UK Family Dependent visa.
Introduction to UK Family Dependent Visa Application:
To be eligible for a family dependent visa the child or adult must be a dependent relative of a sponsored partner either granted entry from overseas or already in the UK, on a UK Spouse, Civil Partner or Long-term partner visa to a British / Irish citizen, or an Overseas nationals partner who holds Indefinite leave to remain (Permanent Residence or Settled status).
Regarding child dependents if the parent doesn't hold or was granted leave to remain as a Partner or Parent under Appendix FM and holds a different type of leave to remain / enter. Then your Child will need to apply under PBS dependent route of a skilled worker or apply under Family life provisions of the immigration rules. If your child is a British Citizen, or holds indefinite leave to remain, permanent residence or settled status in the UK they do not require a visa to stay or enter.
Section Bar:
Section 1: Eligibility requirements
Section 2: What you need to demonstrate
Section 3: Appendix FM Requirements
Section 4: How I can support you
Before applying you need to check your child and yourself meet the eligibility requirements so your Child dependent visa or Parent visa application can be considered valid:
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Your child is under 18 years old on the date of application submission
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Your child is outside the UK
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Your child has not started a family of their own or leading an independent life.
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One of the child's parents is in the UK as a partner or parent under Appendix FM or
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Partner or Parent has already been granted entry visa under Appendix FM
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Child's other parent is their 1st parent's sponsor or
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Child's parent holds sole responsibility for their child's upbringing
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You and your partner intend to live permanently together in the UK;
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There are serious compelling reasons excluding the child would be undesirable towards their welfare & care
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You meet the financial requirements under appendix FM regarding sponsoring a child dependent;
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You have adequate accommodation for you and any dependents without requiring access to public funds
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Children under 18 years old are not required to pass an SELT English test if English isn't their native language
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Your child may also need a TB (tuberculosis) certificate when applying from outside UK
The exact requirements your child will need to satisfy will depend on their personal circumstances. Demonstrating these eligibility requirements can often be difficult and you may want to speak to our Immigration adviser Marc for specific advice based on your family circumstances.
Child's Parent / Child of a Partner relationship:
The relationship to the child can be demonstrated in 1 of 3 ways:
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The family dependents sponsor is one of their biological parents
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The family dependents parent is being sponsored as a Partner and holds sole responsibility for the child
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Exclusion of the child would be considered undesirable due to serious & compelling grounds in regards to the child's welfare and needs
Sole Responsibility
Sole responsibility is when one of the parents relinquishes their parental responsibility towards the child and the other parent takes on sole responsibility for making all of the decisions relating to the child's daily needs and upbringing requirements. UKVI will expect to see comprehensive supporting documentation confirming the sole responsibility of your child's welfare and care. This isn't always straight forward to achieve so seeking expert advise from our immigration adviser to help you demonstrate sole responsibility for your child within your application may be required.
Serious and compelling reasons
If you believe you have serious and compelling family requirements that make your child's exclusion undesirable. UKVI will look at your child's welfare including what they consider are in your child's best interests as part of their assessment, the decision process is highly factually based. The Home office will consider your child's welfare, emotional needs, aspects of your child's life, social, economic environment in which they live in. Any relevant considerations need to be evidence based demonstrating situations such as neglect, abuse, unmet needs or a combination of various circumstances that sufficiently demonstrate their exclusion from admission into the UK would be considered undesirable. When relying on serious and compelling grounds the UKVI expect an emphasis on suitable arrangements to have been made for their care in the UK.
Child is not leading an Independent life or started their own family life:
Your child can't be living an independent life by starting a new family unit of their own. This means your child can not be the spouse or civil partner, fiancé or proposed civil partner or unmarried partner to someone else. If this is the case then your child will not be eligible for a family dependent visa. Child can not lead independent lives, children who live an independent life will not qualify for a family dependent visa. For example children who form by choice, a separate economic & social family unit of their own separate from their parents and our financial and emotional independent.
Duration of a Family Dependent Visa
If your child meets the requirements for a entry clearance family dependent visa they will initially be granted a visa that will expire at the same time as their qualifying dependent parent who is already in the UK or already received their own visa to enter the UK. Children should apply for further leave to remain at the same time as their qualifying dependent parent and will receive a further 30 months extension with them.
