Outlined below is general information about the process of obtaining residence in the family category:

MARRIED/CIVIL PARTNERSHIP

• You can apply to join your husband,wife or civil partner in the UK provided that they currently live and are settled in the UK or they intend to travel to the UK to live permanently and they are not under 18 years.

• You must be legally married to each other or in a civil partnership recognised in the UK.

• You both intend to live together permanently as husband and wife or as civil partners.

• You must have met each other previously.

• You must be able to support yourselves together without recourse to public funds.

• You have suitable accommodation, which is owned and or lived in only by you and your household, and where you and your dependents can live without recourse to public funds.

• You must be legally married to each other or in a civil partnership recognised in the UK.

• Your husband wife or civil partner is not under 18 years and you are not under 18 years.

FIANCE OR PROPOSED CIVIL PARTNER

• You must plan to marry or register a civil partnership within a reasonable time (usually 6 months).
• You must plan to live together subsequent to your marriage or registration of your civil partnership.
• You must have a place to live for you and your dependents until you get married or register your civil partnership and you will be able to support your dependents without recourse to public funds.
• You are unable to work for the first 6 months in the UK. However, once you are married or have registered your civil partnership, you can apply for a 2 year extension to your visa with a permission to work.

UNMARRIED OR SAME-SEX PARTNER

• You must prove that any previous marriage, civil partnership or similar relationship has permanently broken down.
• You have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership for 2 years or more.
• You have suitable accommodation, which is owned and or lived in only by you and your household, and where you and your dependents can live without recourse to public funds.
• You can support yourself and your dependents without recourse to public funds.

• You intend to live together permanently.

• Your partner is not under 18 years and you are not under 18 years.

PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, AND OTHER DEPENDENT RELATIVES

• If you are a parent or a grandparent and one of you is over 65 years you may qualify if you are completely or financially dependent on children or grandchildren living and settled in the UK. In the event that you are a parent or grandparent and under 65 years then you qualify if you are living in the most exceptional compassionate circumstances.
• You have no other close relatives in your own country to help you.
• Your children and grandchildren in the UK can support you and provide accommodation for you so that you will not require public funds.
• Your partner is not under 18 years and you are not under 18 years.

CHILD

• If you are a child you may qualify to join your parents in the UK if you are under 18 years of age and you cannot support yourself financially, are not married or in a civil partnership and are not living away from your parents.
• Your parents must live in the UK legally, with no time limit on their stay and the parent has sole responsibility for looking after you.
• Your parents can support you and accommodate you without you needing to draw on public funds.