Adding a Dependant to Your UK Visa: Complete Guide

Who Counts as a Dependant

Under the UK immigration rules, a dependant is a close family member who is financially or personally dependent on the main visa holder. The categories are:

• Spouse or civil partner: You must be legally married or in a civil partnership recognised under UK law.
• Unmarried partner: Paragraph RWP 5.1 of Appendix Relationship with Partner requires a relationship similar to a marriage or civil partnership for at least 2 years before the date of application.
• A child under 18: GOV.UK includes a child born in the UK during the stay. A child born in the UK does not automatically become a British citizen, and GOV.UK states that a dependant visa is needed to travel in and out of the UK with them, supported by a full UK birth certificate naming both parents.

Age is fixed at the date of application, not at the date of decision. On the Skilled Worker route GOV.UK confirms that a child who turns 18 during the stay can still apply to extend or switch as a dependant.

Other family members (parents, siblings, adult children) generally cannot be added as dependants on most work or study visas. There is a separate adult dependent relative route for elderly parents or grandparents, but it has strict requirements.

Which Visa Routes Allow Dependants

Most UK visa routes allow dependants, but the rules vary:

• Skilled Worker visa: Dependants can join you and work without restriction.
• Global Talent visa: Dependants allowed with full work rights.
• Student visa: the most restricted route. GOV.UK states that the student must be either a government-sponsored student starting a course lasting longer than 6 months, or a full-time student on a postgraduate course at level 7 or above lasting 9 months or longer — and for a postgraduate course starting on or after 1 January 2024, it must be a PhD, another doctorate, or a research-based higher degree. Each dependant must also show £845 a month for up to 9 months for a course in London, or £680 a month outside London, held for 28 consecutive days ending within 31 days of applying.
• Graduate route: open to a partner or child who was already a dependant on the Student or Tier 4 (General) visa. GOV.UK notes they must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before a decision, or the application is withdrawn. From 30 July 2026, a child born in the UK can also be added as a dependant on this route.
• Ancestry visa: Dependants can join you and work freely.

For the full rules on each visa route, check the GOV.UK family visa pages.

Costs for Adding a Dependant

Each dependant must pay:

• Visa application fee. The same as the main applicant's. On the Skilled Worker route: £819 per person for up to 3 years or £1,618 for more than 3 years from outside the UK; £943 or £1,865 from inside. Where the job is on the Immigration Salary List — the list that replaced the shortage occupation list — the fee is £628 or £1,235, the same inside or outside the UK.
• Immigration health surcharge. £1,035 a year. Someone under 18 at the date of application pays £776 a year, as do students, their dependants, and Youth Mobility applicants.
• Fingerprints and photograph. No fee. GOV.UK states plainly: "there's no fee for this".

Two arithmetic points. First, a dependant joining later pays for the main applicant's period, not their own. GOV.UK's own example: where a 5-year certificate of sponsorship expires in 2027 and a child applies to join in 2025, the child pays the more-than-3-years fee.

Second, the totals. A dependant coming from outside the UK for 3 years on a Skilled Worker visa pays £819 plus £3,105 in health surcharge — £3,924. From inside the UK it is £943 plus £3,105, or £4,048. On an Immigration Salary List job, £628 plus £3,105, or £3,733. Our guide to budgeting works through longer stays.

How to Apply

The process depends on whether your dependant is applying from outside or inside the UK:

Applying from Outside the UK

• Each family member completes a separate application online — GOV.UK is explicit that they cannot be added to someone else's
• They need the main applicant's application number, called a Global Web Form number or a Unique Application Number, from Home Office emails and letters. A family linking code, where one was issued, connects the applications
• Pay the visa fee and the immigration health surcharge
• Prove identity — either through the UK Immigration: ID Check app, or by giving fingerprints and a photograph at a visa application centre. GOV.UK notes the nearest centre may be in another country
• On the Skilled Worker route, a decision usually follows within 3 weeks

Applying from Inside the UK

• Apply online as a partner or child, again as a separate application unless the form says they can be included
• Pay the visa fee and the immigration health surcharge
• Prove identity at a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services service point, or through the UK Immigration: ID Check app
• On the Skilled Worker route, a decision usually follows within 8 weeks

GOV.UK lists the situations in which a person already in the UK cannot switch into dependant status on the Skilled Worker route: on a visit visa, a short-term student visa, a Parent of a Child Student visa, a seasonal worker visa, a domestic worker in a private household visa, on immigration bail, or with permission given outside the Immigration Rules. Someone on a Student visa can only switch if they have completed the course they were sponsored to study, or have studied for a PhD for at least 24 months.

Documents You Will Need

The exact documents depend on your visa route, but typically include:

• The dependant's valid passport
• Evidence of the relationship (marriage certificate, birth certificate for children)
• The main applicant's application number — a Global Web Form number or Unique Application Number. Biometric residence permits are no longer issued and have all expired; status is now held as an eVisa and proved with a share code lasting 90 days
• Proof of funds where the route requires it — on the Student route, £845 or £680 a month for each dependant
• A tuberculosis test certificate where the applicant has lived in a listed country for 6 months or more and is coming for 6 months or more
• An English language test result where the route requires one of the partner

Dependant Work Rights

Work rights are set by the conditions attached to the grant, and GOV.UK states that a successful applicant is given a full list of what they can and cannot do. That list arrives with the decision email and sits on the eVisa. Since biometric residence permits stopped being issued and have all expired, there is no card to read conditions from — they are checked in the UK Visas and Immigration account.

One condition applies across these routes: no recourse to public funds. GOV.UK states that a Skilled Worker cannot apply for most benefits or the State Pension, that a Graduate visa holder cannot either, and that a UK Ancestry visa holder cannot get public funds.

The Temporary Shortage List is a separate matter worth knowing about for anyone considering a sponsored role below degree level: roles on that list cannot bring dependants at all.

Next Steps

Whether a route allows dependants at all is the first published question, and the Student route is where the answer is most often no. After that, the fee is the main applicant's fee for the main applicant's period, and the health surcharge is £1,035 a year, or £776 for someone under 18. Our guide to using an adviser explains how to find one regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority.

Related guides:

• Children on a Spouse Visa
• Immigration Health Surcharge Explained
• Skilled Worker Visa: Complete Guide
• UK Visa Fees: Complete Guide

Questions and answers