Youth Mobility visa: Arrival dates explained

Are you starting an exciting adventure moving to London, United Kingdom with the Youth Mobility visa? If so, congratulations! You're on your way to experiencing life in one of the world's best cities. Vibrant culture, incredible opportunities, and amazing memories are waiting for you in the UK.

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A key step in the Youth Mobility visa process is arriving in the UK within the correct dates to activate your visa and get your adventure off to a successful start. Failing to arrive within these dates will cause a serious headahce.

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What are the Youth Mobility arrival dates?

30-day arrival window

To activate your Youth Mobility visa, you need to pass through UK immigration e-gates within the specified 30-day arrival window. The exact dates of the 30-day window are determined by the arrival dates you specified as the start date of your visa application.

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Visa vignette

Once you have been approved for a Youth Mobility visa and had your passport returned, your passport will contain a paper-like sticker known as a visa vignette. This visa vignette will list the exact dates of the 30-day window in which need to pass through immigration and arrive in the UK.

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Flexibility 🤸

There is little to no flexibility when it comes to the 30-day arrival dates, you will need to arrive in the UK following those exact dates. Only in exceptional circumstances, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, have arrival dates been relaxed. Understand that these are fixed dates, without any flexibility and you will be able to meet them.

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Arrival scenarios

On-time arrivals 🎯

What everyone should be aiming for, correctly arriving within the 30-day window to start your visa. If, like most you're arriving in the UK via aeroplane, you will be directed to e-gates to have your passport checked (but not stamped). The e-gates may direct you to an immigration officer, don't stress, this is very common.

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As the final step in the visa activation process, once you've successfully arrived within the correct 30-day window, you will need to collect your BRP from a post office. You can read more about BRP post office collection here.

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Early arrivals 🐇

If you've arrived in the UK before your 30-day window, immigration will have processed your arrival records as a tourist. It's quite common for this to happen as many London movers choose to holiday in Europe before settling in London. Arriving before the 30-day window means you will need to leave the UK and re-enter with the correct dates to successfully meet this requirement of the activation process. It doesn't matter where you travel to (anywhere in Europe will be fine), so long as it is outside the UK.

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Late arrivals 🐢

Late arrivals are a lot more complicated than early arrivals and should be avoided at all costs. Missing the arrival window completely means that you will need to either cancel your visa or re-apply for a new visa vignette.

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To re-apply or change your Youth Mobility visa start dates, you will need to apply for a visa transfer.

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