Child of a British parent visa
Reunite your family in the UK. Bring your child to live with their British or settled parent with expert immigration support.
- 12 weeks
- Standard decision time from outside the UK
- £2,064
- Application fee from outside the UK
- Study
- Children on a family visa can attend school
- IAA regulated
- Advisers handling your application
Which route your child needs
GOV.UK’s family visa “as a child” lets a child join a parent in the UK who is applying for, or already holds, a family visa as a partner or as a parent, or who has protection status. The child is granted permission in line with the parent’s route, can study, and settles when the parent does. There is no English language requirement for children.
If at least one parent is a British citizen or has indefinite leave to remain or permanent residence, GOV.UK says the child may not need a family visa and should check whether they can apply to settle in the UK directly. A child born abroad to a British parent may also already be a British citizen by descent, in which case the answer is a passport rather than a visa. The fee, evidence and processing time for a direct settlement application differ from the family visa figures on this page, and we confirm them at the point of instruction.
Start with the parent’s status
Eligibility in detail
Requirements about the child, the parent being joined, and the family’s finances. All must be met.
Age
Under 18 on the date of application. A child aged 18 or over can only apply if they already hold family visa permission that started when they were under 18, and must apply from inside the UK.
Living with the parent
The child must live with the parent in the UK, unless living away from home in full-time education such as boarding school or university.
Not married or in a civil partnership
The child must not be married or in a civil partnership and must not be living an independent life.
Joining both parents
One parent is applying for, or holds, a family visa as a partner, and the partner they are joining is the child’s other parent.
Sole parental responsibility
Alternatively, the parent in the UK is applying for, or holds, a family visa as a parent and has sole parental responsibility for the child.
Parent with protection status
A child can also apply to join a parent who has permission to stay as a refugee or a person with humanitarian protection.
Serious reasons and care plans
If none of the above apply, the child may still be eligible if there are serious reasons to let them come to or stay in the UK and there are plans for their care.
Parent’s financial requirement
The parent’s income must meet the financial requirement for their route — usually £29,000 combined income or qualifying savings on the partner route, or adequate maintenance without public funds on the parent route. A parent with protection status must meet the partner financial requirement.
Adequate accommodation
Somewhere for the family, including the child, to live without recourse to public funds and without overcrowding.
Suitability
None of the general grounds for refusal apply to the child, for example false documents or a previous breach of immigration law.
The following can count towards the parent’s financial requirement:
- Employment income before tax and National Insurance shown on payslips or a P60 — only income earned in the UK.
- Self-employment or UK limited-company director income shown on a Self Assessment return, based on the last 6 months or more before the application.
- Cash savings above £16,000.
- Pension income.
- Non-work income such as property rental or dividends.
Three ways a child qualifies
Joining both parents
The parent applying as a partner is joining the child’s other parent in the UK. Prove the parent–child relationship for both parents and the sponsoring parent’s financial requirement.
Sole responsibility
The UK parent holds a family visa as a parent and has sole parental responsibility. Evidence should show who has made decisions about the child’s schooling, health and care, and the absence of the other parent from that role.
Serious reasons
Where neither applies, the child may qualify if there are serious reasons for admitting them and there are arrangements for their care in the UK. Evidence of the child’s current circumstances and of the care plan is central.
Fees and costs
Figures as published on GOV.UK, last updated 3 August 2026. A child pays the same application fee as any dependant on a family visa application, plus the child rate of the healthcare surcharge.
- Application fee — applying outside the UK
- £2,064
- Application fee — applying inside the UK
- £1,407
- Healthcare surcharge, child — 2 years 9 months
- £2,328
- Healthcare surcharge, child — 2 years 6 months
- £1,940
- Healthcare surcharge, child — 5 years
- £3,880
- Priority service (optional)
- £500
- Super priority service (optional, inside the UK)
- £1,000
- Biometric appointment
- Required — no separate fee listed on GOV.UK
A fee waiver is available if the family does not have a place to live and cannot afford one, has a home but cannot afford essential living costs, or has a very low income and paying the fee would harm the child’s wellbeing. From outside the UK a fee waiver can only be requested on the Appendix FM online form. Translations and any TB test are paid to third parties.
Processing times
Family visas have their own standard times. The parent’s route decides which in-country figure applies to the child.
- Applying outside the UK — child
- 12 weeks
- Applying inside the UK — child (parent on the 5-year route)
- 8 weeks
- Applying inside the UK — parent on the 10-year route
- About 12 months
- Priority service — family visas from outside the UK
- Usually 30 working days
- Super priority service — inside the UK
- End of the next working day
The parent’s decision letter says whether they are on the 5-year or 10-year route. If the child is extending their own family visa, their previous decision letter also states the route. Processing starts at the biometric appointment or when documents are uploaded through the ID Check app.
Documents you will need
Adapted from GOV.UK’s “information and evidence you must provide”, applied to a child application.
The child’s identity
The child’s current passport or travel document; copies of the photo page and any visas or stamps in previous passports; details of any previous immigration applications; the child’s full birth certificate or adoption papers naming the parents; the parents’ dates of birth and nationality; tuberculosis test results if applying from a listed country; and certified translations of anything not in English or Welsh.
