The UK visa process as a Singaporean. What nobody tells you before you apply.

Key things to know:

Singapore is not recognised as an English speaking country for UK visa purposes
IELTS for UKVI test costs S$441. Results available the next day
Family visa for 4 on a 3 year visa: approximately S$27,000 including IHS
You will need a UK address and bank account before arrival. Wise solves the bank account in 10 minutes
Companies typically cover the Skilled Worker visa but not always the IHS. Check this early

One honest post a week, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Here is the one thing I wish someone had told us before we started: do not waste time digging out your old O level certificates or university transcripts to prove you speak English. If you did not study in the UK, they will not be accepted. You will need to either take an English test or get your degree verified through an official body. The test is honestly the faster and less painful option, even though the whole thing feels completely absurd when English has been your first language your entire life.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let me take you through the full process from the beginning.

How our visa was structured

My husband’s company is sponsoring his UK Skilled Worker visa and covering our family visa for me and our two children as well. They work through Deel, which is an international payroll and HR platform, and having Deel guide us through the process made an enormous difference. If your company uses a similar platform, lean on it heavily. The checklists, document requirements and guidance they provide are genuinely useful.

What you can expect to be asked for: passport details for every family member, a thorough travel history, education details and employment records. It is more comprehensive than you might expect so start gathering documents early.

The English test nobody warned us about

This was the moment that stopped us in our tracks.

My husband is Singaporean. He has studied, worked and lived his entire life in English. English is literally Singapore’s first language and the language of instruction in every school. And yet, when it came to his UK work visa application, his ability to speak English was not considered a given.

His O level certificate was not sufficient. His original degree transcript from a Singapore university was not sufficient. The UK visa system does not recognise Singapore as an English speaking country for visa purposes, and if you did not study your degree in the UK, you have two options:

Option A: Take an IELTS for UKVI test Cost: S$441 Timeline: Book a test, sit it, receive results the next day

Option B: Get your degree verified through UK ENIC Cost: S$340+ Timeline: Up to 20 additional days waiting time

My husband chose Option A. He spent a Sunday morning at the British Council’s Napier Centre completing the test and had his results the next day ready for uploading. Frustrating in principle, manageable in practice.

One critical detail if you go this route: make sure you book the correct test. There are many English test options at the British Council but the specific one required for a UK visa is called the IELTS for UKVI. Deel confirmed this for us before we booked. If you are not working with a platform like Deel, double check this directly with your visa application requirements before spending S$441 on the wrong test.

The real cost of the family visa: what IHS actually means

This is the part that surprises most people, and we want to be fully transparent about it.

Companies typically sponsor the Skilled Worker visa for the employee. The family Dependant visa covering spouses and children is a separate application that usually falls on the family to fund themselves. For our family of four on a 3 year visa, the total cost comes to approximately S$27,000. We are fortunate that my husband’s company is covering this, but if yours does not, this is a number you need to plan for seriously before you commit to the move.

That S$27,000 covers two components: the visa application fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). The IHS is the one that catches most people off guard. It is essentially a prepaid contribution to the NHS, charged upfront for the full duration of your visa, and it is hefty. Even employers who cover the Skilled Worker visa costs do not always cover the IHS, so check this explicitly with your company before assuming it is included.

The UK address problem — and how we solved it

Here is something that caught us off guard at the visa application stage: you will be asked for a UK address and a UK bank account even though you are not in the UK yet.

For the address, my husband reached out to his future employer and asked if anyone could provide a contact address. His boss connected him with someone in the UK whose address we could use. This is not an unusual request. Many companies navigating international relocations have dealt with this before. It is worth asking early. The address needs to be valid and accessible because there is a possibility that letters may be sent there and you need to be able to retrieve them.

Setting up a UK bank account from Singapore: Wise

The bank account requirement felt impossible at first. You cannot walk into a UK bank and open an account without being in the country. This is where Wise came in.

Deel guided us to set up an account using Wise. From Singapore, with no UK address of our own yet, we had a working UK bank account set up in approximately 10 minutes. Deel provided us with the specific UK sort code required for the application, and Wise was accepted without any issues.

We set up our UK bank account using Wise — it took about 10 minutes from Singapore and was accepted immediately by our visa platform. If you are going through this process, set it up early.

I earn a small commission if you sign up using my link, at no extra cost to you. We genuinely used Wise for our own visa application and would recommend it regardless.

What to take away from all of this

The UK visa process as a Singaporean is manageable but it has some genuinely surprising requirements that are worth knowing in advance. The English test caught us completely off guard. The upfront costs, particularly the IHS, are significant whether or not your employer covers them. The paperwork is thorough. And you will be asked for things that feel impossible to provide before you have actually moved. A UK address. A UK bank account. But there are solutions to all of it. You just need to know they exist before you panic.

We are still waiting for our family visa approval. The expected timeline is 12 weeks from full submission. I will update this post when it comes through.

Resources that helped us

Deel — if your company uses Deel for international payroll, lean on their visa guidance heavily. It saved us significant time and confusion.
British Council Napier Centre — for booking the IELTS for UKVI test. Make sure you select UKVI specifically, not the standard IELTS.
UK ENIC — if you prefer degree verification over the English test, this is the official body that handles it.
Wise — Set up a Wise account for your UK bank account before you arrive. Ten minutes from Singapore, fully accepted for visa purposes.(Affiliate link — I earn a small commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.)

One honest post a week, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. I only ever recommend things we have genuinely used ourselves.

If you found this useful, you might also want to read: Should we move to London with young children? Here’s how we actually made the decision.

Have questions about the visa process? Drop them in the comments below. I will answer everything I can from our own experience.