Parent visa: joining a child in the UK

The parent route is for someone whose child lives in the UK but who is not in a relationship with the child’s other parent — a separated or divorced parent, or a parent who was never in a relationship with the other. If you are the child’s other parent’s partner, this is the wrong route: couples use the partner visa, and the child is dealt with as part of that application. The parent route exists precisely for the cases the partner route cannot cover.

The child

The child must be under 18 when you apply (or have been under 18 when you were first granted permission), living in the UK, not married or in a civil partnership, and living with you unless away at boarding school or university. For an application from outside the UK, the child must be a British or Irish citizen, settled, or hold EU Settlement Scheme pre-settled status having started living in the UK before 2021. An application made inside the UK can also rely on a child who has lived in the UK continuously for at least seven years, where the family-life rules apply; that version turns on whether it would be reasonable to expect the child to leave the UK, a test that overlaps with the Private Life route.

Your role in the child’s life

You must have either sole parental responsibility or shared parental responsibility. If it is shared, the other parent must not be your partner, and must be a British or Irish citizen, settled, or hold pre-settled status from before 2021. If the child lives with the other parent or a carer, you must have access to the child in person, agreed with them or ordered by a court. In every case you must show that you are taking, and intend to continue taking, an active role in the child’s upbringing. The Home Office wants evidence from official sources — school, doctor, council or court — that is less than four years old; greetings cards, photographs and messages carry little weight. Occasional or purely indirect contact may not be enough to show an active parental role.

Money and English

Unlike the partner route, there is no £29,000 minimum income requirement. Instead you must show adequate maintenance: that you (and anyone supporting you) can meet living costs for you and any dependants without relying on public funds, measured against the level of income support a British family of the same size would receive after housing costs. You must also have adequate accommodation, which need not be owned.

English is required at A1 on entry, A2 at the extension after two and a half years, and B1 for settlement on the 5-year route, with the usual exemptions for age and disability.

The two routes

Applicants who meet all the requirements are granted on the 5-year route: two years and nine months on entry (two and a half years when applying inside the UK), then an extension to five years, then ILR. Applicants who cannot meet the financial, English or immigration-status requirements, but for whom refusal would breach family-life rights because of their relationship with the child, may be granted on the 10-year route, with settlement after ten years. Being on the 10-year route is not permanent: if you later meet the full requirements you can apply to move to the 5-year route.

Applying

From outside the UK the fee is £2,064; inside the UK, whether extending or switching from another route, it is £1,407. The Immigration Health Surcharge is £1,035 a year. Switching into the route from inside the UK is possible from most visas but not from visitor permission. Because the child’s circumstances and the other parent’s position are central, the evidence is more varied than on the partner route: court orders, the child’s passport or status documents, school letters, and proof of your contact and support.

Common problems

Applying as a parent while in a relationship with the other parent. The route is closed to couples; the application will be refused and the partner route is the answer.

Contact that exists on paper only. A court order granting access is not enough by itself; the Home Office looks for evidence that the contact is actually happening.

Confusing adequate maintenance with the minimum income requirement. The tests are different, and the adequate-maintenance figure is calculated, not a fixed number.

Letting the child’s status lapse. If the child’s own status is not settled or British and the seven-year test is relied on, keep the child’s residence continuous.