As a general rule, the Home Office will consider a dependant to be a spouse or civil partner, an unmarried partner (provided they have been living with the main applicant for at least 2 years), or a child under the age of 18.
A Dependant visa enables overseas immediate family members of UK visa holders to come to the UK. Dependants can join main applicants in a wide variety of immigration routes, such as Skilled Worker, Expansion Worker, Global Talent, UK Ancestry, or Innovator Founder, amongst others, provided the requirements are met. It is important to note that, under the revised UK immigration rules, international students, unless they are engaged in PhD studies, are no longer permitted to bring dependants to the UK from January 2024. Currently, those coming to the UK on a Student visa to study a postgraduate course are permitted to have their dependants join them in the UK.
Another visa to consider is the Adult Dependant Relative. This route is for individuals over the age of 18, who will be sponsored by a relative in the UK (who must meet certain requirements). The threshold for this route is quite high and the applicant would need to show that they require long-term personal care to perform everyday tasks due to age, illness or disability, and that care must be either not available or not affordable in the country where the applicant is living.
To apply for a child dependent visa, children must be under 18 years, or if 16 years or older, they must be dependant on the main visa holder. Being dependant means that they:
are not living an independent life (i.e., not married, in a civil partnership, or have children)
live with the main visa holder (unless they attend boarding school or university)
are financially supported by the main visa holder
The general requirements for a UK dependant visa are:
Prove you meet the relationship requirements as a dependant family member
Prove you meet the financial requirements to have enough money to support your life in the UK
Prove your identity and relationship to the visa holder
Intend to live together with the sponsor while you are in the UK
Dependant visa financial requirements
Whether any financial requirements apply will depend on the type of visa held by the main visa holder. For example, when applying for a Skilled Worker visa, it must be shown that the main visa holder or the applicant has the following:
£285 for a partner
£315 for one child and £200 for each additional child
In most cases, if the main visa holder and dependant have been in the UK for 12 months or more, there is no financial requirement.
Contact us if you would like to discuss your application for dependent visa.