Can I Bring My Parents to the UK Permanently?

Key takeaways

• There is no general “parent visa” that allows a British or settled adult to sponsor a parent for permanent residence on the basis of the relationship alone.
• The Adult Dependent Relative visa is the main permanent route for an elderly or unwell parent. It requires proof that the parent needs long-term personal care and that this care is not available or affordable where they live.
• The “parent” route under the family rules is for a parent of a child in the UK who is under 18.
• A long-term Standard Visitor visa, valid for two, five or ten years with visits of up to six months each, is often the realistic option where a parent does not need care.
• An Adult Dependent Relative application from outside the UK costs £3,635, and a family route application from outside the UK costs £2,064.

Bringing family to live in the United Kingdom is a major decision, particularly when it involves older parents. Whether you are a British citizen, someone with settled status, or on a work or study route, you may wonder how to ensure your parents can stay with you in the UK.

There is no general visa that lets an adult child bring a parent to the UK simply because they are related. Permanent routes exist, but they are narrow and evidence-heavy, and the right choice depends on whether your parent needs care, whether you have a child in the UK, and whether a long-term visitor visa would in practice meet the family’s needs.

If you need professional assistance, Sterling Law can help you manage the complexities of these processes to maximise your parents’ chances of obtaining the correct status in the UK.

Table of contents

• Which route can bring a parent to the UK?
• Bringing Parents to the UK for a Short Stay: Standard Visitor Visa
• UK Parent Visa
• Adult Dependent Relative Visa
• Visa Application Process
• Other Immigration Routes to Bring Parents to the UK
• How Much Does it Cost to Bring Parents to the UK?
• What Can I Do If a Visa Application Is Refused?
• Planning your next step
• Why Sterling Law?
• FAQ

Which route can bring a parent to the UK?

The route depends on why your parent is coming and for how long. The table below compares the main options.

Most families who contact us about bringing parents to the UK permanently are choosing between the Adult Dependent Relative visa and a long-term Visitor visa. The two serve different purposes, and applying for the wrong one wastes both the fee and, often, a year of the family’s time.

Bringing Parents to the UK for a Short Stay: Standard Visitor Visa

A UK Parents Visitor visa is often the first route for those who wish to see their parents, whether for a special occasion or simply to spend time together.

The Standard Visitor visa is typically used for:

• Tourism
• Visiting family
• Business activities (such as attending conferences)
• Undertaking a short course of study

If you want your parents to come to the UK for a temporary stay, perhaps to meet a new grandchild or attend a wedding, this could be a suitable option. It is not intended for those who plan to bring parents to the UK permanently, but it offers a straightforward way for short visits.

To be granted a Standard Visitor Visa, your parents must show that they:

• Intend to leave the UK at the end of their visit
• Have sufficient funds for their stay and return journey
• Have suitable accommodation and can cover their living costs
• Will not engage in prohibited activities (for example, paid work)

Short-term Standard Visitor visas are usually issued for up to six months. However, if your parents travel to the UK frequently, you can apply for a long-term Visitor visa valid for two, five or ten years. Each visit generally cannot exceed six months, and your parents must not use the visa to live in the UK by making back-to-back visits. This can be a practical option if you expect multiple visits, especially for retired parents or those who wish to come to the UK on a regular basis.

UK Parent Visa

The UK “parent” visa is for a parent who is coming to care for their own child in the UK.

Under this route, the child in the UK must be under 18 on the date of application, or have been under 18 when the applicant was first granted permission. The child must be a British or Irish citizen, settled in the UK, or an EU, Swiss, Norwegian, Icelandic or Liechtenstein national with pre-settled status who began living in the UK before 1 January 2021. If you are applying from inside the UK, the route can also apply where the child has lived in the UK continuously for seven years and it would not be reasonable to expect them to leave.

Parent visa requirements include the following:

• Sole or shared parental responsibility for the child, evidenced by school, medical, local authority or court documents
• Proof of an active and continuing role in the child’s upbringing, where the child does not live with the applicant
• Adequate accommodation and the ability to support the household without recourse to public funds
• Knowledge of English at CEFR level A1 for a first application, and at least A2 in speaking and listening when extending after 2.5 years
• Meeting the suitability requirements, including in relation to criminal convictions

Applicants aged 65 or over, and those with a physical or mental condition that prevents them from meeting the requirement, are exempt from the English language test.

