Dependants and Family

Key Takeaways

• Which rules apply to your family depends on whether they are joining someone on a UK work or study visa, or joining a British or settled partner. The two systems share almost nothing, and applying the wrong one is the most common mistake on this subject.
• A partner and children under 18 can join most work route holders, but care workers and workers in occupations below RQF level 6 cannot bring new dependants unless their original application predates a set date.
• A child born in the UK is the exception to almost every dependant restriction. That same child is not automatically a British citizen, and needs their own permission before leaving and re-entering the UK.
• The minimum income requirement for the partner of a British or settled person is £29,000, and it does not increase for children. The extra amounts for children survive only inside a narrow transitional arrangement.
• Every dependant pays a full application fee and a full immigration health surcharge. There is no family discount anywhere in the system, so the real cost of a family application is the per person figure multiplied out.
• A partner who cannot meet the income or English requirement may still qualify, but on a ten year route to settlement rather than a five year one. That single difference is worth more than any other decision on the family route.
• WorkPermitCloud advises both sides of this subject, from adding a dependant to a sponsored worker's application through to a full partner and family visa case.

Introduction

This page is for anyone bringing a partner, a child or a dependent relative to the UK, and for anyone already here as one. It covers both systems: dependants of people on work and study visas, and the family routes for partners, parents, children and adult dependent relatives of British and settled people. It sets out who qualifies, what has to be proved, what it costs and how long each route takes.

Which Route Your Family Is On

Almost every problem on this subject starts with a reader applying the wrong set of rules to themselves. The UK does not have one family visa system. It has two, and they overlap hardly at all.

If your family member is coming to join someone who holds a UK work or study visa, they are a dependant. Their permission is tied to the main applicant's, they are covered by that route's own appendix, and there is no income threshold to meet. If your family member is coming to join a British citizen or someone with settlement, they are on the family route under Appendix FM. Their permission stands on its own, there is a minimum income requirement, and there is an English language requirement from the first application.

The table below is the fastest way to place yourself.

Everything below follows that division. If you are unsure which applies, our dependent visa service covers the work route side and our partner and family visas service covers the Appendix FM side.

Bringing Dependants on a Work or Study Visa

This half of the page deals with people whose family member holds, or is applying for, a UK work or study visa. The rules come from each route's own appendix in the Immigration Rules and from the Home Office caseworker guidance on dependent family members in work routes.

Who Counts as a Partner or a Child

A dependent partner is a husband, wife, civil partner, or an unmarried partner who has been living with the main applicant in a relationship similar to a marriage or civil partnership for at least two years before the date of application. There is no exception to the two year rule for an unmarried partner, and a relationship that is genuine but recent does not qualify.

A dependent child is a child under 18 on the date of application, or a child aged 18 or over who already holds permission as a dependant on the same route. A child must live with the main applicant unless they are living away from home in full time education. A child who is leading an independent life, is married or in a civil partnership, or has formed their own household does not qualify.

Which Routes Allow Dependants

Most work routes allow a partner and children. Study routes are the exception, and two temporary work routes allow nobody at all.

The Start-up route closed on 13 July 2023 and is not a way of bringing dependants to the UK. On the T2 Minister of Religion and Religious Worker routes, where the main applicant will not be entitled to the National Minimum Wage for the sponsored role, their A-rated sponsor must confirm on the Certificate of Sponsorship that it will maintain and accommodate the dependent partner and any dependent children as well as the worker.

When Dependants Cannot Be Brought

Three restrictions sit on top of the table above. Each one turns on a date, and in every case the date that matters is the date of the main applicant's original application, not the date the dependant applies. That distinction decides most cases and is the single most misreported point on this subject.

The care worker restriction is covered in full, with the practical questions it raises for people already in the UK, on our care worker and health routes guidance and in our answers on whether care workers can bring their family to the UK.

