Moving to the UK from West Africa: Complete Guide

West Africa and UK Immigration

West Africa has deep historical, linguistic, and cultural connections to the United Kingdom. Nigeria and Ghana are Commonwealth nations with English as an official language. Sierra Leone and The Gambia are also Commonwealth members. Cameroon has both English-speaking and French-speaking regions, with the Anglophone community maintaining strong ties to the UK.

Those connections do not translate into any special immigration route. What West African applicants have in common is a position on three published lists, and all three treat the region the same way: every country here is a visa national, every country is on the tuberculosis test list, and none is on the majority English-speaking list.

The Cameroon Student visa bar

Since 26 March 2026 a Student visa application is refused if you are a national of Cameroon. The same bar covers nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan, and Skilled Worker applications are refused for Afghan nationals. No other West African nationality is affected, and no other route is affected for Cameroon. It is a nationality bar written into the Immigration Rules, not a judgement about an individual application, so preparation does not change it.

Do you need a visa to visit?

Every West African country is on the visa national list, so a short trip needs a visitor visa applied for before you travel. The £20 Electronic Travel Authorisation is not an option for anyone from this region. A visitor visa costs £135 for 6 months, £506 for 2 years, £903 for 5 years and £1,128 for 10 years, and none of them permits work.

Common Requirements Across West Africa

Tuberculosis testing

Every country in West Africa is on the tuberculosis test list: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. You need the test if all three of these are true:

• you are coming to the UK for 6 months or more
• you have lived in a listed country for 6 months or more, and
• you were living there, or in another listed country, within the last 6 months

It is a chest x-ray at a Home Office approved clinic, and the certificate lasts 6 months from the date of the x-ray. Children under 11 are not normally x-rayed. Ten countries in the region have no approved clinic — Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Togo — so applicants living there have to be tested in another country, and GOV.UK lists which ones. Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone do have approved clinics. GOV.UK publishes no price for the test.

English language

English is an official language in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Gambia and the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. That has no bearing on the English language requirement. The Home Office works from a fixed list of majority English-speaking countries, and no West African country is on it. You meet the requirement with an approved English language test or with a degree taught and examined in English, confirmed by UK ENIC.

The level depends on the route: B2 for a new Skilled Worker application since 8 January 2026, with B1 still accepted when you extend the same visa; A1 at the first family visa application, A2 at the extension after two and a half years, and B1 at settlement. From 26 March 2027 the settlement level rises from B1 to B2 on several routes, Skilled Worker among them.

Document Legalisation

West African documents must be submitted in their original form. Documents not in English require certified translations. The legalisation process varies by country:

• Nigeria: Documents are legalised through the Federal Ministry of Justice or the Federal High Court. Educational documents may need verification from the issuing institution.
• Ghana: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles document legalisation. Educational certificates should be verified by the issuing university.
• Cameroon: Documents from Anglophone regions are typically in English. Francophone documents require certified translation. The Ministry of External Relations handles legalisation.
• Sierra Leone: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation handles legalisation.
• The Gambia: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles legalisation.

Financial Evidence

Proving financial capacity is one of the most critical parts of a West African visa application. The Home Office will scrutinise your financial documents carefully. Common issues include:

• Bank statements showing large, unexplained deposits shortly before the application
• Income that does not match tax records or employment contracts
• Using third-party funds without clear evidence of the relationship and the donor's ability to provide the funds

The best approach is to maintain consistent savings well in advance of your application and ensure your bank statements clearly show regular income and a stable balance.

Visa Routes by Country

Nigeria

The routes open to a Nigerian national are the ordinary ones: the Student visa, the Skilled Worker visa, the Health and Care Worker visa, a family visa as a partner, and — because Nigeria is a Commonwealth country — UK Ancestry, if a grandparent qualifies. Nigeria is on the visa national list and on the tuberculosis test list.

Use the GOV.UK visa application centre finder to see where you give your fingerprints and photograph: the commercial partner and the open centres change, so that is not something to take from a guide. For detailed guidance on Nigerian-specific requirements, see our complete guide to moving to the UK from Nigeria.

Ghana

Ghana is a Commonwealth country, on the visa national list and on the tuberculosis test list, and the ordinary routes apply: Student, Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, a family visa, and UK Ancestry.

An overseas criminal record certificate is not needed for every route. It is required for Skilled Worker applications in specified health, education and social care jobs, and for the adult partner of such an applicant; in Ghana it comes from the Ghana Police Service. See our complete guide to moving to the UK from Ghana.

Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia

All three are Commonwealth countries, so UK Ancestry is open to their citizens with a qualifying grandparent, and all three are on both the visa national list and the tuberculosis test list.

The one difference that matters is Cameroon: a Student visa application from a Cameroonian national has been refused since 26 March 2026. Every other route remains open to Cameroonian nationals, and Sierra Leone and the Gambia are not affected at all. Documents from Francophone Cameroon need a certified English translation.

Requirements applications commonly miss

GOV.UK does not publish refusal rates by country or region in a form that would let anyone tell you how likely an application is to succeed, and any site quoting a rate at you has invented it. What can be set out is the published requirements an application has to meet. These are the ones most often missed, and our guide on what to do if a visa is refused covers what happens next.

