Dependant visa (bringing your partner and children on a UK work visa)

There is no single visa called a "dependant visa". Instead, the Health and Care Worker visa and Skilled Worker visa both let you apply for your partner and children to join or stay with you as your dependants. GOV.UK says dependants can be:

• your husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner
• your child under 18, including a child born in the UK during your stay
• your child over 18 only if they currently have permission to be in the UK as your dependant

You must prove a marriage or civil partnership recognised in the UK, or that you have lived together for at least 2 years. Children must live with you, unless they are in full-time education away from home, and must not be married or in a civil partnership.

For most registered health professionals, such as nurses, doctors and allied health professionals, the family rules above apply. GOV.UK restricts two groups:

• Care workers and senior care workers can bring dependants only if they have been continually employed in the UK in that role on a Health and Care Worker or Skilled Worker visa since before 11 March 2024, or in a few child-related exceptions.
• Other medium-skilled jobs follow the same pattern with a cut-off of before 22 July 2025.

Our care worker visa changes guide explains these limits in more detail.

1. From outside the UK, each family member applies online separately and pays their own fee, using your GWF or UAN application number.
2. They prove their identity with the UK Immigration: ID Check app or at a visa application centre.
3. From inside the UK, they apply at the same time as you or before their current visa expires. GOV.UK says they must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until they get a decision.
4. Each person then gets their own eVisa and needs their own UKVI account.

GOV.UK says a decision usually takes about 3 weeks from outside the UK and about 8 weeks from inside.

• Fees. On the Health and Care Worker visa, each family member pays £324 for up to 3 years or £628 for more than 3 years. On the Skilled Worker visa they pay the same fee as you for the same length of time.
• Health surcharge. GOV.UK says Health and Care Worker visa holders and their partner or children do not pay the Immigration Health Surcharge. Skilled Worker dependants usually do.
• Money to support them. £285 for your partner, £315 for one child and £200 for each additional child, held for at least 28 days in a row. This is not needed if you have all been in the UK on a valid visa for at least 12 months, or if your employer covers your family's costs for the first month and says so on your certificate of sponsorship.

GOV.UK says dependants can work, except as a sportsperson or coach, study, and travel abroad and return. They cannot apply for most benefits (public funds) or the State Pension. Their permission usually ends with yours, so they extend when you do. Use the visa cost calculator to total the family's fees.