Skilled Worker Dependant ILR: Partner and Child Rules

Your partner is ready to apply for settlement. You joined them in the UK later, and your child arrived later still. Everyone’s visa expires on the same date, so it seems sensible to prepare one family settlement application.

The difficulty is that the same expiry date does not mean the same eligibility.

A dependent partner normally needs their own five-year qualifying period. A dependent child does not have that same residence requirement, but their eligibility can depend on both parents’ immigration status. A child approaching 18 also needs careful planning around their previous permission, living arrangements and the requirements that apply to adult applicants.

The useful starting point is to assess each person separately, then bring those assessments together into a family timetable.

That establishes who can apply now, whose application depends on another family member’s decision, and who needs further permission before settlement becomes possible.

Your application depends on the main applicant’s position

For settlement as a Skilled Worker dependant, the main applicant must normally be settling at the same time or already be settled or British under the relevant provisions. Where they settled earlier, their permission at settlement and your dependant status at that time matter. There is a specific exception for certain UK-born children.

Completing your own residence period does not, by itself, allow you to settle while the main applicant simply continues holding temporary Skilled Worker permission.

Equally, the main applicant becoming British does not necessarily prevent an existing dependant from using this route.

Start by obtaining the main applicant’s immigration decision records. If they already have ILR, check when it was granted and what permission they held immediately beforehand.

This can matter where settlement was granted through long residence. Home Office guidance allows the dependant route to remain available where the main applicant held the relevant work-route permission when they settled, subject to the other conditions.

The description “my partner has ILR” is therefore a starting point. The history behind that status determines how it supports your application.

A dependent partner normally needs five qualifying years

A partner normally needs five continuous years with qualifying permission as the same person’s partner. Time as their dependant under another visa category can count. Time on your own visa, such as your own Student or Skilled Worker permission, does not count towards this particular dependant qualifying period.

The distinction concerns the permission you held.

You may have been married throughout several years in the UK, but marriage alone does not turn your own Student permission into dependant permission. Conversely, an earlier grant as the same partner’s dependant should not be discarded merely because the main applicant later changed visa categories.

Prepare a chronology showing each grant, its dates and the person to whom your dependant permission was linked. Record any applications made before an earlier visa expired and any periods spent outside the UK.

The caseworker guidance also recognises that time as a spouse on a family route can be included. Mixed-route histories need individual assessment, particularly because the latest-permission and relationship requirements still have to be satisfied.

Do not calculate the five years from your wedding anniversary or copy the date used for the main applicant.

The correct starting point comes from your immigration history. That calculation should be completed before choosing a settlement application date.

Check the partner’s absences independently

A dependent partner must meet the applicable continuous residence requirement. The normal limit is no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period, subject to the relevant exceptions.

Your travel history may differ substantially from the main applicant’s. One partner may have remained overseas to care for a relative, returned earlier from a family holiday or spent additional time abroad after childbirth.

Prepare your own departure and return dates. Whole days outside the UK are counted, so the travel days themselves are normally excluded.

Historical permission can change the assessment. The dependant guidance excludes absences during periods of permission granted under the Rules in place before 11 January 2018 from the partner’s 180-day calculation.

Where an exception may apply, identify the reason and obtain evidence. The Rules cover specified circumstances such as serious travel disruption and compelling compassionate circumstances. There are also provisions concerning dependants accompanying a main applicant on a qualifying exempt absence.

A practical review should answer two questions: how much time is counted, and whether any claimed exception is supported. A family explanation without a dated travel record leaves the calculation unresolved.

The relationship must still qualify at settlement

The relationship requirement continues to apply when you seek ILR.

For married couples and civil partners, the legal validity of the relationship matters. Unmarried partners must satisfy the relevant durable-relationship requirement. In every case, the relationship must be genuine and continuing.

The evidence should reflect your current circumstances and explain the relevant history.

A marriage certificate establishes an important fact, but it does not explain where you have been living or why your addresses differed for part of the period. Similarly, a collection of recent bills may leave an earlier period of separation unexplained.

Useful preparation starts with a shared address history. Where the records differ, establish why. Employment in another city, study, caring responsibilities or temporary accommodation may explain the arrangement, but the explanation should match the documents.

Avoid presenting the family’s circumstances as simpler than they are. If you lived apart for a period, describe the dates and reasons accurately and identify evidence of the continuing relationship.

Our Dependant Visas guidance provides the wider route context. At settlement, the practical question is whether the current evidence supports the relationship on which your permission depends.

Children do not need the partner’s five-year qualifying period

A dependent child on this route does not have to complete a separate five-year residence period before settlement. The continuous residence guidance expressly identifies no qualifying period for dependent children. The work-route dependant guidance also confirms that dependent children are not subject to the partner’s absence limit.

That can make the child’s position different from either parent’s.

A child who joined the family relatively recently may still be eligible to settle. However, the absence of a five-year requirement does not remove the remaining conditions.

The assessment still needs to establish the relevant parent-child relationship, previous permission or applicable UK-born exception, both parents’ status, and the child’s age and living arrangements.

For children under 18, suitable care and accommodation must also be in place.

The practical consequence is that counting the child’s years in the UK is often less useful than checking the family structure and immigration records.

A child can have a long residence history and still face an unresolved parental-status requirement. Another child with a shorter history may have all the necessary conditions in place.

Both parents’ status can determine when a child settles

Normally, the child’s other parent must already be settled or British, or be granted settlement at the same time.

The relevant exceptions include a sole surviving parent, sole responsibility for the child’s upbringing, or serious and compelling reasons for granting settlement.