Requirements most often missed

• Insufficient financial evidence. The most common reason. Bank statements that do not clearly show the source of funds, or savings that fall below the required threshold when converted to pounds.
• Incomplete documentation. Missing birth certificates, marriage certificates, or police clearance. Every document on the checklist must be provided.
• English test problems. Using a test that is not on the Home Office list of approved English language tests, taking it at a centre that is not approved, or presenting a certificate that has expired. Check the expiry date on your own certificate rather than assuming a standard period.
• Credibility concerns. For visit visas, failing to demonstrate strong ties to the home country. For work visas, a job offer that does not match the applicant's qualifications or experience.

How to Strengthen Your Application

• Hold your money for as long as the route requires: 6 months for cash savings relied on for a family visa, and 28 days for the £1,270 on a Skilled Worker visa or the maintenance money on a Student visa.
• Gather all documents early and get certified translations for anything not in English.
• Take an approved English language test well before your application date.
• If applying for a Spouse visa, prepare comprehensive relationship evidence including communication records, photographs, and evidence of visits.
• Immigration advice in the UK is regulated. Anyone giving it must be registered with the Immigration Advice Authority, or be a solicitor or barrister regulated by their own professional body. You can check a person's registration before paying them anything. Our guide compares applying yourself against using a solicitor.

The Health and Care Worker Route

The Health and Care Worker visa is cheaper than the standard Skilled Worker visa and carries no immigration health surcharge at all — GOV.UK lists health and care workers, and their dependants, among those who do not pay it. The visa costs £324 per person for up to 3 years or £628 for longer, the same inside or outside the UK, and it lasts up to 5 years before you extend.

It needs a certificate of sponsorship from an approved health or care sector employer — the NHS, an organisation providing medical services to the NHS, or an organisation providing adult social care — used within 3 months. The salary is usually at least £25,000, or the going rate for the occupation code if that is higher. You need £1,270 held for 28 days, unless your sponsor certifies your maintenance or you have already been in the UK for 12 months.

The care worker and senior care worker codes are not open to a new application from abroad. GOV.UK lists codes 6135 (care workers and home carers) and 6136 (senior care workers) only among the jobs eligible to extend, update or switch to this visa, not to apply for it in the first place. Someone switching from another visa must also have been working legally in the job for their sponsor for at least 3 months. A care worker or senior care worker in England also needs an employer registered with the Care Quality Commission.

If you change job or employer, you apply to update your visa and wait for the decision before starting the new role. Do not start on the strength of a submitted application.

The Path to Settlement

Most work and family routes lead to settlement, or indefinite leave to remain, after 5 years. It costs £3,226 for you and the same for each dependant, you can apply from 28 days before the 5 years is up, and the decision usually arrives within 6 months of giving your fingerprints and photograph. A change from 5 years to 10 years has been proposed but is not law, so the qualifying period may change.

After settlement you can apply for British citizenship once you have held it for 12 months, or straight away if you are married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen, where the residence requirement is 3 years rather than 5. It costs £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee and usually takes up to 6 months; the faster decision services are not available for citizenship. You will need the Life in the UK test — £50, 24 questions in 45 minutes, pass mark 75%, and no test if you are under 18 or 65 or over — and English at B1.

Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and the Gambia are all Commonwealth countries. That opens the UK Ancestry route — £726, 5 years, no sponsor, for someone 17 or over with a grandparent born in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or in what is now Ireland before 31 March 1922 — and it affects registering to vote once you live in the UK. Those voting rules differ across the UK: in England and Northern Ireland a Commonwealth citizen can register if they have permission to enter or stay, or do not need it, while in Scotland and Wales anyone with permission to stay can register for devolved and local elections.

Costs Overview

The main costs for a UK visa from West Africa include:

• Visitor visa: £135 for 6 months, £506 for 2 years, £903 for 5 years, £1,128 for 10 years.
• Skilled Worker from outside the UK: £819 for up to 3 years, £1,618 for longer; £628 and £1,235 for a job on the Immigration Salary List.
• Health and Care Worker: £324 for up to 3 years, £628 for longer, inside or outside the UK.
• Student: £558, and £558 for each dependant.
• Family visa as a partner, parent or child: £2,064 from outside the UK, £1,407 from inside, per person.
• UK Ancestry: £726.
• Immigration health surcharge: £1,035 a year, or £776 a year for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility and under-18s. Nothing at all on the Health and Care Worker route, including for dependants.
• Settlement: £3,226 per person. Citizenship: £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee.
• Faster decisions: £500 for priority, £1,000 for super priority.
• Tuberculosis test, English test, translation and legalisation: GOV.UK publishes no price for any of these.

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

Next Steps

Start with your country-specific guide, then use our visa route guides to prepare your application:

• Moving to the UK from Nigeria
• Moving to the UK from Ghana
• Skilled Worker visa guide
• Student visa guide
• Spouse visa guide

For official information, visit GOV.UK visa checker and the GOV.UK guide to supporting documents.

Questions and answers