UK Family Dependent Visa Applications.
Introduction to UK Family Dependent visa requirements to the UK:
To be eligible for a EU Family Permit, UK family visit visa or longer-term visitor visa the child or adult must be a family relative of a sponsored partner either granted entry from overseas or already in the UK, on a Spouse visa, Civil Partnership visa or Long-term partner visa to a Irish/ British citizen, or an European / Overseas nationals partner who has Indefinite leave to remain (Permanent Residence or Settled status).
Child of parents who don't hold or were previously granted parent visa to UK, or hold a biometric residence permit as a Partner or Parent under Appendix FM or holds another type of visa. Your Child will need to apply under PBS dependent route of a skilled worker visa or apply under Visa Family life provisions of the UK 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: Family / Parent visa to UK Eligibility Criteria
Section 2: What you need to demonstrate
Section 4: How I can support your UK Family Visa
Before submitting you need to check your child and yourself meet the UK eligibility rules so your Child or Parent will be considered valid:
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Your child is under 18 years old on the date of visa application
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Your child is outside the United Kingdom
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Your child has not started a formal relationship 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
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Sponsor or Partner has already been granted entry clearance under Appendix FM
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The Child's mother's / father's sponsor is their other parent or
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Child's mother / father holds sole responsibility for their upbringing
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You and your partner intend to live permanently together in the United Kingdom;
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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 threshold under appendix FM regarding sponsoring a child;
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You have adequate accommodation for you and any siblings 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 need a TB (tuberculosis) certificate when submitting from outside UK
The application needs your child will have 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 for specific advice based on your 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 sponsor is one of the child's biological parents
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The Child's Mother / Father 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 either the Mother / Father 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 and upbringing needs. 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 reasons 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 United Kingdom 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 United Kingdom.
Child is not leading an Separate life or started their own family unit:
Your child can't be living a separate 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 a British / Irish national, European or Overseas national with ILR in the UK. Should this be the case then your child will not be eligible for a visa. Children can't lead separate lives, any children living a separate life to you will not qualify for a visa. Example children who form by choice, separate economic & social family unit separate from their parents who are financial & emotional separate from them.
Duration of a EU Family Permit / UK Family Dependent Visa
If your child is granted entry clearance they will initially be granted the same amount of time as their qualifying mother / father who is already in the UK or already granted entry to the UK. Children should apply for UK Family Dependent Visa at the same time as their qualifying mother / father and will receive the same amount of time as them.
Parents who have received indefinite leave to remain will need to extend their children's UK Family visa separately if their child doesn't yet qualify for Permanent residence under a UK Family dependent Visa application their child will need to meet Appendix FM Settlement family life criteria. Children can also switch into child visa routes from inside the UK but must be under 18 years old at the date of submission and meet relationship, financial and accommodation thresholds set out above and below.
Accommodation needs
Whether you apply for a UK family visa from outside or within the UK, you need to provide evidence of adequate accommodation either continuing to be maintained or available on arrival when outside the UK, which your family member owns or occupies exclusively without the need to access public funds. When applying for the first time, you will 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 member is below 18 years of age they will not be required to sit an English language test. If they turn 18 years old, remain in full-time education and continue to be financially reliant 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 members over 18 years old.
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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 when outside United Kingdom
Depending on where your family member lives when applying from outside the UK they may need a TB certificate as part of their UK Family visa or their parent visa to UK. For more information on when and from where they will need to obtain a certificate check out our post: Do I need a TB Certificate:
When applying through entry clearance for a UK family visa, either you and or your sponsor must meet the minimum income threshold under Appendix FM. Jointly if their family member & sponsor are already in the UK, or the child's mother / fathers sponsor solely meets Appendix FM within their own rights, or can demonstrate they have an exemption.
If your family member is eligible to apply for UK Family Visa or Parent visa (FLR-FP) from within the UK, they can rely on their mother / father joint household income as long as family members parent is eligible to work under their current leave to enter / remain or their mother / fathers sponsor can demonstrate they have an exemption.
How to met the financial threshold through ‘adequate maintenance’ when you have an exemption
If the applicants mother or fathers sponsor 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" through appendix FM.
To meet the financial threshold you will need to provide evidence of “adequate maintenance” rather than demonstrating you meet the minimum income threshold confirmed in more detail below. Your application can be considered on “adequate maintenance” grounds by providing supporting evidence of any approved 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 will continue to apply on their next visa application as long as your family member continues to receive any of those benefits or allowances indicated above at the time of their next submission.
Financial Categories under Appendix FM
The financial thresholds for everyone else can be demonstrated through one or more of the following 5 categories. Where the mother / father of a child has been granted a UK Spouse visa, or has applied as a Spouse their child will need to provide evidence that their mother / father's sponsor has a gross income of:
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£2,400 each additional child (who doesn't hold British citizenship / Other National with 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 family member has applied from outside the UK the child's family members sponsor will need to demonstrate they met Appendix FM in their own right.
If the child's family member is already in the UK holding leave to remain with permission to work then their child's application can be considered under joint household income which includes the child's family members sponsors joint household income.
Joint household income is an combination of both mother / fathers and their sponsors joint employment from all income sources recognised under Appendix FM.
Under this category the family members mother / fathers partner 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.
Category B: Less than 6 months with employer or has variable income
This category is used when a child mother / father and their sponsor is in the UK with permission to work. Either of them are in salaried or non-salaried employment at date of submission, and 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 members application.
Category B can be used by anyone who has been with their current employer for less than half a year, or who has been with their current employer for more than half a year but their earnings our variable and need to be considered under category B rather than under Category A.
Category B, Appendix FM must be met and evidenced in 2 parts.
Part 1:
First, Child's mother / father partner and/or Child's mother / father (with permission to work) must be in salaried employment at the date of submission and have been in employment with a new employer for less than half a year, you can count the gross annual salary at the date of application towards Appendix FM if your income exceeds £18,600 for this new employment period.
Part 2:
To meet part (2) Child Parent's Partner and/or Child's mother / father 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 family members sponsor and/or Child's mother / father have cash savings above £16,000, these can be used solely or in combination with salaried or non-salaried employment. Applicants who rely on cash savings to satisfy Appendix FM should bare in mind the level of cash savings required on a entry clearance & further leave to remain are different from the level needed when applying for indefinite leave to remain at a later stage.
Category E: Pension income
If the family members sponsor 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. Pension income can be combined with categories A-D in order to meet Appendix FM thresholds.
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 members in the UK. Marc has supported hundreds of UK and other settled Nationals sponsor their husband or wives family members to prepare and submit successful EU family permit & UK family visit visa. Whether you require a consultation to understand the Immigration Rules for your forthcoming parent visa to UK, or have your UK Family visit visa professionally checked by himself before submitting. Use his representation service to prepare and submit your UK family visa application for you.
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 Visa Application. Our immigration adviser specialises in assisting on Spouse visas, Civil partners, Unmarried partners and Parent visa UK applications with complex financial circumstances who require support completing and submitting a successful UK Family 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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