Consider a hypothetical family. The main worker has completed their qualifying period. Their partner and overseas-born child joined them three years ago. Both parents remain involved in the child’s upbringing, and no exception applies.

The partner has not yet completed their own qualifying period. The child’s difficulty is the other parent’s status, even though the child does not need five years of residence.

This is why an assessment limited to the main worker’s eligibility can produce an incomplete family plan.

Where sole responsibility is relevant, examine who actually directs the child’s upbringing. Paying all the expenses or holding sole legal custody does not, by itself, establish sole responsibility for immigration purposes. The Home Office considers decision-making about matters such as education, health and residence.

Our practical approach is to identify the exception first, then assess the evidence needed to support it. A consent letter from the other parent may be relevant, but its significance depends on the requirement being addressed.

Turning 18 does not automatically end eligibility as a dependent child

An applicant aged 18 or over can potentially continue as a dependent child where the previous-permission conditions are met. The Rules require careful attention to their last grant and its validity.

Check this before a young person changes to a Student visa, starts planning an independent immigration route or allows their existing permission to expire.

Their living arrangements also matter. The current definition of not leading an independent life focuses on having no partner and living with a parent, with an exception for living away at boarding school, college or university as part of full-time education.

A university address therefore needs context. Establish the course, term-time accommodation and normal family home. Obtain evidence that explains the arrangement rather than assuming a different address either proves or disproves eligibility.

The current definition does not make earning a salary, by itself, the test of independence. A young person’s employment should be considered alongside their actual relationship and living arrangements.

Likewise, “single” needs to be understood accurately. The guidance includes a qualifying durable relationship within the meaning of having a partner, even where there has been no marriage or civil partnership.

Before submission, ask the young adult to check the facts recorded about them. Parents may hold the immigration documents without knowing every change in their child’s circumstances.

English and Life in the UK requirements need individual preparation

For dependant settlement applications made before 26 March 2027, the English requirement is normally B1 speaking and listening. For applications made on or after that date, it rises to B2 speaking and listening, unless an exemption applies.

The application date therefore affects preparation.

Someone planning to settle later should establish the level they will need before booking a test. An earlier B1 result should not be assumed sufficient for an application requiring B2.

English can be demonstrated through specified routes, including an approved test, qualifying nationality, an eligible academic qualification or evidence accepted in a previous successful application at the required level. Settlement exemptions include applicants under 18, those aged 65 or over and certain applicants whose disability prevents them meeting the requirement.

Check the evidence route as well as the applicant’s ability. Speaking English confidently at work does not identify which document will satisfy the Rules.

The Life in the UK requirement is separate. Applicants aged 18 to 64 normally need to pass, unless an exemption applies. Relevant exemptions include specified disability circumstances, and the Rules also exempt applicants under 18 or aged 65 and over.

For a child approaching 18, these requirements belong in the timetable. Growing up or attending school in the UK does not automatically remove the adult settlement requirements.

UK-born children may need a nationality assessment first

Before preparing an ILR application for a UK-born child, check whether they are already British or could apply to register as British.

A child born in the UK to a parent who was British or settled at the time of birth will generally be British automatically. Where a parent becomes settled after the birth, a child who remains under 18 may instead have an entitlement to registration, subject to the applicable requirements.

For the relevant UK-born registration entitlement, obtaining ILR for the child is not a prerequisite. This can affect which application the family should prepare.

There is also a specific Skilled Worker settlement provision for UK-born children who have not previously held dependant permission. The remaining child requirements still need to be met.

The practical review starts with the full birth certificate, the child’s current nationality and each parent’s status on the date of birth.

Record when any later settlement grant occurred. A small difference in those dates can change whether the child needs evidence of existing citizenship, a registration application or an immigration application.

Do not assume that siblings have identical options simply because they belong to the same household.

Prepare evidence around each person’s requirements

A family application can share documents, but each applicant needs a clear evidential basis.

The following is a preparation framework rather than a universal prescribed checklist:

Review the documents for inconsistencies before deciding that more evidence is needed.

A surname difference may require a marriage certificate or explanation. A missing grant date may require the original decision record. Different addresses may reflect a legitimate arrangement that has not yet been described.

The useful question is what each document proves and whether any important period or condition remains unsupported.

Keep the application answers aligned with those records. A correct document does not cure an inaccurate answer about the person’s history.

Choose the family’s application sequence before submitting

Once each assessment is complete, decide the order of applications.

One family member may be ready for settlement while another needs an extension. A child’s application may depend on the second parent being granted ILR. A UK-born child may need a citizenship assessment before any immigration application is selected.

Eligible dependants can apply alongside the main applicant or later. Those who are not yet eligible may be able to extend their dependant permission after the main applicant settles.

Our article on what happens to the family’s visas when the main visa holder settles addresses that intervening stage.

For a partner approaching the end of their qualifying period, the continuous residence calculation can take account of a date up to 28 days after application. That provision needs applying to the correctly calculated period.

Keep the eligibility date and visa expiry date visible as separate entries. Being close to settlement does not resolve an approaching permission deadline.

Before paying application fees, the family should have a clear answer for every person: which application, when, on what basis and with which supporting evidence.

Plan settlement for the whole family

A sound family settlement plan connects separate assessments.

The partner’s qualifying history, each person’s current permission, the children’s circumstances and both parents’ status all need to fit the proposed sequence. Identifying those differences early gives the family time to obtain evidence and prepare any remaining applications.

Knightsbridge Immigration can assess your family’s Indefinite Leave to Remain position and help establish who may qualify now. Tell us each person’s current visa, expiry date and immigration history, together with the children’s ages and places of birth.

Request a Case Assessment