r/ukvisa rules, stats, and what to post
Know the rules before you post. So easy grandma can do it.
- To post
- No minimum in the rules
- To comment
- No minimum in the rules
- Self-promotion
- Banned
- Links
- Not mentioned in the rules
- Promo risk
- High
- From the rules, not from removal counts
- Community age
- 12 years
- Since Jul 2014
About r/ukvisa
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/ukvisa: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.Checked from the r/ukvisa rules on Reddit.
r/ukvisa rules
15 rules, in the community's own words.
- 1
Keep posts on topic of UK visas
This sub is only for sharing information about UK visa or citizenship applications, or practical visa matters. It is not a sub for:
- finding sponsored work or securing an endorsement for a work visa
- Recommendations for professional Advisers
- visas for other countries
- moving to the UK (travel, banking, housing, pets, etc)
- deciding whether to move to the UK -- see /r/IWantOut
- eligibility for Home fees and student finance (see /r/UniUK or for welfare benefits (see r/BenefitsAdviceUK)
- 2
No timeline questions
Please do not ask about processing times for a visa, sponsor license, CoS, CAS, endorsement, ATAS, administrative review, curtailment, etc. There are pinned posts about processing times for Student visas, ILR and citizenship. Otherwise see the "Visa processing times" page at gov.uk, browse or search the sub r/ukvisa_timelines, or subs dedicated to the visa you have applied for. There are no service standards for CoS, CAS, endorsement, ATAS or other matters not handled by UKVI.
- 3
Read the FAQ
Before posting for help on your visa application, please check the pinned posts and FAQs first. There is a pinned post for the May 2025 white paper and November 2025 proposed ILR changes about future changes, a general visa FAQ, and specific FAQs about Student and Graduate visas. If your question is already answered there, we are highly likely to remove your post.
- 4
Provide important information
When asking for help, include
- Nationality
- Country of current residence
- Visa you are applying for. If a Standard visitor visa, the reason for your visit
- Current UK visa type or immigration status, if any
- If you are someone's family member, their details as above We may remove your post without enough information.
- 5
Decorum
Please be considerate and polite towards other posters. Personal attacks, threats or trolling, will not be tolerated and will almost certainly result in being banned. This is a subreddit to provide help with UK visas and immigration matters, and it is important for us to maintain an environment where users are comfortable asking for help.
- 6
Anti-immigrant sentiment
The community exists to support a community of immigrants or prospective immigrants to the UK. If you (or a relevant family member) are not a current or prospective UK migrant, this is probably not the community for you. Snarky/rude comments based on nationality, visa type or about refugees/asylum seekers, or sexist/anti-LGBT/racist remarks will instantly usually lead to a permanent ban.
- 7
No politics
This is not a political sub. Political posts or speculation about potential future immigration policies and rules, will be removed. We may also remove posts about correspondence with MPs, petitions, and links to press articles speculating about changes to the immigration rules. Try r/UKEarnedSettlement or r/UKPolitics
- 8
No self-promotion, soliciting, spam
Do not use this sub to drive traffic to personal or professional media, including petitions, apps and questionnaires. You can check first with mods whether you can link to such content. This is not a sub for providing professional legal advice. If your content or username suggests that you are a law firm, advice service, professional body, government department, or similar, we may ban you from posting to avoid any confusion for our users.
- 9
No requesting/providing illegal advice
Posts or comments requesting help with, or providing answers that suggest or condone using deception in application, or posts and comments about other illegal activities will be removed and will almost always result in a permanent ban.
- 10
No DMs
We do not allow requests or offers to DM. These will be removed. The sub is for peer support not professional advice. All questions and answers should be in public so the whole sub can contribute and monitor the accuracy and relevance of information and advice offered. We strongly discourage you from acting on advice you have only received by DM. It is illegal for individuals to offer immigration advice and services without the authority or oversight to do so.
- 11
No post hijacking
If you need help with your own situation, make a post about it. Adding a comment or reply on an old or existing post is unlikely to reach many users. Adding your own question to an old post, whether relevant or not, is likely to be removed.
- 12
Ban evasion
If you create a new account to evade a previous ban, Reddit will usually detect this and report it to mods of this sub. If Reddit reports your account to us for ban evasion, we will normally ban it and report back to Reddit admins.
- 13
Duplicate postings
Duplicate and near-duplicate postings will be removed. Duplicate comments on the same post will also be removed.
- 14
Low effort, content or value post
We remove posts that we find unhelpful or disruptive to the sub, eg. very basic questions, questions asked many times before or which can be found with a search. Examples include whether you need a visa or ETA, whether a dual national can use an ETA, doing additional work on a Skilled worker visa, or the meaning of an email from the Home Office. We will also remove posts written by AI, without a clear purpose, or where you are ranting or venting, or using the sub as personal social media.
- 15
English language only
This subreddit is English language only. We cannot moderate comments wholly or partly in other languages, so it is not permitted to post in them.
What to post in r/ukvisa
What fits the room, and what gets removed.