On the Graduate route, a partner or child can only hold permission if they were already a dependant on the applicant's Student permission. A new partner cannot be added. The one exception is a child born in the UK while the applicant held Student, Tier 4 (General) or Graduate permission, who may apply under paragraph GR 9.4A(c). Adding a new partner otherwise means switching to a route that permits it, which is usually Skilled Worker. Our graduate and student switching guidance covers that move.

Applying Together or Joining Later

A dependant may apply at the same time as the main applicant, or at any later point while the main applicant holds permission. There is no requirement to apply together, and no penalty for a partner joining a year or two into a visa. The practical consequence of joining late falls at the settlement stage rather than at the application stage, because the dependant's own qualifying period starts when their permission starts.

Someone already in the UK can usually apply to become a dependant without leaving. There is an important exception. Under paragraph SW 26.4ZA of Appendix Skilled Worker, a person applying for permission to stay as a dependant must not have, or have last been granted, permission as a Visitor, a Short-term Student, a Parent of a Child Student, a Seasonal Worker, or a Domestic Worker in a Private Household. Anyone in one of those categories has to leave the UK and apply for entry clearance from abroad. A partner who arrives as a visitor intending to switch has made the more expensive choice, not the cheaper one.

Money Your Dependants Must Show

Each dependant must show funds for their own maintenance. These are funds to be evidenced in an account, not a fee to be paid, and the distinction is worth being clear about because our own earlier content has blurred it.

Day 28 of that period must fall within 31 days of the date of application. No funds need to be shown at all where the dependant has been in the UK with permission for at least 12 months, or where the main applicant's A-rated sponsor certifies maintenance on the Certificate of Sponsorship. Student dependants are on a different basis: £845 a month for a course in London and £680 a month outside London, in each case for up to nine months.

What Your Dependants Can Do Once They Are Here

A dependant's permission is considerably more generous than most people expect, with one condition that catches families out.

• They can work, in almost any job, employed or self-employed. The exception is work as a professional sportsperson or a sports coach, which is barred for every dependant except a dependant on the UK Ancestry route.
• They can study, subject to ATAS clearance where the subject requires it.
• They can travel in and out of the UK for the duration of their permission.
• They cannot access public funds. This condition sits on every dependant grant, and breaching it can affect a later application. It is covered in its own section below.

How Long Their Permission Lasts

A dependant's permission ends on the same date as the main applicant's. That is the rule in the ordinary case, and it is why a family's applications should be planned together rather than one at a time. Where the main applicant has already settled, the dependant is granted a fixed period instead.

If the main applicant loses their job or their sponsor's licence is revoked, the dependants' permission is affected with it. Our skilled worker job loss and second jobs guidance sets out the position and the time limits that follow, and our skilled worker apply, switch and extend guidance covers keeping a family's applications aligned.

Children Born in the UK

A child born in the UK to parents who both hold limited permission occupies an odd position, and almost every part of it surprises the people it applies to.

The child is not automatically a British citizen. Birth in the UK confers citizenship only where at least one parent is British or settled at the time of the birth. Where a parent later becomes British or settled, the child can be registered as a British citizen, which is an application with a fee rather than something that happens by itself. The belief that being born here is enough is the most widespread misunderstanding in this area, and our post on UK born children of migrants and deportation deals with where that belief leads.

The child is also not covered by a parent's permission. They can remain in the UK without their own permission, but they cannot leave and return without it, so a family planning a trip home needs to make an application first.

Against that, a child born in the UK is the exception that unlocks almost every dependant restriction. A child born here can be added as a dependant where a care worker is otherwise barred, where a medium skilled worker is otherwise barred, and on the Graduate route where no new dependant could otherwise be added at all. If one restriction seems to close off a family's options, this is the first thing to check.

Where a child has been in the UK for a long time, a separate route opens under Appendix Private Life, and the difference between being born here and arriving here is worth several years.

