Your partner and children may be able to apply to come to the UK or stay longer in the UK with you as Dependants on your visa, however there are conditions attached to this. If your course starts on or before 31st December 2023, you must be either:
- a full-time student on a postgraduate level course (RQF level 7 or above) that lasts 9 months or longer
- a new government-sponsored student on a course that lasts longer than 6 months
If your course starts on or after 1st January 2024, you must be either:
- a full-time student studying a PhD or other doctorate (RQF level 8)
- a full-time student on a postgraduate level course (RQF level 7 or above) that is research-based (e.g. Master of Research)
- a full-time student who is financially sponsored by the UK or an overseas government
This means ordinarily, Undergraduate Students and Postgraduate Students studying taught courses (such as MSc International Business Management, MSc Data Science etc.) cannot bring Dependants on their visa. We understand this will be disappointing but this is a UK Government decision and not a decision made by the University. If you would like to check with us if you will be able to bring Dependants with you on your Student visa for your chosen course, please email immigration@rgu.ac.uk.
Under the visa rules, some family members can be classed as a dependant:
- your husband, wife or civil partner
- your unmarried partner
- your child under 18 years old - including if they were born in the UK during your stay
When applying for their visa, there are rules that need to be met around proof of relationship and finances required for them.
Evidence required to prove the relationship can be a marriage or civil partnership certificate for your partner and a birth certificate for your child
Your partner and child must each have a certain amount of money available to them. This amount is £6,120 for each Dependant.
If your partner or child are applying at the same time as you (you’re applying together as a family), you’ll need to meet the financial requirements for a student and also have the additional £6,120 for each Dependant. You need to make us aware if Dependants are coming with you, so that if we check your financial evidence for your CAS, we can see that it meets the requirements for any additional family members applying for the visa at the same time as you.
If your partner or child are applying at a different time to you (i.e. they are applying separately), they only need to prove they have money to support themselves.
Where an application for a UK visa requires a TB certificate to be provided with the application, this also applies to Dependants.
The University do not process visas for Dependants, so we are not able to provide further advice on what is required for Dependants and their visa applications. We take no part in this process and would not wish to give information that may be incorrect. Further information:
Further Information
Any further questions about Dependants should be directed to the UKVI:
Please do not send any documents until these are asked for by the Admissions Department or Immigration Team. When we ask for documents, unless we tell you otherwise, do not send original documents, send scans of them or very good quality photographs where all the details on the document can be seen. Keep original documents for your visa application.