UK
UK Standard Visitor visa: what to put in your cover letter
A cover letter is not mandatory for a UK visit visa, but for applicants from countries with high refusal rates, it is the best way to connect your purpose, your funds and your ties at home in one page.
By The Visa Blueprint · 3 min read
Who needs a visit visa
Nationals of "visa national" countries, including India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Ghana, Bangladesh, Kenya and South Africa, need a Standard Visitor visa. US, Canadian, EU and Australian nationals do not (Irish citizens need neither), but they need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA): £20, valid two years or until the passport expires, for stays of up to six months.
What the officer must be satisfied of
Under the genuine visitor test (Appendix V), you must show that you will leave at the end of the visit, will not live in the UK through frequent visits, are coming for a permitted purpose, will not work, and have sufficient funds without working or claiming public funds. If someone else pays, they must have a genuine relationship with you and be able to support you.
What to put in the letter
- Purpose and dates: who you are visiting or what you are attending, from when to when.
- Where you will stay: with whom, at what address (invitation letter enclosed).
- Cost and funding: an honest estimate of the trip, and who pays; explain any large recent deposit.
- Your life at home: job and approved leave, studies, family, property: why you will return.
- Travel history: previous visits to the UK and other countries, and that you respected the conditions.
Every figure must match what you declared on the online form: Home Office caseworker guidance stresses that supporting documents must be consistent with the finances declared, and inconsistencies are a common refusal reason.
What the Home Office calls "less useful"
The official guide to supporting documents lists hotel and flight bookings, travel insurance, credit-card statements, photos and notarial certificates as less useful. Do not build your file on them, build it on income, ties and purpose. Statements more than a year old carry little weight; "six months of statements" is common practice, not a rule.
Fees and timing
The six-month visit visa costs £135; long-term visit visas cost £506 (2 years), £903 (5 years) and £1,128 (10 years), each stay still capped at six months. Apply no earlier than three months before travel; standard decisions take about three weeks.
Why the first file matters
There is no right of appeal and no administrative review for visitor refusals: you reapply with a stronger file. Deception leads to mandatory refusal and a ten-year ban on future entry clearance, never present funds you do not really hold.
