Skilled Worker Dependants: Bringing Your Partner and Children to the UK in 2026

Around four in ten UK Skilled Worker visas issued each year come with one or more dependant visas attached. For most workers moving to the UK, getting the family across is as logistically significant as the job itself — and the rules differ in important ways from the main applicant’s. This guide explains who counts as a dependant in 2026, what the financial and evidential requirements are, what dependants can and cannot do once in the UK, and what changes at the point of settlement.

Who counts as a dependant

Only two categories of family member can apply as a dependant on a Skilled Worker visa:

• A partner. A spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner. Unmarried partners must show they have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage for at least the two years immediately before the application — joint tenancy agreements, shared bank statements and joint utility bills are the standard evidence.
• A child under 18. Either both parents must hold (or be applying for) UK immigration permission, or there must be sole responsibility and a credible care arrangement. A child already in the UK who turns 18 during the parent’s visa can usually extend as a dependant.

Parents, siblings, and adult children are not eligible. The narrow Adult Dependent Relative route exists for older relatives who require long-term personal care that cannot be provided in their home country, but in practice it is granted only in a few hundred cases per year nationally.

The financial requirement

Unless the main applicant has been in the UK for 12 months or more by the time the dependant applies, the Home Office wants evidence that the household can support itself without recourse to public funds. The rule is set as a minimum savings figure held for 28 consecutive days in the 31 days before the application — the figures scale with the number of dependants and are revised periodically.

If the Skilled Worker is already in the UK and has held leave for at least 12 months, the financial requirement is treated as met without separate evidence. Either way, the salary of the Skilled Worker job itself does not satisfy the dependant financial requirement automatically — the savings evidence is a separate test.

Costs you actually pay

Each dependant is treated as a stand-alone application for fee purposes. There is no family bundle. Expect, per person:

• The Skilled Worker dependant application fee — banded by length of visa applied for and by whether the application is made inside or outside the UK.
• The Immigration Health Surcharge for the full length of leave granted. Children are usually charged the adult rate, not the discounted student rate.
• A biometrics fee where the appointment is taken at a Visa Application Centre outside the UK.

See the full 2026 visa fees breakdown and the IHS guide for current figures.

What dependants can do in the UK

• Work. Adult dependants can take almost any job — employee, self-employed, contractor, director — without needing their own sponsor licence. The short list of excluded activities is the same one that applies to most non-sponsored work visas, and it includes working as a professional sportsperson or sports coach.
• Study. Dependants can enrol in state or private education and pursue further or higher education. University fees are typically charged at the overseas rate unless the family has been in the UK long enough to qualify for home-fee status under the relevant funding body’s rules.
• Access the NHS. Because they paid the IHS, dependants have the same NHS access as the main applicant for the duration of their leave.
• Travel. Dependants can leave and re-enter the UK freely, but extended absences count toward the settlement-absence rules described below.

How dependant leave tracks the main applicant

A dependant’s visa is granted for the same length as the Skilled Worker’s — usually three years initially, then extended to the five-year point at the same time as the worker extends. If the main applicant loses or changes sponsor, the dependant’s leave does not automatically end, but it is tied to the lawfulness of the worker’s underlying status. A revocation that triggers a 60-day curtailment for the worker also curtails the dependants. See our guide to what to do if your sponsor’s licence is revoked.

The route to settlement for dependants

A partner who has lived continuously in the UK as a Skilled Worker dependant for five years can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain alongside or after the main applicant’s ILR. The continuous-residence test is the same 180-day-per-12-months absence rule that applies to the worker. Children of the family may apply for ILR with the parent, or settle later under the same continuous-residence framework. The English-language and Life in the UK test requirements also apply at the ILR stage for adult dependants — see our Skilled Worker to ILR guide for the full settlement framework.

Frequently asked questions

Can my partner work on a Skilled Worker dependant visa?

Yes. Adult dependants of a Skilled Worker visa holder have an almost unrestricted right to work — they can take any job, including self-employment, with a small number of exceptions such as working as a professional sportsperson or sports coach. They do not need their own sponsor.

Do dependants need to meet a salary threshold?

No. The salary threshold applies to the main applicant — the Skilled Worker. Dependants are not separately salary-tested. They do however need to be supported, which is why the financial-requirement evidence rule exists.

How much extra does it cost to bring my family?

Each dependant pays their own visa application fee at the same band as the main applicant, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge for the full length of leave granted. There is no family discount. Children are usually charged the adult IHS rate.

Can I bring my parents as dependants?

Generally no. The Skilled Worker dependant route is limited to a partner and children under 18. Adult dependent relatives (parents, grandparents) use a separate, much narrower Adult Dependent Relative route with stringent care-needs requirements.

Does my dependant's time in the UK count toward their settlement?

Yes. A partner who has held continuous dependant leave for the qualifying period (typically five years) is usually eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain at the same time as — or after — the main Skilled Worker applicant qualifies.

For the rules covered here, see the Home Office’s Skilled Worker dependant guidance on GOV.UK.