Family Visas

Our immigration solicitors offer a free consultation for all family visa applications in the UK. To book your appointment call us on 0203 909 8399 or contact us online.

The UK family visa allows certain family members and dependents of people who already have another type of UK visa to join them in the UK. Married or civil partners, unmarried partners, children, grandchildren, parents, and dependent adult relatives are all covered by UK family visas, and in some cases, extended family members may be able to enter the UK as well under the EEA regulations.

To find out which applies to you and your situation, read the information below and then get in touch with Connaught Law immigration lawyers for expert help and advice. If you’re outside the UK you can apply to live with your partner in the UK :

• Spouse visa 
• Civil partner visa
• Unmarried partner visa
• Fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner
• Parent of a British child
• Relative who’ll provide long-term care for you

Applying to join family living permanently in the UK

If you have UK citizenship or permanent residence (indefinite leave to remain) as a non-EU/EFTA national, your family members can apply for a UK Family Visa known as the ‘family of a settled person’ visa. This UK Family Visa will allow relatives or partners to stay in the UK for 6 months or more. They can also work and study in the UK on the UK Family Visa.

To make a UK Family Visa application, you will need to prove that:

• your relationship to your family member is genuine and legally recognised in the UK
• you will be living with your family member in the UK
• you have a good knowledge of English (unless you’re under 18, over 65 or have a long-term physical or mental health condition)
• you have no serious or outstanding convictions on your criminal record

Getting a Family Visa, UK, for joining relatives who have been in the UK for less than 5 years

You can be joined by relatives in the UK if you are a non-EU/EFTA national on any of the following long-stay visas:

• Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 5 work visa (except Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme visa)
• Tier 4 (General) student visa
• Turkish Worker or Turkish Businessperson visa
• UK Ancestry visa

Your family members will need a separate visa as a ‘dependant’ and will need to pay the UK healthcare surcharge. You will need to show proof that you can financially support them, usually by providing evidence of savings equivalent to a certain amount for each family member applying. The amount varies according to which UK visa you have.

The duration of your family member’s stay cannot exceed your own stay in the UK and they will not be able to work in the UK unless they are eligible to apply for any of the UK work visas.

Further information, help, and advice

As one of the leading immigration solicitors in Holborn London, we also work on a broad range of other immigration application with an experienced in-house team of solicitors to represent applicants who have grounds to apply visas that involve marriage, civil partnership, asylum, human rights, and the European Union free movement.