In-country switch to Student dependant visa

Short answer

In many cases yes, but not always. Whether your partner or child can switch to a Student dependant visa from inside the UK depends on three things: whether you (the main student) are the type of student who is allowed to bring dependants at all, whether your family member currently holds a visa that permits switching, and whether they meet the relationship and financial requirements. Each of these can defeat an in-country application, so it is worth checking them in order.

Can you bring dependants at all

This is the most common obstacle following the rule changes that took effect on 1 January 2024. Under Appendix Student, only certain students can have dependants join or stay with them. Your partner or child can generally only be a Student dependant if you are:

1. A student sponsored on a full-time postgraduate course at RQF level 7 or above lasting nine months or longer that is designated as a PhD or other doctorate, or a research-based higher degree; or

2. A government-sponsored student on a course longer than six months.

Since January 2024, most taught master’s students can no longer bring dependants. If you are on a one-year taught master’s that is not a research-based degree and you are not government-sponsored, your family members will normally not qualify as dependants at all, regardless of where they apply from. If you began your current course before that date, transitional arrangements may apply, so the start date of your course matters.

Whether your family member can switch inside the UK

Assuming you are an eligible student, GOV.UK confirms that a partner or child can apply from inside the UK to extend or switch, either at the same time as your own application or at any point before their current visa expires. This includes a child who has turned 18 during the stay, provided they still meet the child dependant conditions.

However, they cannot switch in-country if they currently hold one of these visas:

A visit visa, a short-term student visa, a Parent of a Child Student visa, a seasonal worker visa, or a domestic worker in a private household visa.

If your partner or child is in the UK on one of those routes, they must apply from outside the UK instead. So the practical question is what visa they hold right now. Someone here as a visitor, for example, cannot simply switch and would need to leave and apply from abroad.

The relationship and financial requirements

Even where switching is permitted, the application must meet the substantive requirements. For a partner, you must generally be married or in a civil partnership, or have been living together in a relationship similar to marriage for at least two years, and the relationship must be genuine and subsisting with an intention to live together. For a child, they must be under 18 at the date of application (or have last been granted as your child dependant), not be leading an independent life, and normally both parents must be lawfully in the UK or applying at the same time, subject to sole responsibility or exceptional circumstances exceptions.

There is also a maintenance requirement. Each dependant must show additional funds, held for 28 consecutive days, on top of your own required funds. The current figures are £845 per month for study in London and £680 per month outside London, for each dependant, for up to nine months. Funds do not need to be shown if you have been in the UK with valid permission for 12 months or more at the date of application.

Timing and status while a decision is awaited

The key protective point is that the application must be made before the family member’s current leave expires. If they apply in time, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 continues their existing leave and its conditions until the application is decided, which preserves their lawful status even if the decision comes after their visa’s original expiry date. Applying late risks becoming an overstayer, which can jeopardise the application and future immigration history.

Their permission as a dependant will normally be granted to align with the end date of your own Student permission.

Practical next steps

1. Confirm your own eligibility to have dependants: check whether your course is a research-based postgraduate degree of nine months or more, or whether you are government-sponsored, and note your course start date for any transitional rules.

2. Check the exact visa your partner or child currently holds, because that determines whether an in-country switch is even possible.

3. Gather relationship evidence (marriage or civil partnership certificate, or proof of two years’ cohabitation) and, for a child, birth certificates showing both parents.

4. Check whether the 12-month exemption from the financial requirement applies, and if not, arrange to hold the required funds for the full 28-day period before applying.

5. Make the online application from inside the UK before the current visa expires, ideally alongside or after your own application, and be ready to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge and provide biometrics.

Where the answer could change

The outcome turns heavily on facts you have not yet given: what type of course you are on and when it started, whether you are government-sponsored, and precisely which visa your family member currently holds. If you tell me those details, I can give you a much more definite answer on whether an in-country switch will work or whether they will need to apply from abroad.