This visa is granted for 2 years and 9 months initially and can be extended for a further 2 years and 6 months if the criteria remain satisfied. After five continuous years on the route, you may qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain and, in time, for British citizenship.

Adult Dependent Relative Visa

The Adult Dependent Relative visa is the main route for bringing an older parent to the UK permanently. It exists for family members who need long-term personal care that cannot realistically be obtained where they live, and it is one of the strictest categories in the Immigration Rules.

The route covers a parent, grandparent, son, daughter, brother or sister of a sponsor living permanently in the UK. The sponsor must be a British or Irish citizen, a person settled in the UK, a person with relevant pre-settled status who began living in the UK before 1 January 2021, or a person with protection status.

Key requirements include:

• The applicant must be aged 18 or over
• The applicant must need long-term personal care to carry out everyday personal and household tasks, because of illness, disability or age
• That level of care must not be available or affordable in the country where the applicant lives, even with practical and financial help from the sponsor
• The sponsor must be able to provide maintenance, accommodation and care for the applicant without recourse to public funds

There is no English language requirement on this route, and no fixed minimum income threshold of the kind used on the spouse route. The financial test is instead assessed against the household’s actual circumstances.

The first application must normally be made from outside the UK. Families sometimes assume that a parent can enter as a visitor and then apply in-country once medical evidence has been gathered; that is not how the route works, and doing so usually leads to refusal.

If the sponsor is British, Irish or settled in the UK, a successful applicant is normally granted permission with no time limit, effectively settling on arrival. Where the sponsor holds pre-settled or protection status, the applicant’s permission runs in line with the sponsor’s own status. Refusal rates on this route are high, and applications almost always turn on the quality of the medical and overseas-care evidence rather than on sympathy.

Visa Application Process

Whichever UK long-term visa for a parent you opt for, the application process usually follows similar steps:

1. Complete and submit the relevant online form, providing personal details, financial information and a statement of intent. Adult Dependent Relative applicants must also complete Appendix 1; applicants on the parent route applying from outside the UK must complete Appendix 5.
2. Submit supporting documents, such as proof of relationship (birth certificates, marriage certificates), financial records (bank statements, payslips), accommodation evidence and medical reports where the route requires them.
3. Provide biometric information (fingerprints and a photograph) at a Visa Application Centre in the country of residence.
4. Pay the Immigration Health Surcharge where the application is for more than six months. This grants access to NHS services in the UK.
5. Await the Home Office decision. Additional documents or an interview may be requested in some instances.

Any document not in English or Welsh must be accompanied by a certified translation.

How long a decision takes

Priority and super priority services are available for some categories at additional cost. Since each family’s circumstances differ, expert advice helps you organise your documents properly and present a clear, robust application.

Other Immigration Routes to Bring Parents to the UK

If the above routes do not meet your needs, other possibilities include the following.

EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

If you or your parents lived in the UK before the end of the Brexit transition period and fulfil the relevant criteria, it may be possible to apply or join family members under the EUSS.

Applying for Refugee Status

This option is suitable for those who face a serious threat to their life, health or freedom in their own country. To secure asylum, your parent must:

• Show a genuine risk of persecution on grounds such as race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group
• Provide documents evidencing threats or discrimination
• Be ready for detailed checks and interviews to give a full account

Refugee status grants the right to remain in the UK with access to some public and medical services, but the process can be complicated and lengthy.

Work Visa

A work visa generally applies to the principal applicant alone and does not include their parents. However, if your parent has suitable professional skills and receives a qualifying job offer from a licensed UK employer, they can consider applying in their own right. Key steps include:

• Finding an employer licensed to sponsor migrants
• Securing a role that meets the salary and skill criteria for the route
• Demonstrating English language ability

A Skilled Worker visa opens up the possibility of relocation and can also become the basis for acquiring long-term status.

Student Visa

Parents wishing to gain new qualifications or retrain professionally may consider a Student visa, which requires:

• Acceptance at a licensed student sponsor
• Proof of sufficient funds for tuition and maintenance
• Valid supporting documents, including a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies

This option is not geared towards permanent settlement, and the ability to bring other family members is limited.

Parent of a Child Student Visa

A Parent of a Child Student visa applies if your child, aged under 12, attends an independent fee-paying day school in the UK. You are permitted to live in the UK to care for your child throughout their studies. It is not a settlement visa but can be extended until the child turns 12. You must show that you can support yourself and your child without working or using public funds, and you cannot bring other dependants under this route.

