Adult Dependent Relative Visa UK: Requirements and Process

Where the rules are

This route has its own appendix: Appendix Adult Dependent Relative. It is not part of Appendix FM, and accounts that place it there will point at the wrong paragraphs. The plain-English version is on GOV.UK, under "Apply as an adult coming to be cared for by a relative".

The appendix opens with its own summary of the route:

"The applicant must 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."

Who can apply, and who can sponsor

Paragraph ADR 4.1 — the applicant must be one of the following, of a person in the UK who is the sponsor:

• the parent;
• the grandparent;
• the son or daughter; or
• the brother or sister.

That is the whole list. An uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin is not on it, and no discretion in the appendix adds them.

Paragraph ADR 4.2 — the sponsor must be a British citizen, settled in the UK, in the UK with protection status, or an EEA national with limited leave under paragraph EU3 of Appendix EU on the basis of meeting condition 1(a)(i) in paragraph EU14. GOV.UK renders that last one as pre-settled status for someone from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein who started living in the UK before 1 January 2021, and adds Irish citizens to the first category.

Both the applicant and the sponsor must be aged 18 or over at the date of application, under ADR 1.2(d).

The care test

It is in two paragraphs, and both have to be satisfied.

ADR 5.1 — the need. The applicant "must as a result of age, illness or disability require long term personal care to perform everyday tasks".

ADR 5.2 — the country. On an entry clearance application, the applicant must be

"unable to obtain the required level of care in the country where they are living, even with the financial help of the sponsor because either: (a) the care is not available and there is no person in that country who can reasonably provide it: or (b) the care is not affordable."

The words "even with the financial help of the sponsor" are what make this paragraph the hard one. Care that exists and could be paid for by the sponsor is care that can be obtained. Limb (a) also asks whether there is any person in that country who could reasonably provide it, which brings other family members there into the assessment.

Two rules about couples

• ADR 5.1 and 5.3A.1. Where the applicant is the sponsor's parent or grandparent, the care need may be the applicant's or their partner's — and that applicant must not be in a subsisting relationship with a partner unless the partner is applying as an Adult Dependent Relative at the same time.
• The appendix's own summary adds: "Where a couple, who are both the parents or grandparents of the sponsor, are applying as Adult Dependent Relatives only one of them needs to require long-term personal care."

The sponsor's financial requirement

There is no £29,000 figure here. Paragraph ADR 6.1 sets an adequate maintenance test instead: "The sponsor must be able to provide adequate maintenance, accommodation and care for the applicant in the UK without access to public funds." GOV.UK adds that "the caseworker considers their income, housing costs and any care costs".

Paragraph ADR 6.2 sets the periods the evidence must cover:

• income other than self-employment, or savings: the 6 months immediately before the date of application;
• where the sponsor is receiving maternity, paternity, adoption or sick pay: either those 6 months or the 6 months before that leave began;
• self-employment: the last full financial year before the date of application, with evidence of ongoing self-employment under paragraph 7 or 9 of Appendix FM-SE;
• non-employment income: received in the 12 months before the date of application, except as specified in paragraph 10 of Appendix FM-SE;
• savings converted from the sale of property: the requirements of paragraph 11A(d) of Appendix FM-SE.

Paragraph ADR 6.3 applies paragraphs 1, 12A and 12B of Appendix FM-SE to how that income or savings is evidenced. Our self-employment entry covers what paragraphs 7 and 9 require.

The undertaking, and what it exposes the sponsor to

This is the obligation most often left out of accounts of the route. Paragraph ADR 6.4 requires

"a signed maintenance undertaking confirming that the applicant will not have access to public funds, and that the sponsor will be responsible for the maintenance, accommodation and care of the applicant for either: (a) a period of 5 years from the date the applicant arrives in the UK if the applicant is to be granted settlement; or (b) the duration of the period of permission to be granted if the applicant is being granted temporary permission to stay."

And ADR 6.5 gives it teeth:

"If the applicant receives public funds during the period covered by the maintenance undertaking... the UK Government may seek to recover the public funds from the sponsor who gave the undertaking."

So the applicant is granted settlement, but the sponsor carries a five-year financial liability that survives the grant. Our entry on public funds sets out what counts as one.

