Youth Mobility Scheme visa

Conditions you must meet

• You cannot apply if you have children living with you, or children you support financiallyAn outright bar, and the financial-responsibility limb catches people whose children do not live with them.
• GBP 2,530 in your account, held 28 consecutive days, with day 28 within 31 days of applyingGBP 2,530 savings · GBP 31 day 28 within days of applyingTHE MOST MISSABLE RULE ON THIS ROUTE. The amount is the easy half. The 28-day holding period and the 31-day deadline leave a three-day window between satisfying the rule and the evidence going stale.
• Certified translations for anything not in English or Welsh
• You can apply at most 6 months before you travelA ceiling, not a lead time. Combined with the 31-day savings deadline it defines a fairly narrow window in which an application can be both early enough and evidenced.
• No professional sport, no public funds, and family must apply separately

Documents you must provide

• A valid passport or other document showing identity and nationality

Government fees

• Application fee: GBP 340GBP 340
• Immigration health surcharge: usually GBP 776 per yearGBP 776 per yearPayable on top of the fee and for the whole visa length, so a two-year visa carries roughly GBP 1,552 of surcharge against a GBP 340 fee. GOV.UK writes 'usually', so the figure is stored as the stated one rather than as a certainty.

Also stated by the authority

Not requirements in themselves. These are alternatives, exemptions, rights and warnings the authority publishes alongside the requirements — quoted here because they can change what applies to you.

• Aged 18 to 35 if you are from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or South KoreaRead the two halves separately: 18 or over when the visa STARTS, 35 or under when you APPLY. You may therefore apply before turning 18, and be over 35 by the time it begins.
• Aged 18 to 30 if you are from Andorra, Iceland, Japan, Monaco, San Marino or UruguayThe same two-part age test, five years lower. British overseas citizens, British overseas territories citizens and British nationals (overseas) fall in this band too.
• Certain British nationalities qualify in the 18-to-30 band
• Hong Kong (SAR passport) and Taiwan applicants must first win the ballotA gate before the application exists, not a document within it. Someone who has not entered the ballot cannot apply at all, whatever else they satisfy.
• Indian nationals use a different scheme
• Tuberculosis test results, if you are from a country where the test is required
• Andorra, Iceland and Uruguay: a criminal-records certificate less than 6 months oldEach state's own document, named by GOV.UK in its own language — the Icelandic sakavottorð, the Uruguayan certificado de antecedentes judiciales. All three carry the same six-month freshness limit, which is short enough to expire during a slow application.
• San Marino: a suitability letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs, under 6 months old
• Hong Kong and Taiwan: the Home Office email confirming you won the ballot
• A decision usually comes within 3 weeks of applying, proving identity and providing documents
• Up to 24 months, and turning 31 after issue does not shorten itAustralian, Canadian and New Zealand nationals can extend by a further year; nobody else can.
• Self-employment is allowed within three specific limitsGBP 5,000 maximum equipment valueRented premises, equipment worth no more than GBP 5,000, and no employees. Unusually permissive for a temporary route, and unusually specific — worth storing because it is a real business plan constraint rather than a formality.