Moving to the UK from Pakistan: Complete Guide

Visiting: a Visitor Visa, Not an Electronic Travel Authorisation

Pakistan is on the Home Office visa national list, so Pakistani citizens need a Standard Visitor visa for a short trip. The £20 electronic travel authorisation is for people who are not visa nationals, and it is not an option on a Pakistani passport. A 6-month Standard Visitor visa costs £135, and longer-validity visitor visas cost £506 for 2 years, £903 for 5 years and £1,128 for 10 years. A decision usually takes 3 weeks.

Visa Routes for Pakistani Nationals

Spouse and Family Visa

The Spouse visa is for people joining a partner who is a British citizen or has settlement. The UK-based sponsor must meet the financial requirement of £29,000 a year, met through income, savings, or a combination. The applicant's own overseas income is not counted. You will need evidence that the relationship is genuine and subsisting, which the Immigration Rules require of every applicant on this route: communication records, evidence of meeting in person, and the couple's plans for living together in the UK. The fee is £2,064 from outside the UK and a decision usually takes 12 weeks.

The English requirement on this route is A1 in speaking and listening at the first application, A2 at the extension after 2 years 6 months, and B1 at settlement.

Skilled Worker Visa

The Skilled Worker visa requires a job offer from a UK employer with a sponsor licence, a certificate of sponsorship used within 3 months of being issued, a job at degree level (level 6 of the regulated qualifications framework) for a new application, and a salary of at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for the job, whichever is higher. Some applicants qualify at the lower £33,400 threshold. A job on the Immigration Salary List uses that lower threshold and a lower fee, but the full going rate for the job still applies. See the salary threshold guide.

Student Visa

The Student visa costs £558, and a decision usually takes 3 weeks from outside the UK. You need a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies from a licensed institution, and you must show you can cover your course fees plus £1,529 a month for living costs in London or £1,171 a month outside London, for up to 9 months. The money must have been held for 28 days in a row, and day 28 must be within 31 days of applying. After your course the Graduate route gives 2 years of unsponsored work, or 3 years after a PhD; for applications made on or after 1 January 2027 the standard length falls to 18 months.

UK Ancestry Visa

Pakistan is a Commonwealth country, so the UK Ancestry route is open to Pakistani citizens aged 17 or over who have a grandparent born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or born before 31 March 1922 in what is now Ireland. You must be able to work and plan to work in the UK, and support yourself without public funds. It costs £726, lasts 5 years, allows any work including self-employment, and a decision usually takes 3 weeks from outside the UK. You cannot switch into it from inside the UK on another visa. See the Ancestry visa guide.

Pakistani Document Requirements

NADRA Records

The National Database and Registration Authority holds the records behind Pakistan's main civil documents:

• Computerised National Identity Card. The main identity document. The details on it and on your passport need to match.
• Nikah Nama, the marriage certificate. A marriage that was never registered is hard to evidence on a family visa application.
• Birth certificate. The authority issues computerised birth certificates; older handwritten certificates come from the local union council.
• Family Registration Certificate. Sets out family relationships and is often used as supporting evidence.

The Home Office may check documents against those records, or through the British High Commission in Islamabad. A false document or a false statement in an application is a ground for refusal in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, and can lead to later applications being refused for up to 10 years.

Document Legalisation

Pakistan joined the Hague Apostille Convention, which came into force for Pakistan on 9 March 2023. Pakistani public documents can therefore be apostilled by the designated Pakistani authority rather than legalised through the older embassy route. Documents in Urdu still need a full translation into English.

Police Certificate

A police certificate is not needed for every route. The Home Office asks for one for Skilled Worker and Temporary Worker applications in certain jobs, mostly in healthcare, education, therapy and social services, and for some other routes. Where it is needed, a Police Character Certificate is issued by the police in your district of residence. GOV.UK publishes no fee or processing time for it. Check the GOV.UK criminal records checks guidance for how to apply from Pakistan.

Tuberculosis Test

Pakistan is on the Home Office list of countries where a tuberculosis test is needed. The test applies if you are coming to the UK for 6 months or more, have lived in Pakistan or another listed country for 6 months or more, and were living there within the last 6 months. It also applies to a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner on a family visa, and to a Returning Resident visa, even for a shorter stay.

You must be tested at a clinic approved by the Home Office; a test at any other clinic will not be accepted. The test is a chest x-ray, and children under 11 will not normally have one. The certificate is valid for 6 months from the date of the x-ray. GOV.UK publishes no price, because each clinic sets its own fee. Find your clinic on the GOV.UK tuberculosis test page.

