The United Kingdom has revised its Immigration Rules under Appendix Visitor, maintaining the list of countries and categories of travellers who are required to secure a visa before entering the UK for visits or stays of up to six months.
According to the rules, citizens and nationals of over 100 countries and territories must obtain entry clearance before travelling to the UK, unless they are eligible for specific exemptions provided elsewhere in the immigration regulations.
The updated guidance, obtained by our correspondent on Saturday, further explains that “stateless persons and people travelling on documents other than a national passport or, where applicable, a national identity card must also obtain entry clearance before travelling, unless the document has been issued by the UK.”
In its July 1 release, the Home Office also clarified that certain exceptions apply to nationals of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, as identified by an asterisk in the Immigration Rules, with the relevant exemptions outlined in subsequent sections of the appendix.
Countries whose nationals require a UK visa
The countries and territories listed in the updated Immigration Rules are:
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- People’s Republic of China*
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Republic of the Congo
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Cuba
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- North Korea
- Kosovo
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Pakistan
- Palestine
- Philippines
- Russia
- Rwanda
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- St Lucia
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Syria
- Taiwan*
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Other categories requiring visas
The Immigration Rules also specify that the following categories require entry clearance before travelling to the UK:
- Stateless persons.
- Individuals travelling on any document other than a national passport or, where permitted under the rules, a national identity card, regardless of whether the document is issued by or shows the nationality of a country not listed above, except where the document has been issued by the United Kingdom.