Works well
- A detailed first person account of your own UK visa application, written with your nationality, country of residence, visa type, and current status included, and framed as your experience rather than advice
- A specific practical question about your own application that you have already checked against the pinned FAQs and cannot find answered, posted with all the required personal details
- A plain public comment sharing what happened in your own case when someone asks about a situation you genuinely went through, with no links and no offer to continue in DMs
- A quiet research visit where you read the pinned posts and FAQs and note the real questions applicants ask, without posting anything promotional at all
Avoid
- Posting any link to your product, blog, app, questionnaire, or newsletter, since “No self-promotion, soliciting, spam” bans driving traffic and AI-written posts are removed under “Low effort, content or value post”
- Answering visa questions by direct message or asking anyone to DM you, because “No DMs” removes these and reminds members that giving immigration advice without authority is illegal
- Asking or answering how long a visa, sponsor licence, or endorsement will take, which “No timeline questions” removes outright
- Posting about political debates, petitions, or press speculation about future immigration changes, which “No politics” removes
- Dropping your own question onto someone else's post instead of making your own, which “No post hijacking” removes
- Posting a vague help request without your nationality, residence, and visa type, which “Provide important information” says may be removed
Best hours to post in r/ukvisa
No pattern yet. r/ukvisa does not have enough top posts from the last 90 days to name its best hours.
What r/ukvisa Is For
This community is for people dealing with UK visa and citizenship applications and practical visa matters. The public description makes clear it is peer support, not professional advice, and it warns that comments can be wrong or uncited, so everyone should do their own research before acting on anything they read. The people posting here are applicants, people planning an application, and family members of applicants, all trying to get help with their own situation. The rules draw a hard line around what the sub is not for, so sponsored job hunting, adviser recommendations, visas for other countries, moving logistics like banking and housing, and deciding whether to move to the UK are all out of scope. The description also notes that unqualified members of the public cannot lawfully offer immigration advice and services, which shapes the whole tone of the place.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
The rule that decides everything marketing related is “No self-promotion, soliciting, spam”, which bans using the sub to drive traffic to personal or professional media, including petitions, apps and questionnaires, and says you can check first with mods whether you can link to such content. The same rule warns that if your content or username suggests you are a law firm, advice service, professional body, or government department, you may be banned to avoid confusion. “Keep posts on topic of UK visas” limits the sub to UK visa and citizenship applications and practical visa matters, and explicitly excludes finding sponsored work, adviser recommendations, visas for other countries, and general moving to the UK topics. “No timeline questions” removes any post asking about processing times for visas, sponsor licences, endorsements, and similar matters. “Read the FAQ” means posts already answered in the pinned posts and FAQs are highly likely to be removed. “Provide important information” requires your nationality, country of residence, visa you are applying for, and current status when asking for help, and posts without enough detail may be removed. “No DMs” removes all requests or offers to direct message and keeps every question and answer in public. “No requesting/providing illegal advice” permanently bans posts that suggest or condone deception in an application. “Low effort, content or value post” removes very basic questions, questions asked many times before, posts written by AI, rants, and anything used as personal social media. “No politics” removes political posts and speculation about future immigration rules. “No post hijacking” means you should make your own post instead of adding your question to someone else's. “Duplicate postings” removes duplicate and near-duplicate posts and comments. “Decorum” and “Anti-immigrant sentiment” keep the tone polite and supportive, with rude or snarky comments leading to bans.
What To Post
Honestly, there is almost no marketing play here, and that is the right read of this sub. The only respectful path is to participate as a person with genuine visa experience. If you went through a UK visa process yourself, you can make a post about your own situation or share your own experience, as long as it is on topic, includes the required details like your nationality, country of residence, and visa type, and is not already answered in the pinned FAQs. Everything must stay in public comments, never in DMs. If you want to share anything that could look promotional, the rules say you can check first with the mods whether you can link to it, so ask before you post, and expect the answer to often be no. If your product touches visas at all, treat this sub as a place to listen and learn what applicants struggle with, not a place to launch.
What To Avoid
Do not post links to your site, app, newsletter, questionnaire, or petition, and do not use a username that looks like a law firm or advice service. Do not ask about processing times. Do not skip the pinned FAQs and then ask a question they already answer. Do not post a help request without your nationality, residence, visa type, and current status. Do not take conversations to DMs, and do not offer to advise anyone privately. Do not post anything written by AI or anything that reads like a rant or personal social media. Do not speculate about future immigration policy or post political content. Do not add your own question to an old post, and do not repost something already asked. Never suggest deception in an application, because that is a permanent ban. Do not be rude or snarky about any nationality, visa type, or group of people.
A note from Anthony
What strikes me most is rule 10, because the sub explicitly says it exists for peer support and reminds everyone that giving immigration advice without authority is illegal. That makes this one of the clearest cases where a founder should participate as a person, never as a service. I also respect how blunt the description is about comments possibly being wrong, which tells you the community values honesty over confidence. If your product touches visas, read here, learn here, and launch somewhere else.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog. Every guide is built from the community's own public rules and data, then checked by Rankhog's grounding audit before it goes live.
Common questions about r/ukvisa
What subreddits are similar to r/ukvisa?
Subreddits like r/ukvisa are r/IWantOut, r/expats, r/ExpatFIRE and r/ExpatFinance.
Can I promote my immigration consultancy or visa service here?
No. “No self-promotion, soliciting, spam” bans driving traffic to personal or professional media, and the description warns that unqualified members of the public cannot lawfully offer immigration advice and services.
Can I ask the moderators for permission to share something?
The rules say you can check first with the moderators whether you can link to such content, so ask before posting anything promotional.
Can I share my own visa experience to help others?
Yes, as long as it is on topic, includes the required personal details, and is your honest experience rather than a link or a pitch, since the sub is for peer support.
Can I ask how long my visa will take to process?
No. “No timeline questions” points people to the pinned posts, the gov.uk processing times page, and the dedicated timelines sub instead.
Can I ask about moving to the UK, like housing or banking?
No. “Keep posts on topic of UK visas” excludes moving logistics like travel, banking, and housing, and points relocation decisions to other subs.
Subreddits like r/ukvisa
Other rooms for the same crowd.