Parents how have already received indefinite leave to remain will need to extend their children's dependent visas separately if their child doesn't yet qualify for Permanent residence under a further leave to remain application the child will need to meet the requirements of Appendix Settlement family life. Children can also switch into family dependent route from inside the UK but they must be under 18 years old at the date of application and meet relationship, financial and accommodation requirements set out above and below.
Family Dependent Visa Accommodation Requirement
Whether you apply for a family dependent visa from outside or within the UK, you need to provide evidence of adequate accommodation either continuing to be maintained when applying from within the UK, or available on arrival when applying from outside the UK, which your dependent or their partner owns or occupies exclusively without the need to access public funds. When applying for the first time, you will also need to prove your accommodation is sufficiently large enough to meet the family unit size preventing any overcrowding or contravening any public health regulations.
SELT English Test
If the your family dependent is below 18 years of age they will not be required to sit an English language test. If however, they turn 18 years old, remain in full-time education and continue to be financially dependent on you and English is not their native language. They will need to sit an SELT English language test there are 3 different language levels required for a family dependent visa route for over 18 year olds.
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SELT level A1 Test applies for Entry clearance
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SELT level A2 Test applies for Further leave to remain
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SELT level B1 Test applies for Indefinite Leave to remain
For an in-depth look at obtaining an appropriate SELT language certificate check out:
What SELT English Test do I need to sit:
TB (tuberculosis) certificate if applying from outside UK
Depending on where your family dependent lives when applying from outside the UK they may need a TB certificate as part of their family dependent visa application requirements for more information on when and from where they will need to obtain a certificate check out my post:
When applying through entry clearance for a family dependent visa, either you and or your (sponsoring) partner must meet the minimum income requirements under Appendix FM. Either jointly if the family dependents parent & their partner are already in the UK, or the child dependents parent's partner solely meets Appendix FM requirements within their own rights, or can demonstrate they have an exemption.
If your family dependent is eligible to apply for further leave to remain (FLR-FP) from within the UK, they can rely on their parents joint household income as long as visa applicant parent is eligible to work under their current leave to enter / remain or their parents sponsoring partner can demonstrate they have an exemption.
How to met the financial requirements through ‘adequate maintenance’ when you have an exemption
If the family dependents parents partner has a long term illness or disability and receives any of the following benefits or allowances through the Department of Work & Pensions in the UK, then you may be eligible to apply under "adequate maintenance" requirements through appendix FM.
To meet the financial requirements you will need to provide evidence of “adequate maintenance” rather than demonstrating you meet the minimum income threshold requirements confirmed in more detail below. Your application can be considered on “adequate maintenance” grounds by providing supporting evidence of any of these benefits.
• Carer’s Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
• Attendance Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment
• Armed Forces Independence Payment or
• Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• Constant Attendance Allowance, Mobility Supplement or War Disablement Pension under the War Pensions Scheme
• Police Injury Pension
“Adequate Maintenance” threshold requirements will continue to apply on your next visa application as long as your family dependent parent's partner continues to receive any of those benefits or allowances indicated above at the time of their next application submission.
UK Family dependent visa Financial Categories under Appendix FM
The financial requirements for everyone else can be demonstrated through one or more of the following 5 categories. Where the parent of a child has been granted a UK Spouse visa, or is applying for or has applied for, UK Spouse visa the child will need to provide evidence that their parent and or parent's partner has a gross income of:
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£2,400 each additional child (who's British / National holding ILR, Pre-settled / Settled Status or right of abode)
Category A: In employment with current employer for 6 months or more
If the child's parent is also applying from outside the UK the child's dependent parent's partner (parent's sponsor) will need to demonstrate they met Appendix FM financial requirements in their own right.
If the dependent child's parent is already in the UK holding leave to remain with permission to work then their child's dependent visa application can be considered under joint household income which includes the child's parent partners joint household income.
Joint household income is an combination of both parent and or parent's partner's joint employment income from all income sources recognised under Appendix FM.
Under this category the family dependents parent and or parent's partner's can combine Category C: non-employment income, Category D: cash savings and Category E: pension if necessary to meet the minimum financial requirement of £18,600 per annum when applying.
Category B: Less than 6 months with employer or has variable income
This category is used when a "Child Parent's Partner & Child's parent" are in the UK with permission to work. Either of them are in salaried or non-salaried employment at the date of application submission, haven't been with the same employer and/or not earning the same income level relied upon in the application for at least 6 months prior to the submission date of family dependent visa application.
