Family Routes for People with Protection Status

What Changed on 4 September 2025

Appendix Family Reunion (Sponsors with Protection) let the pre-flight partner and children of a person who has protection status, or settlement on a protection route, join them in the UK without an application fee. Pre-flight means the family was formed before the sponsor fled. It closed to new applications at 3pm on 4 September 2025, pending a Home Office review. An application made before that time is still decided under the rules in force on that date. One made at or after it is treated as void and is not considered.

The rules now say that a partner or child of a person with protection status must apply under Appendix FM until further notice. Protection status covers refugee leave, refugee permission to stay, temporary refugee permission to stay, humanitarian protection and temporary humanitarian protection. This page sets out the routes open now: Appendix FM for partners and for children joining a parent, and Appendix Child Relative for a child joining a close relative other than a parent. A partner or child already in the UK as a dependant on the asylum claim is covered on our claim asylum in the UK page.

Partners: The Appendix FM Route

Appendix FM allows an application as the partner of a person in the UK with protection status. Partner means a spouse, civil partner, fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner, or unmarried partner in a relationship similar to marriage for at least two years, and the relationship must be genuine and subsisting.

The financial requirement applies to protection sponsors in the normal way: a specified gross annual income of at least £29,000, specified cash savings, or the exemption for sponsors receiving listed disability or carer's benefits who can maintain the family adequately without public funds. Accommodation must be adequate and occupied exclusively by the family, and the applicant must meet the A1 English speaking and listening requirement by test, nationality or a degree taught in English, unless exempt through age (65 or over), disability or exceptional circumstances. That A1 level applies to the first application. On the next application, after 30 months in the UK with leave as a partner, the level rises to A2 speaking and listening, so it is worth planning the test early.

Where the income requirement cannot be met, the decision maker must consider, on the information you provide, whether refusal would have unjustifiably harsh consequences for you, your partner or a relevant child. If so, credible third party support or prospective earnings can be counted, and any permission granted on that basis is on the ten year route rather than the five year route. See our exceptional circumstances page, and the standard requirements on our spouse visa and unmarried partner visa pages.

Children: Appendix FM or Appendix Child Relative

A child under 18 joining a parent who has protection status applies under the child section of Appendix FM. Unless the child's other parent is, or is applying to be, your partner under Appendix FM, you must show either that you have had and continue to have sole responsibility for the child's upbringing, or that there are serious and compelling family or other considerations which make excluding the child undesirable and that suitable arrangements have been made for their care.

The same financial requirement and the accommodation requirement apply, with the same exceptional circumstances fallback, and since 3 August 2026 there must be suitable arrangements for the child's care and accommodation in the UK. The child's permission expires with the parent's protection permission, or with the other parent's Appendix FM permission where that parent is granted leave at the same time. General child applications are on our child visa page.

Appendix Child Relative (Sponsors with Protection) is for a child under 18 joining a close relative who has protection status and is not settled. Close relative means a grandparent, brother, sister, step-parent, uncle (the brother or half-brother of the child's parent) or aunt (the sister or half-sister of the child's parent), aged 18 or over. An uncle or aunt by marriage, for example the wife of the child's uncle, is not a close relative for this route. The child must not be leading an independent life, must have suitable care arrangements, and must have no family in the UK other than the close relative who could reasonably be expected to support or care for them.

The relationship must be genuine, and the close relative must maintain and accommodate the child adequately without public funds, evidenced in the Appendix FM-SE format. Permission expires on the same date as the close relative's, and a child in the UK can apply for settlement once the close relative has applied for settlement, or is already settled having held protection status when they settled. The child must also hold, or have last held, Appendix Child Relative permission, and the close relative's settlement application must be a valid one that is still undecided. Settlement carries the English language and Knowledge of Life in the UK requirements unless an exemption applies, and a child still under 18 on the date of application is exempt from both; the English language level is B1 speaking and listening for applications made before 26 March 2027 and B2 for applications made on or after that date. Appendix Child Relative is not open for a first application where the close relative is already settled: a child joining a settled relative applies under paragraph 297 or 298 of Part 8 of the Immigration Rules instead.

Evidence and Common Problems

The problems we see most often:

• Income evidence in the wrong format: Appendix FM-SE expects, for example, six months of payslips with matching bank statements, or savings held for six months.
• A sponsor granted protection recently who has not yet built up the income the rules expect, so the case rests on exceptional circumstances.
• Missing or unofficial identity and relationship documents where a family fled at short notice, with no explanation or alternative evidence.
• Difficulty reaching an approved English test centre, and exemptions asserted rather than evidenced.
• Under Appendix Child Relative, thin evidence that nobody else in the UK could care for the child, or an application made after the child turns 18. From 8 October 2026 the child's age moves from a validity requirement to an eligibility requirement, so an application made after the child turns 18 is refused on eligibility rather than rejected as invalid, and the date of application matters more than ever.
• Fees. Appendix FM and Appendix Child Relative both charge an application fee and the Immigration Health Charge, where family reunion charged nothing; the amounts are on the GOV.UK visa fees page. A fee waiver can be requested first on either route: see our fee waiver applications page.

Where permission is aligned to the sponsor's, the sponsor's own next application matters. Our protection status reviews and further permission page explains what happens when a 30 month grant is reviewed.

How the Process Works

1. Confirm the route. We check the sponsor's status, the relationship, the child's age and whether a family reunion application was made before 3pm on 4 September 2025.
2. Assess the requirements. We test the finances and decide whether an exceptional circumstances case is needed.
3. Request a fee waiver if needed and where the application qualifies. It is decided before the main application, which must then be made within 28 calendar days of the decision from outside the UK, with biometrics given at the visa application centre, or within 10 working days in the UK, with the biometrics appointment attended within 17 working days of being asked to book. Miss either step and the fee waiver code expires and a fresh fee waiver application is needed.
4. Prepare and submit. Entry clearance is applied for online from outside the UK; a child applying in the UK under Appendix Child Relative uses form FLR (P).
5. Give biometrics at a visa application centre, or at the appointment the Home Office directs for an application made in the UK.
6. Receive the decision. If granted, check the expiry date, which may be tied to the sponsor's own permission. If refused, check the letter straight away for any right of appeal and its deadline: see our spouse visa refusal and child visa refusal pages.

When Legal Advice Is Especially Important

Advice before submission matters most where:

• Your protection was granted for 30 months and you cannot meet the £29,000 requirement.
• The child's sponsor is a sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle or step-parent rather than a parent.
• The child's other parent is not applying with them and stays abroad, so sole responsibility or serious and compelling considerations must be shown.
• A family reunion application was made close to the 4 September 2025 deadline.
• Documents were lost or never issued, or the relationship is unmarried or a religious-only marriage.
• The child will turn 18 soon.
• Your own permission is due for review before the family application is decided.
• An earlier family application was refused.

How RakLAW Solicitors Can Help

We advise partners and children of people with protection status from our office at 42 Shad Thames in Southwark, a short walk from Tower Bridge, starting with a free 15-minute consultation.

We then prepare the evidence, any fee waiver request and the covering representation on exceptional circumstances. RakLAW Solicitors does not offer legal aid; our immigration fees are explained before you instruct us. Wider routes are on our family immigration pages.