A parent does not settle when their child does. Parents in these cases are generally granted permission on the family life route and follow a ten year route to settlement of their own. Our post on the seven year and twelve year rules for children and parents works through what that means for a family in practice.

Joining a British or Settled Partner

This is the family route proper, governed by Appendix FM and by Appendix Relationship with Partner. It applies where the sponsor is a British or Irish citizen, is settled in the UK, or holds certain other statuses. It is a different system from the dependant rules above, with its own money test, its own English requirement and its own route to settlement.

The Relationship Requirements

These apply to every partner application, whether the couple are married or not.

• Both the applicant and the partner must be aged 18 or over on the date of application, under paragraph RWP 1.1.
• They must not be closely related, under RWP 2.1.
• Any previous relationship of either of them must have broken down permanently, under RWP 3.1.
• A marriage or civil partnership must be legally recognised, under RWP 4.1.
• Where the couple are not married or in a civil partnership, they must have been in a relationship similar to a marriage or civil partnership for at least two years before the date of application, under RWP 5.1.
• They must have met in person, under RWP 6.1, and the relationship must be genuine and subsisting, under RWP 6.2.

The two year cohabitation test is the one that most often stops an application before it starts. Our unmarried partner visa service sets out what evidence covers that period, and our spouse visa service covers the married route. Couples intending to marry in the UK on a short visit, rather than to live here, need the marriage visitor visa instead, which does not lead to settlement.

The Minimum Income Requirement

This is the requirement that decides most family route cases, and it is the one most often misstated. The figure is a gross annual income of £29,000, set at paragraphs E-ECP.3.1 and E-LTRP.3.1 of Appendix FM. It applies to a first application as a partner, fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner made on or after 11 April 2024, and to anyone already in the route who is applying to stay with a different partner from the one they were last granted permission for.

The £29,000 does not increase for children. A couple sponsoring four children must show the same £29,000 as a couple with none. The Home Office guidance is explicit on this, and it is one of the few respects in which the change made in April 2024 made the route easier rather than harder. Any source telling you to add several thousand pounds per child to £29,000 is describing the arrangement below, which almost certainly does not apply to you.

A lower threshold of £18,600 survives for one group only. To use it, an applicant must have made their first application as a fiancé, fiancée, proposed civil partner or partner before 11 April 2024, have been granted permission on the five year route as a result, and be applying to stay with the same partner. Anyone on the ten year route is excluded from it entirely. Change partner and it is lost. Apply for the first time after that date and it was never available.

The amounts for children exist only inside that transitional arrangement, at £3,800 for the first child sponsored in addition to the partner and £2,400 for each further child, and the total is capped at £29,000.

The child element does not apply at all to a child who is a British or Irish citizen, or who holds or is being granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Cash savings can be used instead of income, or combined with it. The Rules do not name a single figure, they set a formula: savings above £16,000, held for at least the six months before the date of application and under the applicant's or partner's control, divided by 2.5. To meet £29,000 on savings alone the figure is therefore £88,500. At the settlement stage the divisor falls away and the whole amount above £16,000 counts, so the savings figure at indefinite leave to remain is far lower. Savings cannot be combined with self-employment income or with income as a director or employee of a specified limited company.

Where the sponsor receives a specified disability or carer's benefit, including Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance, the minimum income requirement does not apply. What applies instead is the adequate maintenance test: whether the family can house and support itself without additional recourse to public funds, in accommodation that is neither overcrowded nor in breach of public health regulations.

Income has to be evidenced under one of the defined categories rather than simply averaged, and a salary that comfortably exceeds £29,000 can still fail because it was presented under the wrong one. The GOV.UK financial requirement guide sets out what each category needs. Our post on whether the £29,000 requirement will be lowered covers where the review of this threshold has reached.