Applying, and what is granted

Paragraph ADR 3.1: a person coming to the UK on this route must apply for and obtain entry clearance before they arrive. The form outside the UK is "Join or accompany a family member"; inside the UK, for someone who already has permission as an Adult Dependent Relative, it is "Further leave to remain – Human Rights". GOV.UK: "You can only apply from outside the UK, unless you're applying to extend your stay on this visa."

Appendix Tuberculosis may apply, requiring a medical certificate confirming screening for active pulmonary tuberculosis.

What the grant is

• ADR 9.1. Where the sponsor is a British citizen or settled in the UK, an applicant granted entry clearance is granted settlement. GOV.UK: "Your stay is unlimited. You will not need to apply to extend or settle."
• ADR 9.2. Where the sponsor has temporary permission, the applicant is granted temporary permission expiring on the same date as the sponsor's.
• ADR 9.3. Where the applicant is applying from inside the UK for permission to stay and the sponsor is British or settled, permission is granted for 30 months.
• ADR 9.4. Temporary permission carries: no access to public funds; work permitted, including self-employment and voluntary work; and study permitted, subject to the condition in Appendix ATAS.

A person on temporary permission applies for settlement later on form SET(O), under paragraphs ADR 10.1 onwards.

Fees and how long it takes

• Fee. The Home Office fee table dated 8 April 2026 sets "Route to Settlement – other dependant relative" at £3,635. A separate line, "Route to Settlement – refugee dependant relative", is £452. Paragraph ADR 1.2(a) makes payment of the fee a validity requirement, "unless the applicant has been granted a fee waiver in whole or part".
• Healthcare surcharge. ADR 1.2(a) also names the Immigration Health Charge as a validity requirement. It arises where temporary permission is being granted rather than settlement; a grant of indefinite leave does not attract it.
• Decision times. GOV.UK: "If you apply outside the UK you'll usually get a decision within 12 weeks. If you apply inside the UK you'll usually get a decision within 8 weeks." The £500 priority service is published as usually up to 30 working days for a family application from outside the UK, including "adult coming to be cared for by a relative" — see our priority service entry.

GOV.UK does not publish refusal rates for this route, and Rowan does not carry figures it cannot source.

Evidence the requirements imply

Appendix ADR specifies documents for the sponsor's finances, by reference to Appendix FM-SE, but does not specify evidence for the care test. What that test asks for follows from its own words rather than from a published list:

• For ADR 5.1 — the nature of the age, illness or disability, the everyday tasks affected, and why the personal care needed is long-term rather than temporary.
• For ADR 5.2 — what care exists in the country where the applicant lives, what it costs, whether the sponsor could fund it, and whether there is any person in that country who could reasonably provide it.
• For ADR 6.1 to 6.4 — the sponsor's income or savings over the periods listed above, their accommodation, and the signed undertaking itself.

Where the requirements are not met

The appendix contains its own Article 8 provision rather than sending the applicant outside the Rules. Paragraph ADR 7.1: where the applicant does not meet all the suitability requirements or all the eligibility requirements in ADR 3.1 to ADR 6.4, but the decision maker is satisfied that refusal "would breach Article 8 of the Human Rights Convention, because it would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant or their family", the applicant meets the Article 8 eligibility requirement.

Paragraph ADR 7.2 carves out the suitability grounds at SUI 2.1, SUI 2.3, SUI 3.1, SUI 4.1 and SUI 5.1 of Part Suitability, where the application must be refused regardless.

After a refusal, the decision letter states whether there is a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal and whether administrative review is available instead. The published deadlines are 28 days from receiving the decision for an appeal from outside the UK, and 28 days for an out-of-country administrative review, which costs £80. Our entry on reading a decision letter sets both out.

What GOV.UK offers instead

The published alternative for a relative who does not meet this route is visiting. A Standard Visitor visa allows stays of up to 6 months at a time and costs £135, or £506 for a 2-year visa, £903 for 5 years and £1,128 for 10 years. It does not lead to settlement and carries no access to public funds or free NHS treatment.

Applications on this route turn on legal argument and on country evidence. Rowan sets out what the Rules say and does not assess individual cases. GOV.UK maintains a service to find a regulated immigration adviser; advisers are regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, which replaced the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner on 16 January 2025.

Related entries

• Exceptional circumstances under Appendix FM
• No recourse to public funds
• The Standard Visitor visa
• Naturalisation
• The partner and spouse route

Questions and answers