How Much Money Do I Need to Sponsor a Visitor to UK
When a UK Visitor visa application is made, it must show that the applicant has enough money to support their trip. There is no set amount you must have for your sponsee. This article will help you to understand how much bank balance you need.
Getting a UK Visitor visa and showing that the applicant meets the financial requirements can be challenging. If you need help, contact London Immigration Lawyers at 0204 502 8582 or visit us online to find out what services we can offer.
Visitor Visa Financial Requirements
The exact amount of money required will be based on where your sponsee is visiting in the UK and what they plan on doing, but you will need to factor in accommodation, travel and food costs. This will usually be an absolute minimum of around £50 per day in the UK and hundreds of pounds for flights.
For accommodation, if they are staying in a hostel, factor in £20-£50 per night for a shared dormitory. For a private room in a hostel or a budget hotel, factor in £60-£120 per night. Please note that most budget hotels in the UK offer breakfast for a small additional charge. Meanwhile, luxury hotels start at roughly £200 per night but often exceed £500.
Food costs will also depend greatly on the type of meals they are getting. While fast food can be as little as £5 for a meal, a mid-range restaurant, chain or pub meal will be £14-£25. If your sponsee treats themselves to a fine dining experience, the meal could exceed £100.
Finally, travel to the UK will depend on how far afield the applicant is coming to the UK from. European budget airlines offer cheap travel, often as low as £30-£50.
Costs quickly get higher from other continents, and flights from Africa, America, or Asia may start at around £500 but will depend on exactly where they are travelling from. If they are travelling around the world to get to the UK, such as from Australia, you can expect flights to be a minimum of around £700-£1000 in economy class.
Once you have worked out how much money your sponsee’s trip will cost, you will need to demonstrate that you can comfortably meet these costs.
If the trip will drain almost all of your bank balance and is more than what you earn in a month, their application will struggle.
Meeting the Requirements with a Sponsor
Under UK immigration law, a sponsor can help the applicant support themselves while in the UK on a Visitor visa.
This can be done by providing evidence that you will be accommodating them or that you have provided funds for their accommodation, travel, or maintenance.
For the UK government to be comfortable the applicant won’t need public funds, the sponsor will need to provide evidence of the following:
- The type of support that will be provided
- If the support will be extended to a dependent family member, such as a partner or child
- How the support will be provided, either as accommodation or as funds
- The sponsor has sufficient funds for the visitor and any dependents joining them
- The sponsor has a relationship with the applicant, usually as a family member or employer
- The sponsor is legally in the UK through a British passport, settled status, or indefinite leave to remain
How To Demonstrate You Have Enough Funds
Overview
Alongside the visa application, you must provide bank statements covering the last six months or longer. The statements will need to show you have sufficient funds for the trip. Regular income and spending from the account will also show that you have a genuine financial situation.
Additional documents can be submitted to further justify that you have sufficient funds. This can include building society books and proof of earnings.
The best way to show proof of earnings is a letter from your employer confirming employment details (role, salary, start date of employment, and company contact details). An employment contract serves a similar purpose.
Financial Document Rules
Certain rules must be followed that will show funds will be held for the entirety of your trip to the UK. The main rules to understand are the following:
- Your most recent financial evidence documents must be dated within 31 days of the application
- Time funds will be held to be calculated by counting back from the closing balance date of the most recent financial evidence document
- Financial evidence supplied must cover the whole period of time funds will be held
Further Considerations
There are a number of further factors that you will need to consider when submitting your financial information. These considerations will maximise your sponsee’s chances of success and include the following:
- If you are submitting printed bank statements, make sure they include full details, like the bank’s name and address and the sponsor’s personal information
- Make sure the bank statements have been certified by the bank, particularly if you are applying from a country with high visa refusal rates
- If the sponsor is self-employed, make sure that the bank statements show a clear pattern of income and expenses
If your sponsee is contributing some of their own funds, they can use a joint bank account. However, both holders of the bank account must be taking the trip. If not, they must show that they have full access to the funds.
