UK Ancestry visa: eligibility, cost and settlement

What the UK Ancestry visa is

The UK Ancestry visa is a 5-year work route for Commonwealth citizens — and British overseas citizens, British overseas territories citizens, British nationals (overseas) and citizens of Zimbabwe — who can prove that one of their grandparents was born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. There is no sponsor, no job offer requirement and no salary threshold: you must simply show that you can and plan to work, and that you can support and house yourself without public funds.

Work can be paid or voluntary, full-time or part-time, employed or self-employed, and you can study and bring your partner and children. After 5 years you can extend for a further 5 years or apply for indefinite leave to remain. The one hard limit is that you cannot switch into the route from inside the UK — you apply from abroad, no earlier than 3 months before you travel.

Eligibility in detail

Nationality, the ancestry chain, age, work and maintenance. Each must be evidenced.

• Qualifying nationality

  A Commonwealth citizen, a British overseas citizen, a British overseas territories citizen, a British national (overseas), or a citizen of Zimbabwe.

• A UK-born grandparent

  One grandparent born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man; or before 31 March 1922 in what is now Ireland; or on a ship or aircraft registered in the UK or belonging to the UK government.

• An unbroken chain

  Full birth certificates for you, the parent and the grandparent your claim runs through. Adoption (yours or your parent’s) and unmarried parents or grandparents do not break the chain. Step-parents cannot be used.

• Aged 17 or over

  You must be 17 or over on the date you apply.

• Able to and planning to work

  Evidence that you can and plan to work in the UK — job offers you have received, or a business plan if you will be self-employed.

• Maintenance and accommodation

  Enough money, without help from public funds, to support and house yourself and any dependants. GOV.UK sets no fixed figure; bank statements must be dated within 31 days of submitting the application.

• Applying from outside the UK

  You cannot switch into this visa from another visa inside the UK. Apply online no earlier than 3 months before you travel.

• Suitability

  None of the general grounds for refusal apply — no false documents or representations, disqualifying criminality, previous breaches of immigration law or unpaid NHS debt.

Your partner and children

Dependants apply in their own right and pay their own fees and healthcare surcharge.

Dependants already in the UK cannot switch into dependant status from a visitor visa, a Short-term study visa, a Parent of a Child Student visa, a Seasonal Worker visa, a Domestic Workers in a Private Household visa, immigration bail, or permission granted outside the rules; they must apply from abroad. A dependant on a Student visa can switch only if they have completed the course they were sponsored for or have studied a PhD for at least 24 months.

Fees and costs

Figures as published on GOV.UK, last updated 29 April 2026. Each dependant pays the same application fee and their own healthcare surcharge.

Application fee — UK Ancestry visa (outside the UK)

£726

Healthcare surcharge, adult — 5 years

£5,175

Healthcare surcharge, child — 5 years

£3,880

Extension inside the UK — per person

£1,407 plus healthcare surcharge

Indefinite leave to remain — per person

£3,226

Priority service (optional, where available)

£500

Super priority service (optional, inside the UK)

£1,000

Biometric appointment (UKVCAS, inside the UK)

No fee

Translations, document certification and any TB test are paid to third parties and are not included above. Every family member applying with you must pay for a faster decision if you want one — decisions for the family are then issued together.

Processing times

Ancestry applications follow the standard work-visa times rather than the longer family visa standard.

Initial visa — applying outside the UK

3 weeks

Earliest you can apply

3 months before travel

Extension — inside the UK

8 weeks

Indefinite leave to remain — standard service

6 months

Super priority service — inside the UK

End of the next working day

Processing starts when you attend your biometric appointment or finish uploading documents through the ID Check app. You will be contacted if your application is complex and will take longer — for example if documents need verifying, you are asked to interview, or you have a criminal conviction. Do not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man while an in-country application is pending; it will be withdrawn if you do.

Documents you will need

GOV.UK’s list, in full. The ancestry chain is proven with full (long-form) birth certificates.

• Your current passport or another valid travel document.
• Your full birth certificate.
• The full birth certificates of the parent and grandparent your ancestry claim is based on.
• Evidence that you plan to work in the UK — for example job offers you have received, or a business plan if you will be self-employed.
• Evidence, such as bank statements, that you can support yourself and any dependants in the UK, dated within 31 days of the date you submit your application.

Depending on your circumstances you may also need:

• Evidence that your parents or grandparents have changed their name since birth — marriage or civil partnership certificates, or a deed poll.
• Legal adoption papers if you or your parents were adopted.
• Tuberculosis test results if you are applying from a country where a test is required.
• Proof of your relationship with your partner or children if they are applying with you — marriage or civil partnership certificate, evidence of 2 years’ cohabitation, and children’s full birth certificates naming both parents.
• A certified translation of any document not in English or Welsh.

Application process

What you can and cannot do

On a UK Ancestry visa you can:

• Work — paid or voluntary, full-time or part-time, employed or self-employed.
• Change jobs or employers without notifying the Home Office.
• Study.
• Bring your partner and children as dependants.
• Extend for a further 5 years, as many times as you continue to qualify.
• Apply to settle after 5 years.

You cannot:

• Switch into this visa if you came to the UK on a different visa.
• Get public funds.

Your dependants cannot work as a sportsperson or coach, or claim most benefits or the State Pension.

Route to settlement and citizenship

Five continuous years on the visa, then indefinite leave to remain.

Common reasons Ancestry applications are refused

Each reason corresponds to a mandatory requirement on GOV.UK or to the general grounds for refusal.

• The applicant does not hold a qualifying nationality — Commonwealth, British overseas citizen, British overseas territories citizen, British national (overseas) or Zimbabwean.
• The ancestry chain is not proven — short-form certificates that do not name parents, a missing link, or a name change without the marriage certificate or deed poll to explain it.
• The claim runs through a step-parent, or the grandparent was born in Ireland after 31 March 1922.
• The applicant is under 17 on the date of application.
• No evidence that the applicant can and plans to work in the UK.
• Maintenance is not shown — bank statements missing, older than 31 days at submission, or insufficient for the applicant and dependants without public funds.
• The application is made inside the UK as a switch from another visa, which the rules do not permit.
• The applicant applied more than 3 months before travel.
• Mandatory items are missing — untranslated documents, no TB certificate where required, or a missed biometric appointment.
• General grounds for refusal apply: false representations or documents, a criminal record, previous overstaying or breach of conditions, or unpaid NHS debt.

Ready to apply for your UK Ancestry visa?

Our immigration experts will verify your eligibility, help you obtain the necessary documents, and guide you through every step of the application.

Source note

Information sourced from GOV.UK (“UK Ancestry visa”, last updated 29 April 2026; “Visa processing times: applications outside the UK”, 26 June 2026; “Visa processing times: applications inside the UK”, 29 April 2026; and “Get a faster decision on your visa, settlement or citizenship application”, 20 July 2026), and reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Rules change; we verify requirements at the point of instruction.