UK immigration visas: what is Switching? Another post for our popular series of posts under “Help me with the Rules!”

By 1st 4Immigration - #1 UK Immigration Experts -
Switching is not an official legal term, although we (and the UK immigration authorities) use it all the time in our immigration law practice. Switching simply means changing a visa category while inside the UK, ie switching from one visa to another, such as from a Tier 4 Student to a Tier 2 General; or from Tier 4 to a Spouse visa. Officially it is called ‘applying for a leave to remain in a Tier 2 General category’ or ‘applying for a leave to remain as a Spouse of a UK citizen’. So, we can simply say ‘Switching from a Student visa to a Spouse visa’.
 
The significance of switching is this: switching means applying inside the UK (as opposed to returning to  your country and applying from there), and it is only allowed if the UK Immigration Rules specifically say so. Sometimes the Rules say what visas you can switch to your desired category, or sometimes what visas you cannot switch from. If switching is not allowed then the applicant has to return to their country and apply for a visa from there, which means he/she would be applying for an Entry Clearance.
 
How to determine in the Rules if switching is possible? Read our next post and find out!
 
If you are a migrant, or a migrant’s sponsor (spouse/partner, family member or employer), and would like to have individual, personalised, advice on your immigration situation from a prominent immigration law firm in the City of London (that will be us!), please contact: info@1st4immigration.com (we respond to emails on the same working day) or visit www.1st4immigration.com . We are accredited by the OISC at the highest Level 3.  
 
If you are an Immigration Adviser or a Solicitor please visit our immigration Training and CPD website: www.1st4immigration.com/training . Our training is CPD-accredited and accepted by the OISC.
 
1st 4Immigration Ltd: 68 King William Street, City of London, London, EC4N 7DZ.
 

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