What is Fund Parking?
UK Visas and Immigration are highly alert to applicants using ‘funds parking’ to give a false impression of their financial situation. If they find evidence of you conducting this practice, it is likely the visa applications will be rejected. So, what is funds parking?
Funds parking is the practice of placing large deposits into a bank account without much money before making the visa applications. The practice aims to give the impression you have enough money to support the trip when the reality is the opposite. The requirement to submit six months of financial evidence for the visa application means fund parking is almost always spotted.
Legitimate Large Deposits
There are legitimate reasons for you to have a large amount of money deposited in their bank account. This can include money earned from a property sale or a bonus from their employer.
It is fine to have these deposits in the submitted bank statements. However, you will need to accompany them with evidence of where the money has come from. This evidence will prove that no fund parking has been practiced.
Other Costs Relating to Visitor Visa Applications
On top of having the bank balance to support the trip, you will also need to pay the application fee.
Paying the fee means the Visitor visa application will be processed.
The fee will depend on the type of Visitor visa your sponsee is applying for, as listed below:
- Standard Visitor visa: £135
- Standard Visit visa for medical purposes (private): £234
- Standard Visit visa for academic purposes: £234
- 2-year long-term: £506
- 5-year long-term: £903
- 10-year long-term: £1,128
How Can London Immigration Lawyers Help?
Although UKVI does not name a specific bank balance requirement, their financial requirement is still highly important to meet. If you cannot prove that you can support the trip, it is highly unlikely your sponsee’s application will be accepted.
It is common for applicants for the UK Visit visa to get help from immigration lawyers and advisers like London Immigration Lawyers. They can help you understand what financial requirements you will need to meet and will guide you through the sponsorship process.
London Immigration Lawyers will then take your sponsee through the whole application process and use its Home Office connections to keep you aware of the application’s progress.
If you decide to get assistance from Manchester Immigration Lawyers, please contact us at 0204 502 8582 or visit us online to learn more about the services we offer.
Legal Disclaimer
The information provided is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. While we make every effort to ensure accuracy, the law may change, and the information may not reflect the most current legal developments. No warranty is given regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information, and we do not accept liability in such cases. We recommend consulting with a qualified lawyer at London Immigration Lawyers before making any decisions based on the content provided.
Last modified on December 10th, 2025 at 3:42 pm
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Frequently Asked Questions
On a UK Visit visa, the applicant can usually remain in the country for up to six months. While in the country, they can conduct the following activities:
- Tourism
- Get married so long as they will live outside of the UK afterward
- Visit friends or family
- Transit to another country
- Volunteer for a charity (30-day maximum)
- Conduct limited business activities, such as attending a meeting or interview
- Take part in a school exchange program
- Study (short courses only)
- Complete a placement
- Complete a recreational course (up to 30 days)
- Take an exam
- Visit the UK as part of their academic or medical role
- Receive medical treatment
There are also stringent limits to what the visa holder can do while they visit the UK. They may not do any of the following and will likely be forced to leave the country if they do:
- Accessing public funds
- Completing paid or unpaid work
- Make successive visits that are equivalent to living in the country permanently
- Get married or enter into a civil partnership and remain in the country afterward
The financial requirement for the UK Visit visa is one of many. The other requirements they must match include the following:
- They will leave the UK after their visit
- They can fund any onward journey so that they can leave the UK
- They will not make an unreasonable amount of successive visits
To show that they meet all the requirements, your sponsee must also submit the following documentation:
- Their travel history for the past ten years
- Their criminal record and details of any offences
- Details of their family members in the UK
- A tuberculosis (TB) test certificate if they are travelling from a high-risk country
- A valid passport or travel documents
- Proof of their home address
Finally, the applicant will need to write a cover letter detailing their stay in the UK. It must include their travel dates, the addresses that they will be staying at and the estimated cost of their trip.
Visit visas usually have a limit of six months that is kept unless extreme circumstances mean that they must remain in the UK for longer. Reasons their stay in the UK could be extended include a family or medical emergency in the UK.