English Language Requirement

Pakistan is not on the Home Office list of majority English-speaking countries, so most applicants need an approved secure English language test, unless they hold a degree taught in English that UK ENIC confirms is equivalent to a UK degree. The levels are set on the Common European Framework of Reference:

• Spouse visa, first application: A1 in speaking and listening
• Spouse visa, extension: A2
• Settlement: B1, rising to B2 from 26 March 2027 on the Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale-up and Long Residence routes
• Skilled Worker: B2 for new applications made from 8 January 2026; B1 is still accepted on an extension of the same visa
• Student: B2 for study at degree level or above, B1 below degree level

The approved providers are listed on the GOV.UK secure English language test page. GOV.UK publishes no price for the test.

Where You Apply in Pakistan

You complete the application on GOV.UK, then book an appointment to give your fingerprints and photograph at a visa application centre. GOV.UK's find a visa application centre service lists Pakistan under VFS Global, which publishes the centres, their addresses and their opening times. GOV.UK says you must apply for the visa before you can make an appointment, and that if you do not choose a centre a centre is chosen for you.

Processing Times

These are the published service standards for applications made outside the UK. They are the same wherever you apply from.

• Visitor visa: 3 weeks
• Student visa: 3 weeks
• Skilled Worker and other work visas: 3 weeks
• Partner, spouse, parent or child family visa: 12 weeks

A faster decision can be paid for: the priority service costs £500, and aims at 5 working days for most routes but 30 working days for family visas and citizenship. The super priority service costs £1,000 and is not available for citizenship applications. See our spouse visa processing time guide.

What It Costs

UK visa fees are set in pounds sterling and are the same wherever you apply from.

• Standard Visitor visa: £135 for 6 months
• Family visa as a partner: £2,064 from outside the UK, £1,407 inside
• Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK: £819 for up to 3 years, £1,618 for more than 3 years
• Student visa: £558
• UK Ancestry visa: £726
• Healthcare surcharge: £1,035 a year, or £776 a year for students, their dependants and under-18s
• Settlement: £3,226 for each person
• British citizenship: £1,709 to apply plus a £130 ceremony fee, £1,839 in total
• English test and tuberculosis test: GOV.UK publishes no price for either. Test providers and approved clinics set their own fees.

For a complete breakdown, see our UK visa fees guide and our healthcare surcharge guide.

What the Healthcare Surcharge Buys

Paying the immigration health surcharge does not make the National Health Service free. It puts you on the same footing as a UK resident, so you then pay what a resident pays. In England that means £9.90 for each prescription item and dental charges of £27.90, £76.60 or £332.10 depending on the treatment. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Things That Commonly Go Wrong

• Details that do not match. Names, dates and spellings that differ between NADRA records, the passport and other documents are a common cause of delay.
• Financial evidence that does not cover the period. The rules set out exactly which documents cover which period. If the UK sponsor has been in their job for less than 6 months, a different set of rules applies: see our Category B income evidence guide.
• A previous refusal that was not declared. A previous UK refusal or overstay must be declared in a later application. See our visa refusal guide.
• A tuberculosis certificate that has expired. The certificate is valid for 6 months from the date of the x-ray.

First Steps After Arrival

• Set up or sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account and check your online immigration status. There is no card to collect: biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024. To prove your status to an employer or a landlord you generate a share code, which lasts 90 days
• Apply for a National Insurance number
• Register with a GP
• Open a UK bank account
• Register for council tax with your local council in England, Scotland or Wales. Northern Ireland has domestic rates instead, collected by Land and Property Services
• Apply for school places. In England, Scotland and Wales that is through the local council; in Northern Ireland it is through the Education Authority

Voting as a Commonwealth Citizen

Pakistan is a Commonwealth country, and the rules are not the same across the UK. In England and Northern Ireland a Commonwealth citizen who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need it, can register to vote. In Scotland and Wales any foreign national with permission to enter or stay can register for Scottish Parliament, Senedd and local elections, so the Commonwealth question does not arise there.

Path to Settlement and Citizenship

The spouse and Skilled Worker routes both lead to settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain, after 5 years. It costs £3,226 for each person and a decision usually takes up to 6 months. You need the Life in the UK test and English at B1. After 12 months with settlement you can apply for British citizenship for £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee.

Pakistan allows dual nationality with a listed group of countries, and the United Kingdom is on that list, so a Pakistani who becomes British does not automatically lose Pakistani nationality. That is a question for the Pakistani authorities, not the Home Office. Check your position with the Pakistan High Commission in London before you apply.

Next Steps

For official information, visit the GOV.UK immigration page.

Related guides:

• Spouse visa: complete guide
• Spouse visa documents checklist
• Skilled Worker visa: complete guide
• Student visa: complete guide
• UK visa fees: complete breakdown

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