The English Language Requirement

A partner must meet the English requirement at A1 on the first application, A2 at the extension stage, and B1 in speaking and listening at settlement, rising to B2 for settlement applications made on or after 26 March 2027. Children and adult dependent relatives are exempt, as are applicants aged 65 or over, applicants with a physical or mental condition preventing compliance, and nationals of the listed majority English speaking countries. The levels at every stage, the ways of meeting the requirement without a test, and the exemptions in full are covered on our English language requirements guidance.

Adult dependants on work and study routes have no English language requirement at entry. A proposal to introduce one has been made but has not been brought into the Rules, and anyone telling a dependent partner of a Skilled Worker that they must pass a test before joining is wrong.

The Five Year Route and the Ten Year Route

This is the most consequential thing on the family route, and it is decided by whether the requirements above are met.

A partner who meets every suitability and eligibility requirement is granted permission on the five year route: 33 months on entry clearance or a first grant of permission to stay, then a 30 month extension, then settlement under paragraph E-ILRP of Appendix FM after a continuous period of at least five years, or 60 months, with qualifying permission as a partner. Only periods where the partner is the same person as for the previous grant count towards it, under paragraph E-ILRP.1.4.

A partner who cannot meet a requirement, most often the income requirement, may still qualify where paragraph EX.1 applies, meaning there are insurmountable obstacles to family life continuing outside the UK, or where refusal would have unjustifiably harsh consequences under paragraph GEN.3.2. The application succeeds, but the grant is on the ten year route. Settlement then falls under Appendix Settlement Family Life, where paragraph SETF 3.1 requires a continuous qualifying period in the UK of ten years. Paragraph SETF 3.2 allows time on other routes to count where the applicant did not enter the UK illegally and has had permission as a partner for at least one year.

The practical difference is five extra years, four or five more applications, and the fees and health surcharge that go with each of them. It is the difference between a route that costs a few thousand pounds and one that costs tens of thousands. Our comparison of the spouse route and the private life route sets out what living on the longer route involves.

Fiancés, Fiancées and Proposed Civil Partners

Someone coming to the UK to marry, rather than already married, applies as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner. The permission granted is six months, it does not allow work, and the couple must marry or form their civil partnership within that period. The partner then applies for permission to stay as a partner from within the UK. The minimum income requirement applies at the fiancé stage as well, so the money has to be in place before anyone travels.

Switching into the family route from inside the UK is otherwise limited. Someone here as a visitor, or with permission for six months or less, will usually have to leave and apply for entry clearance. Someone on a work or study visa does not switch to a family visa at all in the ordinary case, they apply as a dependant of their partner instead, or their partner sponsors them once settled.

Bringing a Child on the Family Route

A child joining a parent on the family route applies under Appendix Children. The requirements are short, and each one refuses more applications than its length suggests.

• The child must be under 18 on the date of application, under paragraph CHI 1.1. A child aged 18 or over qualifies only where they previously held entry clearance or permission as a dependent child and that permission is still valid or expired within 14 days of the application, under CHI 1.2.
• The child must not be leading an independent life, under CHI 1A.1.
• Where the child is under 18, there must be suitable arrangements for their care and accommodation in the UK, complying with relevant UK law, under CHI 2.1.
• Both parents must be applying at the same time or already hold permission, under CHI 3.2, unless one parent has sole responsibility for the child's upbringing, the other parent is British or otherwise has an unrestricted right to live in the UK, or there are serious and compelling reasons to grant the application.
• Written parental consent is required where a child under 18 is not applying as a dependant, under CHI 5.1.

The sole responsibility test is where most child applications are lost. It is not satisfied by a parent sending money, or by the other parent agreeing in principle. It asks who actually directs the child's upbringing, and it is assessed on evidence of decisions taken over a period rather than on a declaration.

An adopted child of someone on a work route applies as a dependent child on the same route as their parent, not under the separate adoption provisions. Those provisions deal with a child coming to the UK to be adopted, or having been adopted overseas, which is a different application with different requirements.

