If you are not a British Citizen or a citizen an EU country, you may need an entry clearance before you travel to the UK. The list of countries for which a visa is needed for a visit to the UK is available on our website, as is the list of countries which require a visa to travel through the UK (Direct Airside Transit Visa).

Even if your country does not appear on this list, you may need a visa for other reasons, such as getting married in the UK.

You should apply for a UK visitor visa at the UK Mission in the country where you are normally and legally resident. You should plan to apply for your travel visa well in advance of your proposed travel date. Some travel visas may be processed in 24 hours, but others may take longer, especially in cases where an interview is required. The process could take up to several weeks.

Once you have a valid UK travel visa, you should be allowed entry to the UK on arrival unless your circumstances have changed, you gave false information, or you did not tell the entry clearance officer important facts when you applied for your visa. The final decision, however, rests with the immigration officer at the UK port of arrival.

If you are a citizen of one of these countries, you will need to apply for a UK visitor visa if you wish to visit the UK:

Afghanistan	Georgia	Palestinian Authority
Albania	Ghana	Philippines
Algeria	Guinea	Qatar
Angola	Guinea Bissau	Romania
Armenia	Guyana	Russia
Azerbaijan	Haiti	Rwanda
Bahrain	India	Sao Tome & Principe
Bangladesh	Indonesia	Saudi Arabia
Belarus	Iran	Senegal
Benin	Iraq	Serbia & Montenegro
Bhutan	Ivory Coast	Sierra Leone
Bosnia-Herzegovina	Jamaica	Somalia
Bulgaria	Jordan	Sri Lanka
Burkina Faso	Kazakhstan	Sudan
Burma (Myanmar)	Kenya	Surinam
Burundi	Korea (Dem. People's	Syria
Cambodia	Rep)	Taiwan
Cameroon	Kuwait	Tajikistan
Cape Verde	Kyrgyzstan	Tanzania
Central African Republic	Laos	Thailand
Chad	Lebanon	Togo
China, People's Rep. of	Liberia	Tunisia
Colombia	Libya	Turkey
Comoros	Macedonia	'Turkish Republic of
Congo, Democratic	Madagascar	Northern Cyprus'
Republic of	Malawi	Turkmenistan
Congo, Republic of	Mali	Uganda
Cuba	Mauritania	Ukraine
Djibouti	Moldova	United Arab Emirates
Dominican Republic	Mongolia	Uzbekistan
Ecuador	Morocco	Vatican City
Egypt	Mozambique	(service & emergency
Equatorial Guinea	Nepal	passports only)
Eritrea	Niger	Vietnam
Ethiopia	Nigeria	Yemen
Fiji	Oman	Zambia
Gabon	Pakistan	Zimbabwe
Gambia	Peru