wouldn't have "lost 3 weeks". He would have been entitled to stay the full 6 months even though the visa would have expired 3 weeks before he left.
At least that's the way it works here in Thailand and on visas I've had for other countries as well.
Having just looked at my wife's recent Family Visit Visa (also 6 months validity), it's strange that Heathrow Imm only stamp the arrival date not the date by which she had to leave as well. Even more strange is that there's no exit stamp. No wonder the authorities don't know where people have got to. Same happened 7 years ago when she traveled last.
I still think it's worth looking into though - about the 6 months stay.
Apologies if I've muddied the waters.

For me, the visas were a couple of years ago and were very troublesome at the time to achieve.
I believe, from memory that the permission to stay needed to be within the visa validity. i.e. If you obtained a 6 months visa (earliest entry and departure dates) then the permitted to stay needed to be between these dates. Please don't shoot me if I am wrong. At the time the process was screwed and the visa for my wife was rejected until appeal to and apology from the embassy.

[lindosfan1]

When my wife came over in 2007 the date was taken from the date of arrival and she had a return ticket showing flight 6 months later minus 1 day.

[Dannie Boy]

I hope I'm not going to put a spanner in the works here as my forte is not UK visas. However, I would think that there are two issues.
1. Visa validity which, as said, is 6 months from date of issue. But this only means that you must arrive in the UK within those 6 months otherwise the visa in invalid.
2. "Permitted to stay". Surely, this will be 6 months from date of entry? So, in the case above, the Thai person wouldn't have "lost 3 weeks". He would have been entitled to stay the full 6 months even though the visa would have expired 3 weeks before he left.
At least that's the way it works here in Thailand and on visas I've had for other countries as well.
Having just looked at my wife's recent Family Visit Visa (also 6 months validity), it's strange that Heathrow Imm only stamp the arrival date not the date by which she had to leave as well. Even more strange is that there's no exit stamp. No wonder the authorities don't know where people have got to. Same happened 7 years ago when she traveled last.
I still think it's worth looking into though - about the 6 months stay.
Apologies if I've muddied the waters.

I too checked my wife's passport and it was the same - date of entry stamped but no date when she had to depart by, and no exit stamp when she left. I also looked at the UK immigration website but couldn't find anything specific about whether it was 6 months from issue, or 6 months from entry - I agree that from entry seems more likely, but worth further investigation to be certain.

[Khundon1975]

Thanks lomuamart and all the other forum members, who have had an input on this question, it seems that I will have to do a bit more investigation into this issue! As Lomuamart states, the UK website does not make this clear.

Things have changed slightly for us, as, although we will apply for 6 months visa, due to our niece, who will be coming over during her summer holidays, they plan not to stay for the more than 2 months now. However, they may change their minds whilst they are here and stay for the full 6 months, so it would be good to know how they stand legally.

I have a sneaky feeling it will turn out to be 6 months stay from date of entry, but I ain't going to bet on it.

Thanks once again everyone, for your posts.

[Bristolian]

I have a sneaky feeling it will turn out to be 6 months stay from date of entry, but I ain't going to bet on it.

Let us know how you get on. I for one will be going through the same procedure next spring.

[Khundon1975]

Well Lomuamart, you may not be an expert on UK visas but you got it spot on with this one.

Got this yesterday from immigration department here in UK.

The visa has to be used within 6 months of the starting date on the visa and the entry date into the UK is the start of the six months allowable stay in the UK.
Visitors must leave on the last day of the six months visa. One day after is considered an overstay.