Adult Dependent Relative Visa
For an adult who needs long-term personal care that is unavailable or unaffordable where they live, and whose relative in the UK will fund and arrange it.
- Screening A few questions about your work, your family and your plans.
- Documents A checklist built around your route and who is coming with you.
- Expert review A qualified adviser reads every document before anything is filed.
- Application Every answer is checked against the published rules for your route.
- Submission Filed, with everything that went with it kept in one place.
- Arrival We stay with you through the crossing and the first steps after.
Minimum age
18
You and your sponsor
Where you apply from
Outside the UK
Entry clearance before you travel
If your sponsor is settled
Settlement
If all requirements are met, on arrival
Sponsor's undertaking
5 years
Where settlement is granted
English or Life in the UK
Not required
Stated for settling on this route
What is the UK adult dependent relative visa?
It lets an adult who needs long-term personal care join a close relative in the UK. You must be that relative's parent, grandparent, son, daughter, brother or sister. The care you need must be unavailable or unaffordable where you live, and your sponsor must support you without public funds.
Who the adult dependent relative route is for
It is for an adult who needs long-term personal care and whose close relative in the UK will provide it. You must be the parent, grandparent, son, daughter, brother or sister of the person sponsoring you. You and your sponsor must both be 18 or over.
You have to apply for and obtain entry clearance before you travel. There is a separate route for the adult dependent relative of a BN(O) status holder.
The care test
You must need long-term personal care to perform everyday tasks because of your age, an illness or a disability. The care must also be out of reach where you live, and the rules put that two ways. Either the care is not available and nobody in that country can reasonably provide it, or the care is not affordable.
The question is asked with your sponsor's money already assumed. Your relative's willingness to pay does not answer it. Where you and your partner are both the sponsor's parents or grandparents and you apply together, only one of you needs to require that care.
Who can sponsor you
Your sponsor must be a British or Irish citizen, settled in the UK, in the UK with protection status, or an EEA national with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. Pre-settled status counts where your relative began living in the UK before 1 January 2021.
Your sponsor's status also decides what you are given. If they are British, Irish or settled, entry clearance is granted as settlement. If they hold temporary permission, so do you.
What your relative undertakes
Your sponsor must be able to maintain, accommodate and care for you in the UK with no access to public funds. They sign a maintenance undertaking to that effect. It runs for five years from your arrival where settlement is granted, or for the length of the permission where it is temporary.
If you draw public funds during that period, the government can recover the money from your sponsor. Your sponsor also evidences income or cash savings. They set out who will deliver your care in the UK, what it will cost, and how they will pay for it.
Requirements
- You and your sponsor are both 18 or overBoth ages are taken at the date of application.
- You are the sponsor's parent, grandparent, son, daughter, brother or sisterNo other relationship qualifies on this route.
- Your sponsor is a British or Irish citizen, settled, has protection status, or is an EEA national with pre-settled statusPre-settled status counts where your relative began living in the UK before 1 January 2021.
- You need long-term personal care to perform everyday tasksThe need must arise from your age, an illness or a disability.
- That care is not available or not affordable where you liveEither nobody in that country can reasonably provide it, or the cost is out of reach even with your sponsor's financial help.
- Your sponsor can maintain, accommodate and care for you without public fundsThe rules publish no figure for this. The decision maker weighs your relative's income, their housing costs and the cost of your care.
- Your sponsor signs a maintenance undertakingFive years from your arrival where settlement is granted, or the length of the permission where it is temporary.
- If you are the sponsor's parent or grandparent, you have no partner staying behindA partner you are still with must apply as an adult dependent relative at the same time.
- You apply for and obtain entry clearance before you travelYou cannot enter first and apply here. The only in-UK applications on this route are to extend or to settle.
- You provide a tuberculosis screening certificate where the test applies to youIt must confirm that active pulmonary tuberculosis is not present.
- You meet the suitability requirementsCriminality, deception, unpaid NHS charges of £500 or more and breaches of immigration law are all weighed. A separate part of the rules sets these out and applies across routes.
Documents typically needed
- A passport or other document establishing your identity and nationality
- Your biometricsProvided when you are asked for them.
- A tuberculosis screening certificateWhere you are from a country in which the test is required.
- Your sponsor's signed maintenance undertakingConfirms you will have no access to public funds and that your relative bears your costs.
- Six months of your sponsor's payslips and bank statementsWhere salaried employment is relied on, with a letter from the employer confirming the job and the salary.
- Your sponsor's last full financial year of self-employment accountsWith evidence that the business is continuing.
- Twelve months of any non-employment income relied on
- The monthly housing and Council Tax costs for where you will live
- A written plan for your care in the UKWho will provide it, what it will cost, and how your sponsor will pay for it.
- The family settlement or reunion form, Appendix 1Completed alongside the online application from outside the UK.
