Bringing Your Family on a UK PhD: Dependant Visa Rules, Costs and Reality

On 1 January 2024, the UK pulled the dependant route from most international students: if you are on a taught course, your partner and children stay home. The big exception — and the reason this matters so much on a PhD-focused site — is that postgraduate research students kept the right. If you are enrolled on a doctoral programme (or another research-heavy postgraduate course, or a government-funded scholarship scheme), you can still bring your partner and children for the length of your course. Choosing a PhD over a master's now has a family dimension that did not formally exist three years ago.

Who counts as a dependant

The Student route recognises your partner (spouse or unmarried partner with evidence of two years of relationship) and your children under 18. Parents, siblings and adult children do not qualify. Each dependant needs their own visa application, their own immigration health surcharge, and — critically — evidence that you can support them without recourse to public funds. Dependants can apply alongside you or join later, and their permission usually matches the length of your course plus the post-study buffer that applies to your own visa.

The money requirement, line by line

Financial evidence is where applications are won and lost. For each dependant you must show £845 for each month of your granted permission, capped at nine months — so up to £7,605 per dependant — on top of the main student's own maintenance evidence. In London the figure is higher (£1,023 per month per dependant), reflecting the capital's maintenance rules. The money must have been held for 28 consecutive days, ending within 31 days of application, in an acceptable account, and it must sit in addition to — not instead of — your own £1,136-plus per month evidence outside London. A stipend letter helps your main case but does not remove the dependant figures, and certificates of deposit or loans are treated strictly, so read UKCISA's current guidance and your university's visa team page before you apply.

What it costs beyond the bank balance

Budget honestly. Each dependant application carries a visa fee of several hundred pounds, and the Immigration Health Surcharge runs at £1,035 per year per person — for a four-year PhD with a partner and one child, IHS alone exceeds £8,000 across the family. Add the rent difference between a studio and a family flat, which in most university cities is £400 to £700 per month, and childcare if your children are young, since funded nursery places follow different rules for visa-holders. None of this is a reason not to do it — thousands of families do — but a studentship stipend sized for one person does not quietly become a family salary, and our guide to working during a UK PhD matters here because your partner's income often is the family budget line.

The partner's work rights: the quiet advantage

Here is the part that changes household economics: dependant partners of research students can generally work full-time in the UK with no occupation restriction. On most realistic budgets, a working partner is what makes family PhD life viable, and it is a genuine structural advantage over taught-course households where the dependant route no longer exists at all. Children can attend state schools free of charge regardless of visa status, and healthcare runs through the NHS once the surcharge is paid.

Planning the application sequence

Sequence matters. The main student applies (or holds their visa) first; dependants can apply together or after, but their permission is anchored to yours. Evidence of relationship — marriage certificates, joint accounts, communication records for unmarried partners — should be assembled months ahead, and translations must be certified. If your course requires ATAS, sort that first; family applications wait on the main visa. And think ahead to completion: the Graduate route permits your dependants to stay with you into the post-study period, which makes the Graduate route comparison essential reading for PhD families planning their next step. For the main application's documents and timings, our step-by-step visa guide walks the full sequence.

Family logistics: schools, childcare and housing

The everyday infrastructure matters more than the visa rules once you arrive. Children of student dependants can attend state schools without fees regardless of visa status, and places are allocated through your local council rather than the university — apply as soon as you have an address, because popular schools fill. Nursery is the expensive gap: funded childcare hours for three and four-year-olds exist but interact with immigration status in ways worth checking locally, and full-time nursery for younger children can exceed £1,000 a month in most cities, which is the single line item that breaks family budgets most often.

Housing is the other fault line. University family accommodation exists but is oversubscribed at research-heavy institutions; waiting lists open months before term, so register the day your offer is firm. Private landlords often want six or twelve months of rent upfront from visa-holders without UK credit history, which converts your dependant savings evidence into a deposit war chest. Families who plan these two items before flying report a completely different first term from families who improvise on arrival — the visa is the easier half of the move.

UK PhD programmes that suit applicants moving with family

Research-degree students keep dependant rights, so the practical question is money and city costs, not eligibility. These funded, live programmes are the kind of offers that make a family move arithmetic work.

• 4-Year PhD Programme 2027 at The Francis Crick Institute, London — the Crick Institute’s four-year London programme with salary-style funding. Deadline: 3 November 2026 (12:00 midday GMT).
• Fully Funded Genomics PhD at Wellcome Sanger Institute 2027 — the Wellcome Sanger genomics PhD near Cambridge. Deadline: Application: 24 November 2026, 09:00 GMT; references: 1 December 2026, 09:00 GMT.
• Fully Funded PhD Studentship in Foundational AI at University College London — UCL’s foundational AI studentship, open until filled
• Computing Science PhD Studentships, University of Glasgow 2027 — Glasgow computing studentships in a cheaper family city. Deadline: 31 January 2027.
• Fully Funded PhD in Psychology at University of East Anglia 2027 — a fully funded psychology PhD at UEA. Deadline: 14 January 2027.
• International PhD Studentships at University of Reading 2027 — Reading's international studentship round. Deadline: 15 January 2027.