The United Kingdom has updated its Immigration Rules Appendix Visitor, reaffirming the list of countries and categories of travellers who must obtain a visa before travelling to the UK for visits or any stay of less than six months.
Under the rules, nationals and citizens of more than 100 countries and territories are required to obtain entry clearance before travelling to the UK unless they qualify for specific exemptions contained elsewhere in the immigration rules.
The updated guidance obtained by our correspondent on Saturday also states 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.”
The Home Office in the July 1 release noted that some exceptions apply to nationals of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, as indicated by an asterisk in the Immigration Rules, with the exemptions set out in subsequent provisions of the appendix.
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
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.
