Visa rule, United Kingdom

UK Visitor Visa or Visa-Free Visit

Summary

As a Standard Visitor you can usually stay in the United Kingdom for up to 6 months on each visit. This is true whether you hold a visit visa, an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) or need neither. There is no fixed limit on days per year, but the Immigration Rules say you must not live in the UK through frequent or successive visits or make it your main home. A border officer can give a shorter stay or refuse entry. The Home Office runs the rule through UK Visas and Immigration and Border Force.

Limit
Up to 6 months for each visit
Yearly limit
None in the rules, but you must not live in the UK through visits
A day counts when
You are in the UK for any part of it, starting with the arrival day
Law
Immigration Rules, Appendix V: Visitor, paragraphs V 4.2 and V 17.2
Run by
The Home Office: UK Visas and Immigration, and Border Force

Who it applies to

The rule

Appendix V: Visitor of the Immigration Rules sets the rules for visits. Paragraph V 17.2 gives a Standard Visitor a stay of up to 6 months. If you need a visa, you apply for it before you travel. If you are from a country whose citizens do not need a visa, you now need an ETA before you travel. An ETA lets you travel to the UK for up to 6 months on each visit. Irish citizens need neither.

The 6 months are for one visit. The rules contain no number of days for a year or for any 12 months. The control is the genuine visitor test in paragraph V 4.2. You must leave the UK at the end of your visit, and you must not live in the UK for extended periods through frequent or successive visits or make the UK your main home. You must also be able to pay for the visit and must not do work that visitors are not allowed to do.

Border Force officers apply this test each time you arrive, and visa officers apply it when you ask for a visa. They look at your whole travel history: how long you stayed before, how soon you came back, and what ties you have to another country, such as a home, a job or family. A person who spent 5 of the last 6 months in the UK and returns after two weeks can be refused, even though no single visit passed 6 months.

A long-term Standard Visitor visa is for people who visit regularly. It lets you enter many times while it is valid, but each visit is still limited to 6 months. Staying after your permission ends is overstaying. It is recorded and can lead to refusal of later applications.

Why it exists

The UK welcomes tourists, business visitors and family visitors, and it keeps a clear line between visiting and living in the country. People who want to live, work or study in the UK must use the routes made for that, with their own checks and fees. A flat yearly number of days would be easy to plan around, so the rules use a test of the whole picture. This lets officers stop people who use back-to-back visits as a way to settle.

Counting the days

You count the days of one visit, from the day you enter the UK to the day you leave. It also helps to know your total days in the UK over the last 12 months, because officers look at the pattern.

  1. Note the date you entered the UK. Many visitors use eGates and get no stamp, so keep your ticket or boarding pass.
  2. If an officer stamped your passport or gave you a shorter stay, write down that end date. It replaces the 6 months.
  3. Count 6 months forward from the entry date, or use the date on your visa if it ends sooner.
  4. Count the entry day as day 1 and check that you leave before the end date.
  5. Add up your days in the UK over the last 12 months. If the total is more than half of the year, expect questions at the border.
How Countr counts it. Countr counts any part of a day in the UK as one day and counts each visit on its own. The tracker starts at 181 days, the shortest possible 6 months, and you can set it up to 184 days. If an officer gave you a shorter stay, set the tracker to the days on your stamp. Countr does not judge the genuine visitor test, so it cannot tell you whether your pattern of visits will be accepted. Countr only counts days the phone can see. If your photos or location history have large gaps, the app can show fewer days than you really stayed.

Track UK Visitor Visa or Visa-Free Visit on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

One long visit

Maria, a US citizen, arrives at Heathrow on 1 March 2026 with an ETA and plans to stay with friends. Six months from 1 March takes her to the end of August 2026. From 1 March to 31 August is 184 days counting the arrival day. The Countr tracker with its starting value of 181 days reaches the limit on 28 August 2026, a few days earlier. She leaves on 25 August and is inside the limit on both counts.

Short gaps between long visits

Daniel, a Canadian citizen, stays in London from 5 January to 20 May 2026 with his partner. He flies home for 12 days and returns on 2 June, planning to stay until October. No visit is longer than 6 months. But the officer sees that he would spend most of the year in the UK and has no job or home to return to. The officer can decide that he is living in the UK through successive visits and refuse entry under paragraph V 4.2.

A stamp for a shorter stay

Aisha arrives on 10 September 2026 to attend a two-week course. The officer is not satisfied about a longer stay and gives her permission to enter until 10 October 2026. Her limit is now that date, 31 days counting the arrival day, and not 6 months. She sets her Countr tracker to 31 days.

Exceptions

Common misconceptions

“You can only spend 180 days a year in the UK as a visitor.”
The Immigration Rules have no such number. The limit is 6 months for each visit, together with the rule that you must not live in the UK through frequent or successive visits.
“If I leave for a weekend and come back, I get a new 6 months without any problem.”
A new visit can start a new period of up to 6 months, but only if the officer accepts that you are a genuine visitor. A short trip out after a long stay is the pattern the rules are written to stop.
“My visit visa is valid for 5 years, so I can stay for 5 years.”
No. A long-term visit visa lets you make many visits while it is valid. Each visit is limited to 6 months.
“With an ETA I am sure to get in for 6 months.”
An ETA is a permission to travel, not a guarantee of entry. You must still meet the visitor rules at the border.

Questions and answers

How many days can I stay in the UK without a visa?

Up to 6 months on each visit if you are from a country whose citizens do not need a visit visa. Most of these travellers now need an ETA before they travel. Six months is 181 to 184 days, depending on the months.

Does the day I arrive in the UK count?

Count it. Your permission starts on the day you enter, and Countr counts any part of a day in the UK as one day. Counting the arrival day keeps you on the careful side.

What happens if I overstay my UK visit by one day?

You are then in the UK without permission, and the overstay is recorded. It can be held against you in later visa or ETA applications and at the border. Leave as soon as you can and keep proof of the date you left.

Can I work remotely for my foreign employer while I visit the UK?

The visitor rules allow remote work for an employer outside the UK as long as it is not the main purpose of your visit. You must not work for a UK company or as a self-employed person in the UK.

Can I extend a 6-month visit while I am in the UK?

Normally not. If you were given less than 6 months you can apply to stay up to 6 months in total. Longer stays are possible only in special cases named in the rules, such as private medical treatment.

Do days in Ireland count as days in the UK?

No. Ireland is a separate country with its own immigration rules. Countr counts only days in the United Kingdom for this tracker.

Do my visit days count for UK tax residence?

They can. UK tax residence is decided by a different test, the Statutory Residence Test, which counts days at midnight in a tax year. A person can be a lawful visitor and still become UK tax resident.

Sources

Other rules for United Kingdom

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.