Overseas Domestic Worker

The Overseas Domestic Worker visa allows foreign nationals to visit the UK with their employer for up to 6 months to carry out their duties as a domestic worker.

Overseas Domestic Worker

The UK Overseas Domestic Worker Visa is designed for domestic employees who wish to accompany their current employer to the UK for up to six months. This visa category does not offer a path to UK settlement, and dependents cannot accompany the main applicant.

Eligibility Criteria for UK Overseas Domestic Worker Visa

To qualify for this visa, you must meet the following requirements set by UK Visas & Immigration:

  • Be at least 19 years old.
  • Have been employed as a domestic worker for at least one year before applying.
  • Have been living with your employer, or where your employer resides regularly, for at least one year before applying.
  • Agree in writing to the terms and conditions of your UK employment.
  • Plan to work for your employer while in the UK.
  • Ensure your employer pays you at least the UK National Minimum Wage.
  • Intend to travel to the UK with:
  • A British employer, their British spouse, civil partner, or child under 18 (who do not plan to stay in the UK for more than six months).
  • A British employer’s foreign national spouse, civil partner, or child under 18 (who do not plan to stay in the UK for more than six months).
  • A foreign national employer or their family (who are seeking or have a Visitor Visa, other than for study).
  • Leave the UK after six months or alongside your employer, whichever is earlier.
  • Not frequently visit the UK or make it your main home.
  • Have and maintain adequate funds and accommodation without public funds.
  • Not be subject to any general grounds for visa refusal.

Consulting an immigration lawyer can provide clarity on these requirements, which can vary based on individual circumstances.

Who Qualifies as an Overseas Domestic Worker?

The term ‘overseas domestic worker’ encompasses roles like cleaners, cooks, chauffeurs, nannies, or other personal service providers to an employer and their family.

Required Documentation

The application must include comprehensive evidence supporting the above criteria. Required documents typically involve a letter from your employer confirming your role, employment evidence such as contracts, payslips, bank statements, and agreed terms and conditions of employment.

Visa Duration and Conditions

A successful application grants a six-month stay in the UK. You must return home before your visa expires or when your employer leaves, whichever comes first. The visa allows work as a domestic worker but prohibits other employment types and access to public funds.

Visa Extensions and Settlement

This visa cannot be extended, nor does it lead to UK settlement unless you applied for entry clearance on or before 05 April 2012.

How We Can Assist

Our team of business immigration solicitors specializes in various visa applications, including the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa. We offer guidance through Home Office rules and policies, ensuring clear and reliable immigration advice for a smooth application process.

How we help

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Areas of focus

Partner & Family Visas

UK Family Visa allows you to bring family members (eligible foreign nationals) to join you in the UK for an extended period of 6 months or more. You can bring your spouse or partner, fiance or proposed civil partner, child, parent, or a relative to who you will provide long-term care.

Global Business Mobility Visas

The Global Business Mobility visa is an umbrella category of five different types of UK work visas. These visas are designed for employees of overseas companies to undertake specific types of work or assignments in the UK.

Short Term Visit Visas

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Short Term Work Visas

The UK Temporary Worker Visa is a work visa that permits you to work in the UK temporarily. The time you can stay in the UK for a Temporary Worker Visa varies depending on the category you apply for and ranges from 6 months to 2 years.

EEA Nationals & Family

EEA nationals are required to obtain leave to enter or remain in order to visit or live in the UK. Unless a person is coming to the UK for a short visit, they will need to apply for a visa in advance of their arrival.

business Visas

Whether you wish to recruit a foreign worker, establish a UK branch of an overseas company or effect an intra-company transfer, our immigration barristers can assist. Our expertise covers immigration routes for individual investors and entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, as well as multinational companies.

Global Talent Visas

Well versed in both the legal and technical languages of decentralized finance, our global team can support anyone wanting to navigate the fast-changing world of blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital assets.

Settlement in the UK

Often people want to come to the UK to settle in the UK, without a specific idea as to what they want to do when they are here. In fact, our clients regularly ask us, what is the quickest way to settle in the UK?

British Citizenship

With British citizenship you can apply for a British passport and you will be free of immigration control, allowing you to travel into and out of the UK freely without the need for a visa.

Student & Graduate Visas

The UK Graduate visa allows international students to remain in the UK after completing their studies for up to two years, or three for doctoral graduates.

Immigration appeals

If your UK visa or immigration application has been refused, our immigration appeal lawyers can advise you on the merits of appealing to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), prepare your immigration appeal and represent you at your immigration appeal hearing.

Human Rights

Applications for leave to enter or remain in the UK can be made, in certain circumstances, on the basis that to require the individual to leave the UK or to not allow them entry into the UK would be a breach of the individual’s human rights.

Asylum & Protection

Applications for leave to enter or remain in the UK can be made, in certain circumstances, on the basis that to require the individual to leave the UK or to not allow them entry into the UK would be a breach of the individual’s human rights.

Hong Kong (BNO) Visa

The Hong Kong BN(O) route allows BN(O) status holders and certain family members to live, work and study in the UK. After 5 years, applicants will be able to apply for settlement, and after a further year, British citizenship, providing they meet the requirements.

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