- A certified translation of any document not in English or Welsh
- Your sponsor's sponsorship formNeeded when you apply to settle.
How to apply
Test your care need against the published wording
You must need long-term personal care for everyday tasks because of age, illness or disability, and that care must be unavailable or unaffordable where you live. It is worth taking advice before you spend anything.
Assemble your relative's financial evidence
Six months of payslips and bank statements for salaried work, a full financial year for self-employment, or twelve months for other income. Cash savings and the proceeds of a recent property sale can count, with their own evidence.
Write the care plan
Your sponsor sets out who will deliver your care in the UK, which can include other family members, what it will cost, and how they will meet that cost. The monthly housing and Council Tax figures for your future home go in alongside it.
Get a tuberculosis certificate if you need one
Required where you are applying from a country in which the screening test applies.
Apply online from outside the UK
Use the join or accompany a family member form, and complete the family settlement or reunion form, Appendix 1. Your relative completes the sponsorship form and the maintenance undertaking.
Give your biometrics and wait for the decision
Usually within 12 weeks from outside the UK. The super priority service cannot be used on this route, so there is no way to pay for a faster decision.
Fees & costs
- Apply outside the UK (sponsor has temporary protection status)
- £452
- Apply outside the UK (any other sponsor)
- £3,635
- Apply in the UK (permission to stay)
- £1,407
- Healthcare surcharge, adult aged 18 or over (2 years 6 months)
- £2,587.50
- Healthcare surcharge, adult aged 18 or over (2 years 9 months)
- £3,105
- Healthcare surcharge, adult aged 18 or over (5 years)
- £5,175
- Super priority service
- Not available on this route
Fees are set by the Home Office and can change. A fee waiver may be available in some circumstances, for example where you cannot afford a place to live or your essential living costs. Source: GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa
Processing times
- Apply outside the UK
- Usually within 12 weeks
- Apply inside the UK
- Usually within 8 weeks
Standard service times published by the Home Office. The super priority service is not available on this route. Source: GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/adult-dependent-relative
What you can and can't do
Permitted
- Work, including self-employment and voluntary work, where you hold temporary permission
- Study, subject to the academic technology approval scheme where it applies
- Apply to settle at the same time as the relative looking after you
- Bring your partner, where you are the sponsor's parent or grandparent and they apply on this route at the same time
- Have your care in the UK delivered by other family members, provided the plan and its cost are set out
Not permitted
- Have access to public funds while you hold temporary permission, and your sponsor has undertaken to support you either way
- Enter the UK first and apply from here, unless you are extending or settling on this route
- Use the super priority service
- Change sponsor. A later application must name the person who sponsored your last grant
How long the visa lasts
Where your sponsor is British, Irish or settled and you apply from abroad, you are granted settlement, so there is no expiry to manage. Where your sponsor holds temporary permission, yours expires on the same date as theirs. You then extend or settle when they do.
Where you apply from inside the UK and your sponsor is British or settled, you are granted 30 months. Temporary permission carries no access to public funds. Work is allowed, including self-employment and voluntary work, and study is allowed subject to the academic technology approval scheme where it applies.
Settlement and what next
If you were granted settlement on arrival, there is nothing further to apply for. If you hold temporary permission, you apply to settle at the same time as the relative looking after you. Your permission expires if they are granted indefinite leave to remain before you.
You do not have to prove your knowledge of English or pass the Life in the UK Test on this route. Your sponsor must be the same person who sponsored your last grant and must be in the UK. They must again show they can maintain, accommodate and care for you without public funds.
If the application is refused
A refusal here is the refusal of a human rights claim. The published guidance is that such a refusal carries a right of appeal to the tribunal. That right is lost where the claim is certified as clearly unfounded or as a late claim. Administrative review is not available on this route. Where a refusal would breach your right to family and private life by causing unjustifiably harsh consequences, the decision maker can still grant on that basis. Several suitability grounds close that door outright. Bring us the decision letter before you apply again.
Common questions
Can I apply from inside the UK?
How much does it cost?
Is there a minimum income my relative must earn?
Do I need an English test or the Life in the UK Test?
Can my husband or wife come with me?
What counts as care being unavailable or unaffordable?
How long does a decision take?
What happens if my relative settles before I do?
Talk it through with one of our solicitors.
Book a consultation and one of our immigration solicitors will go through your situation, the documents involved, and what happens next.
Spouse and Partner Visa
Family visa for spouses, civil partners, and unmarried partners of British citizens or UK settled persons with pathway to settlement.
Read the guide →Child Visa
For a child under 18 to live in the UK with a parent. A child can be added to a parent's application as a dependant, or apply separately.
Read the guide →Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)
Settle permanently in the UK. Indefinite leave to remain has no time limit, so you can live, work and study here for as long as you like.
Read the guide →