Applications outside the Immigration Rules

Where no category fits but refusal would produce genuinely exceptional consequences, an application outside the Immigration Rules on human rights grounds may be considered. These applications succeed only rarely and require careful legal argument supported by strong evidence.

How Much Does it Cost to Bring Parents to the UK?

The table below sets out the main fees that apply to parents.

The Immigration Health Surcharge is not payable where the application is made from outside the UK for six months or less, which is why visitor visas carry no healthcare charge. On routes lasting more than six months it is charged for the whole period of permission, so a parent granted 2 years and 9 months will pay for three years.

These are Home Office charges only. Legal fees, English language tests, document translation, courier services and travel to a Visa Application Centre are additional.

What Can I Do If a Visa Application Is Refused?

Even well-prepared applications can be declined. Typical grounds include insufficient financial proof, uncertainty about the genuineness of the family relationship, weak medical or overseas-care evidence on the Adult Dependent Relative route, failure to meet the English language requirement, or missing documents. If your UK parental visa application is refused, you can:

• Apply for an administrative review, where you believe a case-working error was made
• Lodge an appeal, as family visa refusals on human rights grounds generally carry a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal
• Submit a fresh application that resolves the issues identified in the refusal letter

Appeals against Adult Dependent Relative refusals are common and are sometimes the more realistic path, because the tribunal can consider evidence in a way a caseworker cannot. Identifying precisely why the application was refused, and knowing how to address it, materially improves the odds next time.

Planning your next step

Bringing a parent to the UK permanently is achievable, but only through the route that matches your parent’s actual circumstances. Where care is needed, the case must be built around medical and care evidence from the outset. Where it is not, a long-term visitor visa is frequently the better answer, and a great deal cheaper. Deciding which of these applies to your family is the single most valuable thing you can do before spending anything on an application.

Why Sterling Law?

Sterling Law advises families across the full range of UK immigration matters, from a first visitor application to complex Adult Dependent Relative cases and appeals before the immigration tribunal.

Our work can include:

• assessing which route realistically fits your parent’s circumstances;
• advising on the strength of a case before any fee is paid;
• planning and reviewing medical and care evidence for Adult Dependent Relative applications;
• gathering evidence that suitable care is unavailable or unaffordable overseas;
• assessing the sponsor’s finances and accommodation against the maintenance test;
• preparing applications on the parent and family routes;
• preparing long-term visitor visa applications and supporting statements;
• drafting legal representations to accompany an application;
• advising on and preparing applications outside the Immigration Rules;
• responding to refusals through administrative review or appeal;
• advising on the route from permission to indefinite leave to remain and citizenship.

If you are considering an application for a parent, contact us before you submit, so the case can be built correctly from the start.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I bring my parents to the UK permanently if I am a British citizen?

Only through a route that fits their circumstances. British citizenship allows you to sponsor a parent on the Adult Dependent Relative route, but your parent must still prove they need long-term personal care that is not available or affordable where they live.

Is there a UK visa for elderly parents?

The Adult Dependent Relative visa is the route usually described this way. It is not an age-based visa: it turns on a proven need for long-term personal care because of age, illness or disability.

Can I bring my parents to the UK if I have settled status?

Yes. A person settled in the UK, including someone with indefinite leave to remain or EU settled status, can sponsor a parent on the Adult Dependent Relative route on the same terms as a British citizen.

How much does it cost to bring a parent to the UK?

An Adult Dependent Relative application from outside the UK costs £3,635, and a family route application from outside the UK costs £2,064. The Immigration Health Surcharge of £1,035 per adult per year applies to permissions lasting more than six months.

Can my parents live with me in the UK on a visitor visa?

No. A visitor visa allows stays of up to six months at a time and cannot be used to live in the UK through repeated or back-to-back visits. Border officers can refuse entry where a pattern of visits suggests residence.

How long does a UK parent visa take?

Applications made outside the UK on the family and Adult Dependent Relative routes usually receive a decision within 12 weeks. A parent route application made inside the UK currently takes around 12 months.

Do my parents need to pass an English test?

Not on the Adult Dependent Relative route, which has no English language requirement. On the parent route, level A1 is required for a first application, though applicants aged 65 or over are exempt.

What happens if the Adult Dependent Relative application is refused?

You can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, apply for administrative review where a case-working error occurred, or submit a fresh application addressing the refusal reasons. Appeals are common on this route because the tribunal can weigh evidence more broadly than a caseworker.

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