UK Adult Dependent Relative visa

What the Adult Dependent Relative visa is

The Adult Dependent Relative visa allows a dependent adult relative to join a family member in the UK specifically so that family member can provide long-term care. It sits within the UK family visa framework and is one of the recognised family relationship categories, alongside routes for partners and children.

It is distinct from a partner or child visa. The defining feature is dependency for care: the applicant needs day-to-day help with personal and household tasks that they cannot get where they currently live. Because the threshold is high, most successful cases involve significant illness, disability or the frailty of older age, supported by strong medical and practical evidence.

Who can apply and who can sponsor

The applicant must be aged 18 or over and must need long-term care from a close relative living permanently in the UK. The qualifying relationships are parent, grandchild, brother, sister, son or daughter.

• The applicant must be 18 or older.
• The applicant must need care from a parent, grandchild, brother, sister, son or daughter who lives permanently in the UK.
• The sponsoring relative can be a British or Irish citizen, a person with settled status, an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen with pre-settled status who was living in the UK before 1 January 2021, or a person with refugee or humanitarian protection status.
• The type of status the sponsor holds affects both the fee and how long the visa lasts.

Eligibility: the care needs test

This route has two core requirements that applicants must meet, and both must be evidenced carefully.

• Applicants must show they need long-term care to carry out everyday personal and household tasks (for example washing, dressing, cooking) because of illness, disability or their age.
• Applicants must show that the care they need is not available or not affordable in the country where they live — for example that there is no person who can reasonably provide it and no care provider they can access or pay for.
• The sponsoring relative must have enough money to support the applicant without relying on public funds.
• The sponsor must be able to house the applicant in accommodation they own or occupy.

Financial and maintenance requirement

The sponsoring relative must be able to support and accommodate the applicant without access to public funds. When assessing this, the Home Office looks at the sponsor's income together with their housing costs and any care costs involved.

Where the sponsor is a British or Irish citizen or has settled status, they must be prepared to provide that financial support for at least five years (or for the whole period of any more limited permission the sponsor holds, whichever is longer). Applicants should be ready to give a signed undertaking to this effect and to evidence the sponsor's finances.

Costs

The application fee depends on the immigration status of the sponsoring relative.

• Standard fee (most sponsors): £3,635 if applying from outside the UK, or £1,407 if applying from inside the UK.
• Where the sponsor has protection status (refugee or humanitarian protection): £452 from outside the UK, or £1,407 from inside the UK.
• Applicants should also budget for the cost of the biometric appointment, document translations and any medical evidence they need to gather.
• An immigration health surcharge may apply in some cases — see the review notes below, as this depends on the length and type of permission granted.

Documents you will need

Evidence is central to this route, because both the care need and the lack of care abroad must be proven. Applicants should expect to provide:

• A valid passport or travel document, with copies of the photo page and any visa pages.
• Evidence of the family relationship to the sponsor (for example birth certificates).
• Medical evidence of the applicant's condition and their need for long-term personal care — for example from a doctor or other health professional.
• Evidence that the required care is not available or not affordable where the applicant lives.
• Evidence of the sponsor's income, housing and ability to support the applicant without public funds (for example bank statements, payslips and an employer's letter).
• A tuberculosis test certificate if applying from a country where this is required.
• Certified translations of any document not in English or Welsh.

How to apply

The application is made online through the UK government visa service, choosing the family visa route for an adult coming to be cared for by a relative. As part of the process, applicants must enrol their biometric information (fingerprints and a photograph) at a visa application centre or, where applying inside the UK, through the relevant identity process.

Note that the super priority (next working day) decision service is not available for this route, so applicants should plan around standard processing times.

Processing times

Home Office guidance indicates decisions are usually made within about 12 weeks when applying from outside the UK, and within about 8 weeks when applying from inside the UK. These are guideline times and individual cases can take longer, particularly where further evidence is requested.

Length of stay and settlement

What the applicant receives depends on the sponsor's status.

Where the sponsor is a British or Irish citizen, or has settled status, a successful applicant is normally granted permission to stay in the UK indefinitely straight away — meaning there is no need to apply to extend or to settle separately.

Where the sponsor has pre-settled status or protection status, the applicant's permission is linked to the sponsor's. In those cases the applicant can stay for as long as the sponsor remains, but will need to renew their permission when the sponsor's permission is due to expire.