How often are UK visa applications from Thailand approved? In the year ending March 2026, Thai nationals were granted 89.2% of Standard Visitor visas — above the worldwide average — with even higher approval rates on study, family and work routes. Full route-by-route data below, compiled from UK Home Office statistics and updated each quarter.
Compiled & reviewed by Sunaree Ko, Founder · Source: GOV.UK Home Office statistics
In the year ending March 2026, Thai nationals submitted 53,346 UK Standard Visitor visa applications, of which 89.2% were granted and 10.8% were refused. That is well above the UK-wide visitor-visa grant rate of roughly 79%. Thai applicants also see very high approval rates on the study (~99%), family/partner (~93%) and Skilled Worker (~91%) routes — placing Thailand above the worldwide average UK grant rate of about 83% across all routes.
This is the headline table: the share of UK visa applications from Thailand that were granted and refused, split by visa route, for the latest published year (ending March 2026).
| Visa route | Grant rate | Refusal rate | Applications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Visitor | 89.2% | 10.8% | 53,346 |
| Study | ~99% | ~1% | smaller cohort* |
| Family / Partner | ~93% | ~7% | smaller cohort* |
| Skilled Worker | ~91% | ~9% | smaller cohort* |
*The visitor figure is taken directly from the Home Office's published by-nationality visitor-visa table (year ending March 2026, released 21 May 2026). Study, family and Skilled Worker are much smaller cohorts of a few thousand applications; their grant rates are indicative, shown to the nearest whole percentage, and are refreshed from the detailed nationality dataset. Always confirm the latest figures at GOV.UK.
The Standard Visitor visa is by far the most common UK visa for Thai nationals, with 53,346 applications in the year ending March 2026. Of these, 89.2% were granted and 10.8% were refused — roughly nine in ten applications succeed. To put that in context, the UK-wide visitor-visa grant rate across all nationalities is about 79%, so Thai applicants are approved more often than the global average and refused less often (10.8% versus roughly 21% worldwide).
Thailand is a "visa national" country, which means Thai passport holders must hold a visa before travelling to the UK — they cannot use the £20 Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). For short trips that means the Standard Visitor visa. See why Thai nationals need a visa, not an ETA.
Study is the strongest route of all for Thai applicants, with an approval rate of around 99% — among the highest of any nationality. UK universities are a long-standing destination for Thai students, and Student visa applications that are properly evidenced (an unconditional CAS from a licensed sponsor, the required maintenance funds and any English requirement) are granted in almost every case. Thai nationals are also on the Home Office's "differentiation arrangements" list, which can reduce the financial evidence some students must submit.
Family and partner routes (spouse, fiancé(e), unmarried partner and dependants) are granted at around 93% for Thai applicants. This is the route most affected by the £29,000 minimum income requirement introduced in April 2024 — across all nationalities, partner-route application volumes fell after the threshold rose, while grant rates for those who did apply stayed high. For the income rules behind these applications, see our UK spouse visa guide and the £29,000 income requirement explained.
Work routes — chiefly the Skilled Worker visa — are granted at around 91% for Thai nationals. These applications depend on a Certificate of Sponsorship from a licensed UK employer and meeting the salary threshold (from £41,700 for most roles), so the cohort is smaller and self-selecting, which keeps the grant rate high. See our Skilled Worker visa guide.
Across all routes and all nationalities, the UK granted about 83% of entry-clearance visa applications in the year ending March 2026 (roughly 3.0 million grants from 3.7 million applications). Thailand sits comfortably above that average on every major route. For visitor visas in particular — the route where refusals are most common worldwide — Thailand's 89.2% grant rate is in the upper band for South-East Asia and well ahead of several neighbouring countries.
Even with a high success rate, roughly one in ten Thai visitor applications is refused. Published Home Office guidance and refusal notices most often cite factual, document-based reasons rather than anything about the applicant personally:
These are general, published reasons — not an assessment of any individual application. Getting the document set complete, consistent and correctly translated is the part applicants have most control over. If a visa has been refused, see our information page on reapplying after a refusal.
All figures on this page are compiled from the UK Home Office's official Immigration system statistics — specifically the entry-clearance visa applications and outcomes data, filtered to nationality = Thailand — for the year ending March 2026 (released 21 May 2026). This data is published free under the Open Government Licence.
Last updated: June 2026. Next update: on the next quarterly Home Office release (year ending June 2026, due ~August 2026). The pound figures and rules quoted here should always be confirmed at GOV.UK before relying on them.
UK Visa From Thailand (2026) "UK Visa Statistics for Thai Nationals". https://ukvisafromthailand.com/en/uk-visa-statistics-thailand — data: UK Home Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2026.
Last reviewed: June 2026. This page presents aggregate published statistics from GOV.UK for information only; it is not immigration advice and not a prediction of any individual application. Figures are grant/refusal shares for the year ending March 2026 (Home Office, released 21 May 2026). Always confirm the latest data and any pound figures at GOV.UK.
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Sunaree founded UK Visa From Thailand and compiles and reviews the guides and data on this site. We are a document-preparation and certified-translation service — not a law firm and not IAA-registered — and every figure is sourced from GOV.UK. Read Sunaree's full bio →