At a glance
What you are applying for
The United Kingdom has no separate business visa. Pakistani business travellers apply for the Standard Visitor visa — the same visa tourists use — and it covers meetings, negotiations, contract signings, conferences, trade fairs and site visits for up to six months at a time.
The decision turns on the line between business and work. The officer checks that everything you will do is on the Home Office's list of permitted activities, that nobody in the UK is paying you beyond your expenses, that your company in Pakistan is real and trading, and that you are going back to it. An invitation from a UK company helps, but it does not stand in for evidence of your own business.
Most refusals come down to one of four
- 01Permitted activities only
- 02No UK pay beyond expenses
- 03A company that trades
- 04Documents that agree
GBUnited Kingdom · Business visaFACT SHEET
- Visa
- Standard Visitor — the visa tourists use, applied for with a business purpose
- Length of stay
- Up to six months per visit
- Pay in the UK
- Expenses only, except for listed paid engagements
- Decision
- UKVI's published processing time is three weeks from your appointment
- Frequent travellers
- Two, five and ten-year visas, still up to six months per visit
- What you receive
- An eVisa linked to your passport — not a sticker
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