Category B can be used by anyone who has been with their current employer for less than 6 months, or who has been with their current employer for more than 6 months but their earnings our variable and need to be considered under category B rather than under Category A.
Category B, financial requirements must be met and evidenced in 2 parts.
Part 1:
First, Child Parent's Partner and/or Child's parent (with permission to work in UK) must be in salaried employment at the date of application submission and have been in employment with a new employer for less than 6 months, you can count the gross annual salary at the date of application towards the financial requirements if your income exceeds £18,600 under appendix FM for this new employment period.
Part 2:
To meet part (2) Child Parent's Partner and/or Child's parent must have received in the 12 months prior to the application submission date combined level of income required to meet part (2) of the calculation for Category B exceeding £18,600 per annum.
Category C: Non-employment income
Non-employment income, is from property rental or dividends from shares.
• property rental
• dividends or income from investments, stocks and shares, bonds or trust funds
• interest from savings
• maintenance payments from a former partner of the applicant.
• UK Maternity Allowance, Bereavement Allowance, Bereavement Payment
• Widowed Parent’s Allowance
• payments under the War Pensions Scheme,
• Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• The Armed Forces Attributable Benefits Scheme
• Maintenance grant or stipend (not a loan) associated with undergraduate
study or postgraduate study or research
• ongoing insurance payments
• ongoing payments from a structured legal settlement
• ongoing royalty payments
Category D: Cash Savings
If Child Parent's Partner and/or Child's parent have cash savings above £16,000, these can be used solely or in combination with salaried or non-salaried employment. Family dependent visa applicants who rely on cash savings to satisfy financial application requirements should bare in mind the level of cash savings required on a entry clearance & further leave to remain application is different from the level needed when applying for indefinite leave to remain.
Category E: Pension income
If the Child Parent's Partner and/or Child's parent are retired they can use their State (UK or foreign), occupational or private pension to demonstrate they meet Appendix FM requirements. Pension income can be combined with categories A-D in order to meet Appendix FM requirements.
Category F & G: Self-employed
If the child parent's partner and/or child's parent are self-employed they can use Income generated through their self-employed activities, including income as a company director or employee of a specified limited company in the UK, or child's parent are in the UK with permission to work.
Category F: Last full financial year
Where the Child Parent's Partner (and/or child parent's is in the UK with permission to work) is self-employed or either the director or employee (or both) of a specified limited company in the UK, at the date of application, they can use income from the last full financial years accounts to meet the financial requirements.
Category G: Average of last 2 full financial years
Where the Child Parent's Partner (and/or child parent's is in the UK with permission to work) is in self-employment, or is the director or employee (or both) of a specified limited company in the UK, at the date of application, they can choose instead to rely on Category G. This allows them to use an average of the income received in the last 2 full financial years to meet the financial requirement. A reference to the ‘average’ of the income received in the last 2 full financial years in Category G is a reference to the mean average.
Income under Category F or G can be combined with income from salaried and non-salaried employment, non-employment income and pension income in order to meet the financial requirement. However cash savings cannot be combined with income under Category F or Category G.
How our Immigration adviser can help you
Marc Gibson our immigration adviser specialises in assisting foreign national parent(s) and their British / Irish citizen, or an Overseas national partners relocate and settle their family dependents in the UK. Marc has supported hundreds of UK and other settled Nationals sponsor their partners family dependents to prepare and submit successful UK Family Dependent Visa Applications. Whether you require a consultation to understand the Immigration Rules for your forthcoming application, or have your UK Family Dependent Visa Application professionally checked by Marc Gibson himself before submitting or use his representation service to prepare and submit your Family Dependent Visa application for you, Marc can help.
Appendix FM financial requirements are particularly complex and include mandatory requirements in terms of the documentary evidence needed to demonstrate you can meet the requirements of a UK Family Dependent Visa Application. Our immigration adviser specialises in assisting on Spouse, Civil partners, Unmarried partners and Family dependent applications with complex financial circumstances who require support completing and submitting a successful family dependent visa application.
Marc prides himself on being friendly, approachable and professional in meeting his clients’ needs, he is dedicated to providing clear and reliable immigration advice to his clients when providing his UK Civil Partner Visa service.
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