Applying as a Parent of a Child in the UK

The parent route is for someone with sole or shared parental responsibility for a child in the UK who is under 18, or who was under 18 when the parent was first granted permission, and who is not leading an independent life. Where responsibility is shared, the other parent must not be the applicant's partner, and must be a British or Irish citizen or hold settled or pre-settled status.

The applicant must show active involvement in the child's upbringing, evidenced by documents from government, a school, a court or a medical professional dated within the last four years. There is no minimum income requirement on this route. The test is adequate maintenance without recourse to public funds, and the applicant must meet the English language requirement.

Permission is granted for two years and nine months initially and two years and six months on extension, with settlement available after five years where the requirements are met throughout. A parent granted permission because of a child's private life position, rather than on the full parent requirements, is generally on the ten year route instead.

Bringing an Adult Dependent Relative

The Adult Dependent Relative route is how a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, son or daughter aged 18 or over joins a relative in the UK because they need care. It is the most demanding route in this part of the Immigration Rules, and it is fair to say so plainly rather than list it alongside the others as though it were comparable. The requirements are in Appendix Adult Dependent Relative.

• The applicant must obtain entry clearance before arriving in the UK, under paragraph ADR 3.1. There is no in-country application, so someone already here as a visitor cannot switch into this route.
• The sponsor must be a British citizen, settled in the UK, in the UK with protection status, or an EEA national with limited leave under Appendix EU, under ADR 4.2.
• The applicant must require long term personal care to perform everyday tasks as a result of age, illness or disability, under ADR 5.1.
• That care must be unavailable or unaffordable in the country where the applicant lives, under ADR 5.2. Where paid care exists locally and the family could afford it, the application fails even though the need for care is accepted.
• The sponsor must provide adequate maintenance, accommodation and care without access to public funds, evidenced over the six months before the application, under ADR 6.1 to ADR 6.3.
• The sponsor must sign a maintenance undertaking, under ADR 6.4, which runs for five years where settlement is granted.

Where the sponsor is British or settled, a successful applicant is granted settlement immediately under paragraphs ADR 9.1 to ADR 9.3. Where the sponsor holds limited permission, the applicant's permission runs to the end of the sponsor's, or 30 months where the sponsor is settled.

The second requirement is the one that decides these cases. Medical evidence about the need for care is necessary but not sufficient. The evidence that wins is evidence about the care available locally and what it costs. Our partner and family visas service covers how that is assembled.

What It Costs

There is no family discount anywhere in the UK immigration system. Every dependant pays a full application fee and a full immigration health surcharge, so the cost of moving a family is the per person figure multiplied by the number of people. This is the part of the process that most often takes families by surprise, and it is worth working out before an application is started rather than after.

On the work routes, dependants pay the same fee as the main applicant, for the same length of time, whenever they apply. The Immigration Salary List and Health and Care rates extend to dependants too.

On the family routes the fee does not vary with the length of permission, but it does vary a great deal between routes and between applying from inside and outside the UK.

The immigration health surcharge is charged on top, at £1,035 a year for most applicants and £776 a year for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility Scheme holders and anyone under 18 on the date of application. It is charged in six month blocks and rounded up, which is why a family visa granted for two years and nine months is charged at three years. The GOV.UK healthcare surcharge guide gives the current rates and the Home Office fee tables give the current fees.

A worked example makes the scale clear. A Skilled Worker with a three year Certificate of Sponsorship bringing a partner and two children from outside the UK pays four application fees at £819, which is £3,276, plus the health surcharge for four people for three years, which is £3,105 each for the two adults and £2,328 each for the two children, a further £10,866. The total before any legal costs is £14,142. Use our IHS and visa fee calculator to price your own position, and see our visa fees and sponsorship costs guidance for the employer side of the same bill.

The No Recourse to Public Funds Condition

Almost every dependant grant and every limited grant on the family route carries a condition of no recourse to public funds. It is the least understood condition in the system, and breaching it can affect a later application.

