Bringing partners and children to the UK

Whether you are coming to the UK on a work visa or student visa, one of your first questions may be: can I bring my partner and children with me? The answer depends heavily on which visa route you are on, your circumstances, and recent changes to UK immigration law. This guide walks you through the options for dependants on Skilled Worker visas, Student visas, and the separate family visa route for partners—so you can plan your move with confidence.

Skilled Worker Visa: Bringing Your Partner and Children

If you are coming to the UK as a Skilled Worker, the rules on bringing dependants changed substantially in 2024 and 2025. The key dividing line is the level of your job role, measured on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF).

Who Can Bring Dependants?

You can bring your partner and children under 18 if your job is at RQF Level 6 or above—essentially graduate-level or higher professional roles. This covers most engineers, IT professionals, healthcare specialists, managers, and senior technical staff. From July 2025, workers in lower-skilled roles (RQF 3–5) cannot usually bring dependants, unless they already held a Skilled Worker visa before that date and are extending or changing jobs within the same occupation code.

Care workers face a stricter regime. If you are a care worker and your visa sponsorship started on or after 11 March 2024, you cannot bring dependants to the UK at all. This rule was introduced to manage overall migration numbers in the social care sector. If you held a Skilled Worker visa as a care worker before that date, you may retain the right to sponsor dependants for extensions.

Eligible Dependants

• Your spouse or civil partner
• Your unmarried partner (provided you have been in a relationship for at least 2 years—cohabitation is no longer required)
• Any children under 18, including those born in the UK during your stay
• Children aged 16 or 17 may apply if they are unmarried, not living independently, and in full-time education

All dependants must prove their genuine relationship to you and provide evidence of financial dependence where applicable. Each family member typically requires their own separate visa application, though you can link applications together using a family linking code.

Financial Requirements and Maintenance

Your employer may certify that you can maintain your dependants without additional funds, in which case no extra money needs to be held. If they do not, you must demonstrate funds in a UK bank account. Current figures require approximately £285 for a partner, £315 for one child, and £200 for each additional child, held for at least 28 consecutive days before you apply. These sums must be in addition to funds needed for your own maintenance.

Your Dependants' Work Rights

Partners and children aged 18 and over with a Skilled Worker dependant visa can work in almost any job in the UK without requiring separate sponsorship. This is one of the biggest advantages of this route: both partners can build careers. However, there are two important exceptions. Dependants cannot work as professional sportspersons or sports coaches, and they cannot work as doctors or dentists in training (unless they hold a qualifying UK degree in those fields).

Children under 18 are allowed to attend school in the UK but are not usually expected to work. Once they turn 18, they can work provided they remain financially dependent on you.

Student Visa: Bringing Your Partner and Children

The rules for student dependants changed dramatically from 1 January 2024 and have remained restrictive. Most international students can no longer bring partners or children to the UK, but there are two narrow pathways that remain open.

Postgraduate Research Students

If you are pursuing a PhD, doctoral qualification, or a research-based higher degree (where the research component exceeds the taught component in terms of student effort), you can bring your partner and children. A research-based master's programme—such as an MPhil or a taught master's by research—also qualifies, provided it exceeds 9 months in duration. Standard taught master's courses, such as most one-year MSc or MBA programmes, do not qualify, even if they are prestigious institutions.

Government-Sponsored Students

If you are a full-time student on any course lasting more than 6 months and you have received a government scholarship award covering full fees and living costs from the UK or an overseas government, you can bring dependants. Undergraduate students on ordinary scholarships, or those paying their own fees, do not qualify.

Financial Requirements and Work Rights

If you are eligible to bring dependants on a Student visa, you must demonstrate you can financially support them. The requirement is typically around £845 per month per dependant for courses in London and £680 per month outside London, held continuously for 28 days before your application.

Student dependants have full work rights—they can work full-time and part-time without restrictions (except the professional sportsperson and doctor/dentist in training exceptions). They can also study and access the NHS. Unlike Skilled Worker dependants, student dependants can claim the same public services as permanent residents once they have paid their Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS).

The Family Visa Route: Sponsoring a Partner

If you are a British citizen or settled person in the UK, you can sponsor your spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner on a separate family visa route, independent of any work or student visa. This route has its own eligibility rules and financial requirements.

The Minimum Income Requirement

As of 11 April 2024, the minimum income requirement for new applications is £29,000 per year. This is a fixed threshold that does not increase if you also wish to sponsor dependent children. If you were already on the partner route before that date and are applying for an extension, the previous threshold of £18,600 still applies—you are protected from the increase.

Your income can come from employment, self-employment, or a combination of income and savings. If you are using savings to bridge the gap between your actual income and the £29,000 threshold, you must hold savings above £16,000 above the shortfall for at least 28 days. This rule is intentionally strict, and applications with weak financial evidence are frequently refused.

Other Eligibility Criteria

Beyond the income requirement, you must prove that your relationship is genuine and subsisting—not a marriage of convenience. You and your partner must be aged 18 or over. If you are unmarried, you must show you have been in a relationship for at least 2 years. You must also demonstrate that you have adequate accommodation in the UK to house yourselves and any dependent children.

If you do not meet the £29,000 threshold but your circumstances are exceptional—for example, you have a British or settled child living with you and it would be unreasonable to ask them to leave—you may apply for an exception based on human rights grounds. These applications are uncommon and require strong supporting evidence.

Work Rights and Settlement

Family visa holders can work in any job without restriction (except the professional sportsperson and doctor/dentist in training exceptions). They can study, access NHS services, and claim public benefits if they are in need. After five years on the family visa, they can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (settlement), and after a further year, they can apply for British citizenship.

Costs and Next Steps

Application fees vary by route and location. As of 2025, a spouse or partner visa costs £1,938 for applications made from overseas and £1,321 from within the UK. Dependent child visa applications cost the same. On top of this, you and your dependants must pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (currently £1,035 per year for spouse and partner visas), which gives access to the NHS.

All visa applications require biometric data (fingerprints and photograph). Overseas applicants must attend a visa application centre in their home country; applicants within the UK can submit biometrics at a designated UK location. Processing times vary, but most applications take 6 to 8 weeks during standard processing.

Once you have been granted a visa, you will receive a share code to access your digital immigration status (eVisa) through a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) online account. There is no longer a physical visa sticker in your passport, though the share code is sufficient proof of your right to work and study in the UK.

Key Reminders

• Skilled Worker dependants are available for graduate-level roles (RQF 6+), but not for care workers on new visas from 11 March 2024 onwards.
• Student dependants are only available for postgraduate research students (PhD, research-based master's) or government-sponsored undergraduate students.
• The family visa route requires a £29,000 annual income threshold for new applications since 11 April 2024.
• All dependants can work in most jobs, except as professional sportspersons/coaches or as doctors/dentists in training (without certain UK qualifications).
• Dependants on work visas cannot claim public benefits; those on family visas can.
• Applications must include comprehensive financial evidence and proof of genuine relationships.
• Processing fees, the Immigration Health Surcharge, and biometric costs add significantly to the total cost of bringing family to the UK.