英国签证是什么？
在英国，Visa通常是指入境签证(Entry Visa)，用来表明你被批准进入该国。 英国签证种类非常多。以申请人入境目的划分有： 旅游（ Tourist）、探亲访友（ Family Visit/Friendship Visit）、商务访问（ Business Visit）、短期留学（ Short-Term Study）； 以停留时间长短可分为： 90天以下的短期签证，一般称为“Visitor”或“Tier 4 Student”; 超过90天的长期签证，一般包括：学生签( Tier 4 General and Child Student )、工作签 (Tier2 Worker， Tier2 Sponsor， Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme ， Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa etc. )、家属签( Dependent， Spouse or Civil Partner of a Tier 4 Student， Settled Status in the UK等); 永居身份为： Indefinite Leave to Remain / Permanent Residence; 入籍身份为： British Citizenship。 另外还有一种叫作‘移民签证’的签证类别Migrant，又分两类：
* 长期居留许可签证：The long residence routes – you must have had indefinite leave to remain for five years before applying from outside the country， while those who apply inside the country must already hold permanent residency status for at least six months. The second route is available even if you only arrived in Britain as an unaccompanied child with asylum status;
* 家庭担保移民签证： Tier 1， which also includes the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP)， enables workers to enter on a work permit that allows them to settle once they earn enough money — although it now offers no path towards citizenship and has been criticised by some politicians as a ‘bogus scheme';
不同类型的签证有不同的申请条件和要求，申请过程也会有所差异。比如根据不同的旅行目的，申请人的个人情况以及准备材料的复杂程度都会有所不同。需要提醒的是，签证并不是一劳永逸的，它有一定的有效期，过了有效期签证就失效了，并且不能延期。