UK Ancestry visa
Commonwealth citizens with a UK-born grandparent. Five years, work for anyone, then settlement.
Rules and fees checked against gov.uk on 8 November 2026. Page updated 8 November 2026. How we check our guides.
- Who it is for
- Commonwealth citizens aged 17+ with a grandparent born in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man
- Length
- 5 years in one grant
- Fee
- £637 plus 5 years of health surcharge (£5,175)
- Leads to settlement
- Yes, after 5 years
The UK Ancestry visa is one of the oldest routes still open and one of the simplest. If you are a Commonwealth citizen and one of your grandparents was born in the UK, you can live and work here for five years, with no sponsor, no job offer and no salary threshold, and then settle. Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans and Canadians are its biggest users.
Who qualifies
- You are a Commonwealth citizen (or a British overseas citizen, British overseas territories citizen, British national (overseas) or citizen of Zimbabwe) aged 17 or over at the date you want to arrive.
- A grandparent was born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or in what is now the Republic of Ireland before 31 March 1922, or on a British-registered ship or aircraft. Step-grandparents do not count, but a grandparent through a legal adoption does. If your parent or grandparent was born out of wedlock the claim still works.
- You can and intend to work. You need to show you are able to work and plan to seek work in the UK; employment, self-employment and voluntary work all count. You do not need a job offer. Being over state pension age does not disqualify you if you intend to work.
- You can support yourself and any dependants without public funds. There is no fixed figure; recent bank statements showing you can cover your first months are enough.
You must apply from outside the UK. You cannot switch into the route from a visitor or other visa inside the UK.
The documents that matter
Everything turns on proving the chain of births: your full birth certificate naming your parent, your parent's full birth certificate naming the grandparent, and the grandparent's UK birth certificate. Short-form certificates that omit parents' names are not enough. Where names have changed through marriage or adoption, you need the marriage or adoption certificates to link them. Original certificates can be ordered from the General Register Office (England and Wales), National Records of Scotland or GRONI (Northern Ireland).
Cost and timing
The fee is £637 and because the visa is granted for five years in one go you pay five years of Immigration Health Surcharge, £5,175, at the same time. Dependants pay the same. Decisions normally take three weeks.
What you can do
Work in any job or for yourself, study, bring a partner and children under 18 (who can also work), and travel freely. You cannot claim public funds. Unlike the Skilled Worker route there is no link to an employer, so changing jobs needs no application.
Settlement
After five years you apply for indefinite leave to remain. You must show you have worked or genuinely sought work during the five years, still intend to, have passed the Life in the UK test, meet the B1 English requirement, and have not been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period. If you are not ready, you can extend for a further five years instead. A year after settlement most Ancestry holders go on to naturalise.