The parent’s status and relationship
The parent’s passport or proof of their right to be in the UK, or their family visa decision letter showing the route they are on; evidence of the relationship between the child and each parent; who the child normally lives with; anyone else with parental responsibility; and, where relied on, evidence of sole responsibility or of the care arrangements supporting a serious-reasons application.
Financial evidence
Proof that the parent meets the financial requirement for their route: 6 months of payslips counting back from the application date, bank statements showing the salary paid in, a dated employer’s letter on headed paper confirming job title, length of employment, contract type, gross pay, how long the salary has been paid and that the payslips are genuine — or the specified documents for self-employment, savings, pension or non-work income.
Accommodation
Tenancy, mortgage or property documents, or a letter from the owner, showing where the child will live and that the property will not be overcrowded once they arrive.
The form to use depends on the parent: the Appendix FM online form where the parent is or will be the partner of a British or Irish citizen, a settled person, a qualifying pre-settled national, a Turkish Businessperson or Worker visa holder, or a person with protection status; otherwise the online application form together with the Appendix 1 paper form.
Application process
- 1Step 1
Confirm the route
Establish the parent’s status, whether the child may already be British or able to settle directly, and which of the three qualifying limbs applies.
- 2Step 2
Gather evidence
Birth or adoption certificates, the parent’s status and route letter, financial evidence for the parent’s route, accommodation and any sole-responsibility or care-plan evidence.
- 3Step 3
Apply online
Use the Appendix FM online form or the online form plus Appendix 1, at the same time as the parent or separately, and pay the fee and healthcare surcharge.
- 4Step 4
Biometrics
The child attends a visa application centre or UKVCAS appointment for fingerprints and a photograph, or uses the ID Check app if invited.
- 5Step 5
Decision and eVisa
Standard processing is 12 weeks from outside the UK. The decision letter explains how to access the child’s eVisa and confirms the route.
- 1Step 1
Confirm the route
Establish the parent’s status, whether the child may already be British or able to settle directly, and which of the three qualifying limbs applies.
- 2Step 2
Gather evidence
Birth or adoption certificates, the parent’s status and route letter, financial evidence for the parent’s route, accommodation and any sole-responsibility or care-plan evidence.
- 3Step 3
Apply online
Use the Appendix FM online form or the online form plus Appendix 1, at the same time as the parent or separately, and pay the fee and healthcare surcharge.
- 4Step 4
Biometrics
The child attends a visa application centre or UKVCAS appointment for fingerprints and a photograph, or uses the ID Check app if invited.
- 5Step 5
Decision and eVisa
Standard processing is 12 weeks from outside the UK. The decision letter explains how to access the child’s eVisa and confirms the route.
Route to settlement
A child’s permission tracks the parent’s. The decision letter records whether the family is on the 5-year or 10-year route.
- A child joining a parent on the 5-year partner or parent route is granted permission in line with that parent and can apply for indefinite leave to remain when the parent completes 5 years’ continuous residence on the route.
- A child joining a parent on the 10-year route — where the parent could not meet the financial or English requirements — settles on the same longer timetable, and in-country decisions take about 12 months.
- A child born in the UK receives the same permission to stay as the parent and can be added to the parent’s next application or apply separately.
- If a parent already holds indefinite leave to remain or permanent residence, GOV.UK says the child may be able to apply to settle in the UK directly rather than take a family visa.
- A child who becomes settled, or whose parent settles while the child is under 18, may be able to register as a British citizen — a separate nationality application that we assess alongside the immigration route.
Common reasons child applications are refused
Each reason corresponds to a mandatory requirement on GOV.UK or to the general grounds for refusal.
- The parent being joined does not hold, and is not applying for, a family visa as a partner or parent, and does not have protection status — the child has applied on the wrong route.
- The child is applying to join one parent on the partner route but that parent’s partner is not the child’s other parent, and sole responsibility is not established.
- Sole parental responsibility is claimed but the evidence shows the other parent still shares in decisions about the child.
- No serious reasons are shown and there is no evidence of arrangements for the child’s care where that limb is relied on.
- The parent’s financial requirement is not met, or the specified evidence for the income category is missing or does not cover the required period.
- Accommodation evidence is missing or the property would be overcrowded once the child arrives.
- The child is 18 or over and does not hold family visa permission that began before they turned 18.
- The wrong form has been used — the Appendix 1 paper form omitted where the parent is not in one of the Appendix FM categories.
- Mandatory information is missing — untranslated documents, no TB certificate where required, or a missed biometric appointment.
- General grounds for refusal apply, for example false documents or a previous breach of immigration law.
Source note
Information sourced from GOV.UK (“Family visas: apply, extend or switch”, last updated 3 August 2026; “Visa processing times: applications outside the UK”, 26 June 2026; “Visa processing times: applications inside the UK”, 29 April 2026; and “Get a faster decision on your visa, settlement or citizenship application”, 20 July 2026), and reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Rules change; we verify requirements at the point of instruction.
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