UK Family visas allow eligible family members and dependents of those who already possess a UK visa to join them in the UK. There are numerous family visas covering your closest family members. Some of the family members covered include married or civil partners, children, unmarried partners, grandchildren, parents, and dependent adult relatives. In some rare cases, extended family members may be able to enter the UK as well. If you need to visit your family for more than 6 months, a UK Family Visa is essential. For a short stay of fewer than 6 months, a standard visitor visa is sufficient.
You can apply for a UK family Visa when you meet the following criteria
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Here are the UK Family Visa Types, you can apply for.
UK Family Visa for Partners and Spouses
To apply for this visa, you must have a partner or spouse above 18 years and should be either of the following:
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Duration
In case you apply as a partner, the eligibility of family visa enables your stay for about 2.5 years. According to Uk Family Visa requirements, its 6 months in the case of a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner. You’ll also be able to include dependent children in your application.
With this visa, the earliest you can apply for indefinite leave to remain is after you live with your partner continuously for 5 years.
Financial Requirement
An important point on eligibility of family visa is that you should have sufficient funds to support yourself and your dependants in the UK. For this, you should meet the minimum income requirement. This is set at £18,600 and an extra £3,800 where you are applying with one dependent child, and an extra £2,400 for each additional child if they are not British citizens or settled in the UK.
English Language Requirement
Besides, you should demonstrate a good knowledge of English by proving that your academic degree was in English. Else, you can do so by passing an approved English language test and gaining a CEFR level A1 in speaking and listening.
Apply as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner
When you apply for a visa as any of the above, you should also provide proof that any previous marriages or civil partnerships have ended. You should also prove that you will marry or become civil partners within 6 months of arriving in the UK. However, you cannot work during this engagement period. You cannot work during your engagement period.
With this visa, you can only stay for a period of 6 months after which you need to extend your visa.
UK Family Visa as a parent
You can apply as a parent to live with your child in the UK if they are under 18 years of age and not capable of living an independent life yet.
The other conditions include
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For this, you need to prove you play a fundamental role in your child's upbringing. This can be done with proof from your child's school that you take them to school. You can also provide proof of taking them dental appointments and the other parent confirming your full contact with your child.
You should show that you can adequately support yourself and your dependents and meet the English language requirement.
UK Family Visa for Children
The UK Family Visa requirements for Children states that they can also apply separately or as dependents on their parent’s application. They should, however, follow the following rules of family visa in UK.
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For children applying separately, should know the kind of UK visa their parent possesses to stay in the UK. One of the child’s parents must be in the UK and must be applying or have applied for a visa to extend their permission to stay either as a partner or as a parent. The financial requirement should be met and the parent should show that they can financially support the child. The child does not need to meet the English language requirement.
Some of the other ways you can apply for UK Family Visa include
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You can apply for this visa if you are outside the UK and need long term care from a parent, grandchild, brother, sister, daughter or son who is either a British citizen, settled in the UK or has refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK.
You need to show proof that you need long-term care for everyday household tasks because of old age and disability and be over 18 years. the person you wish to join should also have sufficient funds to care for you.
EEA Family Permit
If you are from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) but have an EEA national as a family member who is already living in the UK, you can apply for the following family permits. The applicant should be outside the UK. If the applicant is already in the UK, they should apply for another type of family visa instead. You can apply from 2 different family permits depending on your circumstances.
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Those who are a close family member of an EEA or Swiss national can apply for the EU Settlement Scheme family permit provided they have a ‘settled’ or ‘pre-settled’ status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
Family members who can apply include:
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In the case of the EEA family permit, you can apply as a close or even an extended family member of an EEA or Swiss national, extended family members include a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew or niece.
Family members covered by this visa include married and civil partners, unmarried partners, children, grandchildren, and dependent parents and grandparents. Family members of the EEA citizen's married or civil partner are also covered by this visa.