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Domestic workers

Domestic worker preparing food

Extending your visa

This page explains how you can apply to extend your stay as a domestic worker in the United Kingdom.

Before you read this information, you should make sure you still meet the eligibility requirements for the domestic worker scheme.

As a domestic worker, you will initially be given permission to stay in the United Kingdom for a maximum of 12 months. At the end of this 12-month period, you can apply to extend your stay in the United Kingdom, provided you are still employed as a domestic worker. You should make your application before your permission to stay in the United Kingdom ends.

If your application to extend your stay is successful, you will be given permission to stay for another 12 months. If you are still working as a domestic worker at the end of the 12 months, you will need to make another application to extend your stay in the United Kingdom.

Once you have been continuously employed as a domestic worker in the United Kingdom for five years, you can apply to stay in the United Kingdom permanently. This is called 'settlement'. You should read the section on Settlement for details.

How to apply

If you want to apply for an extension of your stay (which we call 'further leave to remain'), you must use form FLR(BID). You will need to apply for a compulsory identity card for foreign nationals as part of this application. You can download this form and a detailed guide to the form on the right side of this page. You should make sure that you read the guide fully before you make your application.

You will need to provide us with the following documents to support your application:

  • your passport;
  • a letter from your employer confirming that they want to continue employing you;
  • a letter from your employer (signed by you and by your employer) outlining the main conditions of your employment - these must include your duties, your rate of pay and your hours of work;
  • a letter from your employer confirming that they will comply with United Kingdom law on the national minimum wage - we cannot approve your application unless your employer provides this letter; and
  • evidence that you can support and accommodate yourself without help from public funds.

You should provide the original documents unless there is a good reason why you cannot.

You will need to pay a fee to cover the cost of processing your applications. For more information, see the page on Cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is my immigration status while my application is being decided?

    If you make an application before your authorised stay ends, your existing immigration status will continue until your application is decided, even if the decision is not made until after the end of your permitted stay. If your existing visa or other permission to stay here allows you to work, you can continue to do so until your case is decided.

Application forms

Application for an extension of stay in the UK in one of the employment or other categories listed in the form, and for a biometric immigration document.

See also

Policy & Law