Parent and Private Life Visas

If your child is British or has a settled status in the UK, under 18 years of age and living in the UK (usually, with their other parent), you can apply for entry clearance to join them in the UK. It will be a visa for 33 months with the right to work in the UK.

If you are already in the UK, you can apply to remain. Your child has to be British or has to have a settled status in he UK. Plus, it is also possible  to qualify if your child has lived in the UK for the past 7 years and would be adversely affected if you aren’t allowed to remain in the UK to take part in his life. A leave to remain is for 30 months (2.5 years).

We will guide you on applying under 10-year route. Maybe you overstayed your past visa, came to the UK as a visitor and remained since, and would now like to obtain a legal status here. We will advise on your chances on success under the 10-year route, and if your application is successful, you could later switch to the 5-year route to speed up your path to settlement.  Your immigration status will determine how long it will take for you to qualify for permanent residency/indefinite leave in the UK.  

5-year route is a standard one, meaning you could qualify for permanent residence status after 5 years in the UK in this status, not counting time spent on other visas, such as a student or a partner. The 1st visa is issued for 30 months (2.5 years) if you apply inside the UK, or for 33 months (2.5 years + 3 months) if you apply outside the UK. The 2nd visa is extension for further 2.5 years, then settlement.

10-year route is used when you have serious, exceptional circumstances why you cannot meet the Rules. It can be being unable to meet the financial rules or if you are currently without a legal status in the UK (i.e. an overstayer). The 1st visa is usually for 30 months (2.5 years or 2.5 years+3 months), then you need further 3 visas, each for 2.5 years, meaning you can only settle in the UK after 10 years.  

Depending on your personal situation, you could be placed on a 5- or 10-year route, as described above. You can also switch from 10-year route to the standard 5-year route as soon as you can meet all the requirements. 

Unlike with a Spouse/Partner visa, there is no specific amount of money you should be earning to qualify for a Parent visa. You must  that you have enough money to support yourself  without relaying on state welfare.  There is a specific calculation to evidence this, which we can advise on.

Available to: children under 18yo who have lived in the UK for 7 years and it would not be reasonable to expect the applicant to leave the UK.  Young adults aged 18 – 24 who lived in the UK for most of their life and arrived here before the age of 18. In this case a visa would be for up to 5 years, after that – settlement. Visa allows to work, use the NHS etc. 

In other cases, you can qualify for this visa after spending 20 years in the UK in any immigration status, with or without a visa. In some cases it can be less than 20 years but in very compassionate circumstances. The outcome is a visa for 2.5 years and settlement after 10 years in this route, ie total 30 years in the UK. 

As above, children and young adults first get a visa for up to 5 years, then can apply for settlement. Same for young adults. Here age relates to the date of the 1st visa in the Private Life and not the age at the point of applying for settlement.   

Adults, who qualified for this route after 20 years in the UK, then need to spend 10 years on Private Life visas. After that – settlement. However, 10 years can also be combined with visas as a partner, spouse of a UK citizen or a visa a child whose parent was on a Partner visa – depends on your circumstances. 

IMPORTANT!  There is another way to secure Indefinite Leave, which is open to everyone  who has spent 10 years continuously in the UK. In any category on any visa – but legally. If you qualify for this earlier than ’10 years on Private Life visas’, you can obtain ILR sooner. If you, however, had a gap in legal stay (i.e. was an overstayer at some point), this option won’t apply, but you could still carry on under the Private Life provision, which may take longer but still leads to ILR eventually.