Applications For Children

We have previously written about the changes to applications for children, brought about by the introduction of Appendix. Two and a half years on, we now consider common pitfalls in applications for children to join family in the UK.

Eligible Visa Routes 

Children can apply to join their parent or parents in the UK where the sponsoring parent is settled in the UK, is a British citizen, or holds permission to live in the UK on a visa route that allows dependants.

In recent years, the Home Office has restricted the types of visas that allow partners and children to accompany (or join) the main applicant in the UK. 

Students can only sponsor dependants in limited circumstances such as where the sponsoring parent is studying a full-time research-based higher degree, a PhD or other doctoral qualification of nine months or longer at a higher education provider with a track record of compliance, the sponsoring parent is receiving a scholarship or sponsorship from a government for study in the UK and their course is full-time and for a period of at least six months.

For those on the Skilled Worker route, their ability to be accompanied or joined by family is tied to the skill level of their job. Since 11 March 2024, care workers have been prevented from having dependants join them in the UK. The Home Office introduced further changes on 22 July 2025. Now only Skilled Workers in highly skilled jobs can bring family with them. If your Skilled Occupation Code (SOC) is classified as ‘medium skilled’ then it is only in very limited circumstances that your partner and children can apply for a visa as your dependant.

Age of the Child

Children must be under the age of 18 in order to eligible to join a parent in the UK. It is crucial that your child makes an application to join you in the UK before their 18th birthday. If a child turns 18 after having been granted a dependant visa then they can normally continue to extend their visa, and ultimately settle in the UK in the future, so long as they remain your dependant. You will, however, have to evidence that they are not leading an independent life. 

Proving Parental Relationship

You will need to evidence your parental relationship. There is a strict definition of what a ‘parent’ is in the Immigration Rules. For those that are not settled or British citizens, this does not include de facto adoptions or children bring brought to the UK for the purposes of adoption. 

Sometimes you may need a DNA test to establish you are the child’s parent, for example where the registration of the child’s birth took place significantly after the time the child was born. 

Sole responsibility

Where the child’s other parent is not also in the UK (with relevant immigration permission) then you will need to evidence that you either have sole responsibility for the child’s upbringing or that there are serious and compelling reasons to grant the child permission. 

Exercising sole responsibility means that you are ultimately responsible for making the important decisions in the child’s life, for example those relating to education, health and religion. This can be particularly difficult to evidence, especially when physically separated from a child or where the child’s other parent retains some involvement in the child’s life. 

Applications for children can be complex, especially where you are not the child’s biological parent or where there are issues of sole responsibility. If an application is refused by the Home Office then you will only be given a right of appeal where it is an accepted human rights claim. For many applicants, such as those applying to join family on a student or work route, there is no right of appeal before an independent Immigration Judge. Instead, the only way to challenge a refusal is by an application to the Home Office for Administrative Review. It is very important to get specialist advice at an early stage in order to try and maximize the chances of an initial visa application being successful. 

If you would like advice in relation to an application for a child to join you in the UK, then do please contact us at either our Edinburgh or Glasgow office.