Generally speaking successful applicants for a UK visa can bring their spouses, partners and dependent children with them into the UK. The relative will then enjoy all the same benefits as the main applicant in terms of employment and educational rights.
These partners or children will usually need to apply for entry clearance before arriving in the UK. The partner of the UK visa holder will have the same conditions placed on their visa as the applicant.
Categories of Family Visa
Additionally, there are separate options available to those in relationships with UK citizens, EU citizens or permanent residents to be sponsored to come to the UK with a view to settling permanently. They include the following:
- Certificate of Approval
- Fiancé Visa
- Marriage Visa
- Unmarried Partner Visa
- EEA Family Permit (Married or Unmarried)
- Elderly Dependent Visa
An overview of family related UK immigration procedures
Entry clearance officers and immigration officials will scrutinise applications to join family members in the UK with great care and will almost invariably interview the applicant at some length. This is due to the fact that entry clearance, if granted, will in effect be a settlement visa, that is authorising permanent residency (Indefinite Leave to Remain, or ILR).
The following information about family-related UK immigration applications gives some indication of the type of evidence that is needed in support of such family-based UK visa claims. It is not an exhaustive summary of the rules and applicants should obtain extensive advice before proceeding.
Commonwealth Citizens with Grandparents Born in the United Kingdom
Commonwealth citizens with one or more grandparents who were born in the United Kingdom do not require a Work Permit in order to come to the UK for work.
Evidence must by provided, following which a Commonwealth citizen who wishes to take up a post or look for work in the UK will be granted an entry clearance for that purpose. Upon arrival at a British port of entry the passport will be endorsed for a four-year period. A short time before the fourth anniversary an application may be made to the Home Office for ILR. This will be granted provided the applicant has been in employment for the duration and there is no significant prospect of recourse to benefits.
Fiancés Coming to the UK
The UK immigration rules for fiancés are fairly similar to those for spouses other than for the fact that the applicant must have the intention of marrying during the first six months following entry into the UK. An application can then be submitted within the UK for leave to remain as a spouse.
Please note that entry clearance is mandatory under the fiancé rules (for instance an application cannot be made whilst in the UK to move from another category to fiancé). Also a fiancé will need to have been granted leave to remain as a spouse before being entitled to work.
UK Residence for Spouses
Under immigration law the requirements to be met by persons seeking to enter the UK on the basis of marriage are conditional upon:
- the applicant being married to a person already present and settled in the UK or who is being admitted for settlement on the same occasion
- the parties to the marriage having met
- the marriage not having been entered into primarily to engender admission to the UK
- each of the parties having the intention of living permanently with one another as husband and wife and the marriage subsisting
- there being adequate accommodation for both parties and any dependants without recourse to public funds in a dwelling which they own or exclusively occupy
- the parties being able to maintain themselves and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds
- the applicant holding a valid UK entry clearance for entry into the UK
The entry clearance officer is likely to interview both parties at some considerable length about the history the marriage arrangement and the couple’s intentions for the future. It is vitally important that the application be completely supported by all the relevant documentary evidence.
A person already in the UK can seek a variation of their UK immigration status on the basis of his or her marriage, although additional conditions may apply. Various Home Office concessions could come into play should the applicant be in the UK unlawfully prior to the marriage taking place.
Common Law Spouses
In October 1997 a new concession was announced by the Home Office that permitted applications to be made by unmarried partners as well as by spouses. However this concession is only applicable in instances where couples are unable to marry under UK law. What this means in practice is that the application of the concession is effectively restricted to cases where one partner is unable to divorce or faces other similarly unusual difficulties.