Public funds means a defined list of benefits and housing assistance, including Universal Credit, housing benefit, child benefit, tax credits, disability and carer's allowances, and local authority homelessness assistance. It does not mean everything provided by the state. NHS treatment covered by the health surcharge, state schooling, contributory benefits such as contribution based Jobseeker's Allowance and the State Pension, and statutory payments such as statutory maternity pay and statutory sick pay are not public funds.

A British or settled partner does not lose their own entitlement because their partner has the condition. The household can claim what the settled person is entitled to, and where a couple must claim jointly the claim is usually treated as made by the eligible partner alone. Families go without money they are entitled to because they misread this, which is a real cost of the condition being poorly explained.

Someone on the family or private life route who is destitute, or whose child's welfare is at risk, or who faces exceptional financial circumstances, can apply to have the condition lifted through a change of conditions application, which is free. Our post on the no recourse to public funds condition covers what the restriction does and does not stop you claiming.

If the Relationship Breaks Down

Where a partner's relationship breaks down permanently because of domestic abuse, the Victim of Domestic Abuse route leads to settlement rather than to limited permission, and a fee waiver is available. The route is set out in Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse.

Paragraph VDA 4.1 lists the permissions a person must have, or have last been granted, to use it. They are permission as a partner or child under Appendix FM of a British citizen, a settled person or a qualifying EEA national; as a spouse, civil partner, durable partner or child under Appendix EU; as a partner or child of a refugee under Appendix FM, Part 8, Part 11 or Appendix Family Reunion (Protection); as a partner or child under certain paragraphs of Part 8 of a person present and settled in the UK; as a victim of domestic abuse under Appendix FM or Part 8; as a partner or child under Appendix HM Armed Forces or Part 7; or leave outside the Rules under the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession where the person previously held one of those permissions. The main applicant's dependent children, including those aged 18 or over, can apply on the route under VDA 5.1, at the same time as their parent or afterwards. Someone who has been abandoned outside the UK, having previously been physically present here, can apply from abroad.

A dependent partner on a work or study route is not on that list. Someone here as the dependant of a Skilled Worker, a Student or any other work or study route holder does not qualify for settlement under this appendix, however serious the abuse. That is a hard limit and we would rather state it than leave a reader to assume cover that does not exist. It does not mean there is nothing to be done. Options outside this route may include an application on human rights grounds, a claim under Appendix Private Life, or an application in the person's own right where they qualify, and anyone in that position should take advice quickly rather than relying on the abuse route alone.

Where a relationship ends for other reasons, a dependant's permission does not end automatically, but it was granted on the basis of the relationship and the Home Office can curtail it. The same applies where the main applicant loses their permission: our skilled worker job loss and second jobs guidance sets out what follows and how long a family has to act.

Settlement for Family Members

Settlement is covered in full on its own page. What matters here is which clock a family member is on, because the answer differs by route and the difference is measured in years.

The most common real question is what happens to a partner who joined late. A dependant's qualifying period runs from their own permission, not the main applicant's, so a partner who arrived two years into a Skilled Worker's visa reaches settlement roughly two years after them. The family does not settle together, and planning on the assumption that it will causes real problems. Our post on completing five years when your partner joined later works through the sequence, and our comprehensive guide to ILR for dependants covers the requirements for a dependant's own settlement application.

Qualifying periods, permitted absences, continuous residence and the settlement fees themselves are covered on our indefinite leave to remain and settlement guidance. You can check your own date with the ILR eligibility calculator, and our five year route to ILR service covers the application itself.

Family Members of EU Citizens

Family members of EU, Swiss, Norwegian, Icelandic and Liechtenstein citizens sit outside both systems above. An EU Settlement Scheme family permit is free, lasts six months, and allows work, study and unlimited travel during that period. The sponsor must have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020, or be an eligible person of Northern Ireland. The route for a family member of a British citizen whom the applicant lived with in the EEA or Switzerland is closed. The GOV.UK family permit guide sets out who can still apply, and our EU family permit service covers the application.

