We often receive enquiries about elderly foreign parents joining their settled UK families. 

Routes for financially independent people, such as the Investor visa or the Retired Person of Independent Means visa, have been abolished. Now, unless a parent qualifies for British citizenship through ancestry, the only options are: an Adult Dependent Relative visa or an EU Settlement Scheme dependant parent visa. 

This visa is for parents of adult British citizens or holders of indefinite leave to remain. 

This is not merely a parent visa. Applicants must have a high level of dependency on the sponsor. If you come across the term “parent visa”, it likely refers to a different visa for parents of children under 18. 

The Adult Dependent Relative visa commands the most expensive visa application fee in the UK. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) charge £3,250 just to consider an application. Between 2017 and 2020, 96% of Adult Dependent Relative applications were refused. 

To succeed, an applicant must first prove they need long-term personal care to perform everyday tasks due to age, illness, or disability. The care-need must not be temporary. “Everyday tasks” can include washing, dressing, cooking, feeding, cleaning, shopping, exercising, leaving the house, or even companionship.

Long-term personal care needs alone are not enough. An applicant must also prove they are unable to obtain the necessary care in their home country because the care is not available, there is nobody in that country to reasonably provide it, or the care is unaffordable. 

This may seem insurmountable but, in many cases, elderly parents need a level of emotional support only a close family member can provide. There is often scope to build a case around such circumstances.

EU citizens with Settled or Pre-Settled status under the post-Brexit EU Settlement Scheme have a much easier route to sponsoring their elderly parents. 

They must demonstrate that, having regard to their health or financial and social conditions, the applicant cannot meet their essential living needs (in whole or in part) without the financial or other material support of the sponsor or their spouse.

We’re sensitive to the pressures adult children face when confronted with their ageing parents’ care and we have extensive knowledge of this tricky visa route. We know the pitfalls and the problems that sponsors and applicants can face, and we can help you avoid them. 

There’s no escaping the harsh criteria for this route. The 96% refusal rate speaks for itself. But success is possible. 

Many people embark on this application without understanding the extent of the evidential requirements. It’s never enough to just submit some recent prescriptions or bare medical records and scan results. Everything you provide must have a purpose and must clearly prove an element of the case. 

Many people make the mistake of assuming that UKVI will ask for more evidence or interview the applicant and sponsor. This rarely happens. The onus is on the applicant to provide a full and complete case that proves to a stranger who doesn’t know them, what their care needs are and why they cannot be met.

If a case is refused by UKVI, that’s not the end of the road. Decisions can be appealed to immigration tribunal on human rights grounds. This can add further time and cost to an already costly process, but it offers an opportunity to present the case to an independent judge. 

Due to the restrictive immigration rules, we are not able to take on all cases. If after our consultation we don’t think there is a reasonable chance of success, we will make this clear at the outset so you can make an informed decision before incurring the cost and stress of an application.

The majority of cases we do take on, however, do succeed –  either at first instance or after appeal. We work collaboratively with you from start to finish to advise on how best to present the case. In most cases, we will need to work with you to instruct expert medical and psychological reports. If translations are required, we can arrange them.

Contact us today to arrange a fixed fee initial consultation.