Bringing your parents to visit from Nepal

For most Nepali families in the UK, getting parents over for a few months - for a graduation, a new grandchild, or simply a visit - means a Standard Visitor visa. The rules are not complicated, but refusals are common and almost always come down to how the application is evidenced rather than whether the visit is genuine.

The basics

• A Standard Visitor visa normally allows a stay of up to 6 months.
• The fee for a visit of up to 6 months is £135 as at August 2026 - always confirm the current fee at gov.uk – Standard Visitor visa before applying.
• Applications can usually be made up to 3 months before the date of travel.
• Long-term visit visas valid for 2, 5 or 10 years exist, but each individual stay is still limited - they do not allow living in the UK.

What a visitor can and cannot do

On a visitor visa your parents can sightsee, stay with family, attend a graduation or wedding, do a short recreational course, receive private medical treatment, and carry out certain limited business activities. They cannot work (paid or unpaid), claim public funds, marry or register a civil partnership, or use repeated visits to effectively live in the UK.

That last point matters. Back-to-back long visits with only short gaps outside the UK are a common reason for refusal at the application stage and for questioning on arrival.

What the application actually has to prove

The caseworker is deciding one thing: that your parents are genuine visitors who will leave at the end of the visit and can support themselves while here. Build the application around that:

• Ties to Nepal. Property, a business, employment or a pension, and dependants remaining in Nepal all help show a reason to return.
• Money. Either their own funds or yours. If you are sponsoring, say so clearly and provide your own bank statements, payslips and proof of your UK immigration status.
• A letter of invitation from you, setting out who you are, your status in the UK, your address, the purpose and dates of the visit, and exactly what you are paying for.
• Accommodation. Where they will stay - and if it is with you, evidence you live there (tenancy agreement or mortgage statement, plus a recent utility bill or council tax bill).
• A clear itinerary with intended arrival and departure dates that match any bookings mentioned.

Common reasons applications are refused

• Bank statements that show a large sum deposited days before applying, with no explanation of where it came from.
• Financial documents that contradict each other, or an income that does not match the stated occupation.
• Vague plans - no dates, no address, no explanation of who is funding the trip.
• Little evidence of anything drawing the applicant back to Nepal.
• Any inconsistency with a previous UK or Schengen application. Immigration histories are checked.

There is generally no right of appeal against a visit visa refusal - you normally have to apply again and fix the weaknesses. That makes it worth getting the first application right, and worth reading the refusal notice carefully if one comes.

Health cover while they are here

Visitors are not covered by the NHS in the way residents are, and can be charged for hospital treatment. Travel insurance with medical cover is strongly advisable, particularly for older parents or anyone with an existing condition - and buy it before travel, not after arrival.

Watch out for

Agents in Nepal who offer “guaranteed” visas, or who prepare documents on your parents’ behalf without showing you what was submitted, are a real risk. False or inflated documents lead to refusal and can trigger a multi-year ban on future UK applications. Everything submitted must be genuine and must match what your parents can explain in their own words.