Holding and proving status under the scheme, including generating a share code, is covered on our eVisa and digital status guidance, which also explains how a family proves its status to an employer, a landlord or an airline.

Where Applications Go Wrong

These are the failures we see most often. None of them is about a family being ineligible. All of them are about a requirement being misread.

• Adding several thousand pounds per child to the £29,000 minimum income requirement. It does not rise with children, and the amounts that do exist belong to a transitional arrangement that most applicants are not in.
• Assuming a child born in the UK is automatically British, or that they are covered by a parent's permission when the family wants to travel.
• Applying as an unmarried partner before two years of living together are complete. The requirement is a threshold, not a factor to be weighed.
• Checking the wrong date against a dependant restriction. It is the main applicant's original application that matters, not the date the dependant applies.
• Missing the 28 day rule on maintenance funds, or the 6 month rule on cash savings. Money that was there the whole time does not count if it was not held in the right place for the right period.
• Arriving as a visitor intending to switch to a dependant visa in the UK, which paragraph SW 26.4ZA does not allow.
• Assuming a dependant's permission runs past the main applicant's. It ends on the same day.
• Taking work as a professional sportsperson or a sports coach on a dependant visa, which is the one category of work that is barred.
• Claiming a benefit that counts as public funds, or going without one that does not.
• Evidencing income under the wrong category. This refuses more financially comfortable couples than any shortfall does, and where a refusal turns on it our administrative review service can assess whether the decision is challengeable.

Detailed Guides on This Topic

These posts go further on particular parts of this subject and are kept up to date alongside this page.

• UK born children of migrants and deportation. What birth in the UK does and does not confer, and what follows for a family without status.
• UK ILR for children and parents, the seven year and twelve year rules. How a child's route to settlement differs depending on where they were born, and why a parent's timeline is not the same.
• Can care workers bring their family to the UK. The care worker restriction in detail, including who is unaffected by it.
• The spouse route and the private life route compared. What falling onto the ten year route means in practice.
• A comprehensive guide to ILR for dependants. The requirements for a dependant's own settlement application.
• Graduate route dependants and UK born children. The one way a new dependant can be added on the Graduate route.
• Completing five years when your partner joined later. What happens when a family reaches settlement at different times.
• Will the £29,000 family visa income requirement be lowered. Where the review of the threshold has reached, and what is confirmed law.
• What is the no recourse to public funds condition. What the restriction covers and what it does not.

How Can WorkPermitCloud Help?

Family applications fail on detail far more often than on eligibility. A couple who plainly earn enough are refused because the income was evidenced under the wrong category. A family is separated because nobody checked which date the dependant restriction turns on. A partner joins two years late and nobody explains that settlement will follow two years late as well.

We advise on both halves of this subject. On the work routes we plan a family's applications alongside the main applicant's, so that the fees, the maintenance funds and the expiry dates line up. On the family routes we assess income against the categories in Appendix FM before an application is submitted, advise on the five year and ten year routes and which one a case realistically falls into, and prepare relationship evidence that answers the questions a caseworker actually asks. Our dependent visa service covers the first, and our partner and family visas service the second.

Conclusion

The UK does not have one set of family immigration rules, it has two, and the first thing to establish is which one applies to you. If your family member is joining someone on a work or study visa, the questions are whether the route allows dependants, whether a restriction catches the main applicant's job, and whether the maintenance funds have been held long enough. If your family member is joining a British or settled partner, the questions are the relationship requirement, the £29,000, and whether the case lands on the five year route or the ten year one.

Most of what goes wrong on this subject is avoidable. The income requirement does not rise with children. A child born here is not British but does unlock most restrictions. A dependant's permission ends with the main applicant's, and their settlement clock starts with their own. Get those four points right and the rest is evidence, assembled carefully and in the right order.

Glossary