Tier 4 dependant : how to bring your relatives to the United Kingdom

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The end of the school year is approaching and you have to prepare for the next term if you are a Tier4 student in the UK. This visa also allows you to bring your relatives under certain conditions, if they make a British visa Tier4 dependant.

If you hold a Tier4 general student visa in the UK, you can bring your relatives to join you with a Tier4 dependant visa in the following cases:

  • your spouse,
  • your civil partner,
  • your unmarried or same-sex partner,
  • your dependent children under the age of 18 years old.
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Only general Tier4 students studying in the UK for more than 6 months are concerned.

And those students are allowed to bring close relatives when they meet specific criteria: be a government sponsored student who has or is applying for leave for a full-time course of study that is longer than 6 months, or take a full-time course of at least 12 months at the higher level at a UK recognised body or a UK higher education institution (HEI), or applying for or has been granted leave to remain as a Tier 4 (General) student on the Doctorate Extension Scheme (DES).

These students must also have: either entry clearance, leave to enter or leave to remain to follow a course that is longer than 6 months, or have had their last entry clearance, leave to enter or leave to remain in the 3 months preceding the request of a British Tier4 General student visa for a course of more than 6 months.

The relatives of these students (partner or child) applying for a dependant visa must: have an entry clearance, leave to enter or leave to remain as a partner or child of a student already with an UK General Tier4 visa with entry clearance to undetake a course of study longer than 6 months, or who have had their last entry clearance, leave to enter or leave to remain in the 3 months preceding the filing of the application for a visa dependant as the partner/child of a Tier 4 (General) student to undertake a course of study longer than 6 months.

Students applying for a british Tier4 general visa and their relatives who are eligible for a british Tier4 dependant visa must submit their applications at the same time (according to the new Home Office internal guidance for Tier4 published in june 2018).

If the general Tier4 student has applied under the new Home Office British Tier4 pilot scheme, his relatives may also benefit from differentiation arrangements (reduced documentary requirements) when applying to their Tier4 dependant visa. You can contact us for more details.

Beware, Tier4 Child students can not bring their relatives to the UK with a Tier4 dependant visa. A parent accompanying his child under the British Tier4 student child visa must make an UK parent of a Tier4 child visa, this visa is only possible if your child is 12 years old or less.

All informations on this page have been last updated on : 1 March 2019

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