International students SCQF level and dependants

As a Student visa holder, you may be able to bring your partner and children to the UK with you as your dependant. This will depend on the course SCQF level noted in your offer letter.  The rules also apply to babies born in the UK after you arrive. There are some exceptions to the rules and these are noted below.

Check your offer letter

If the offer letter states that the course is at SCQF11_RE or SCQF12_RE;  the course is eligible to apply to bring dependants.

Check your offer letter

If the offer letter has an SCQF level noted that is not SCQF11_RE or SCQF12_RE; the course is not eligible to apply to bring dependants.

Some exceptions to this rule can be seen in the next section.

Only students studying a full-time course 6 months or longer and who are sponsored by a national government for their study are exceptions to the above.

To be eligible to bring dependants on a government scholarship or sponsorship, the award must be a government funded scholarship or sponsorship from a national government department. 

The scholarship or sponsorship is not required to cover the full tuition fees and living costs of the student to permit them to sponsor dependants.  In these cases, the applicant must provide additional financial evidence to demonstrate that they meet the financial requirement. 

If a scholarship does not cover the living costs for any dependants of the student, then the applicant must provide separate financial evidence to cover them.

Dependant partner

A dependant partner is defined as:

  • your husband, wife, or civil partner
  • your unmarried partner (you will have to provide additional evidence if this is your relationship status)

Dependant children

A dependant child is defined as:

  • your child under 18 years old - including if they were born in the UK during your stay

If you, the main Student visa applicant, plan to bring your children to the UK both parents must also be coming to the UK. This is confirmed in paragraph 34.2 in the Immigration Rules Appendix Student.

Other family members

Other family members are not considered to be dependants.