Appendix Children: Requirements for Dependent Child Immigration Routes

By David Zuther - Legal Associate

29 May 2024

Appendix Children was added to the Immigration Rules following a Home Office Statement of Changes dated 07 September 2023 (HC 1780). This Appendix does not set out any immigration route. Rather, it collects key eligibility criteria that children must meet when applying in a number of different routes, whether as dependent children or on their own. 

When Does Appendix Children Apply to Applications as a Dependent Child?

Appendix Children applies to the following routes where the applicant is applying as a dependent child:

• Appendix HM Armed Forces
• Appendix International Armed Forces and International Civilian Employees
• Appendix Settlement Protection
• Appendix Student
• Appendix Graduate
• Appendix Skilled Worker
• Appendix Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker
• Appendix Global Business Mobility – Graduate Trainee
• Appendix Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker
• Appendix Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier
• Appendix Global Business Mobility – Secondment Worker
• Appendix T2 Minister of Religion
• Appendix Representative of an Overseas Business
• Appendix UK Ancestry
• Appendix Global Talent
• Appendix High Potential Individual
• Appendix Scale-up
• Appendix Start-up
• Appendix Innovator Founder
• Appendix International Sportsperson
• Appendix Domestic Workers in a Private Household
• Appendix Temporary Work – Creative Worker
• Appendix Temporary Work – Religious Worker
• Appendix Temporary Work – Charity Worker
• Appendix Temporary Work – International Agreement
• Appendix Temporary Work – Government Authorised Exchange
• Appendix Hong Kong British National (Overseas)
• Appendix Family Reunion (Protection)
• Appendix Child staying with or joining a Non-Parent Relative (Protection)
• Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse
• Appendix Bereaved Partner
• Appendix Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veteran discharged before 1 July 1997.

What Are the Requirements of Appendix Children for Applications as a Dependent Child?

There are four requirements in Appendix Children which must be met by those applying as dependent children in one of the above routes: the Age Requirement, the Independent Life Requirement, the Care Requirement, and the Relationship Requirement. 

Age and Independent Life Requirements 

The Age Requirement in Appendix Children stipulates that an applicant must be under the age of 18 at the date of application unless they were last granted entry clearance or permission to stay as a dependent child of the same parent as in their current application. 

The applicant must also not be leading an ‘independent life.’ The caseworker guidance makes clear that this means that they 

• do not have a partner; and 
• are living with their parent (or at boarding school, college or university as part of their full-time education). 

The requirement that the applicant not have a partner means that they must not be married, in a civil partnership, or in a relationship which is similar to marriage or civil partnership and has lasted for two years or more at the date of application. Thus (in an example given in the guidance), an applicant living in shared accommodation with their boyfriend or girlfriend while studying at university would not be considered to be leading an independent life unless the character of the relationship rendered it similar to marriage or civil partnership and it had subsisted for two years or more. 

Care Requirement 

For minor applicants, the decision-maker must further be satisfied that the Care Requirement is met, i.e., that there will be safe and suitable accommodation for the child in the UK which complies with relevant legal requirements, such as building and fire safety regulations. 

The guidance states that, in most cases in which the applicant will be staying with their parent or their parent’s partner or in accommodation for the purpose of full-time education, there should be no concerns about the suitability of arrangements, but that caseworkers can request further information from applicants where concerns do exist. 

The guidance also cautions that where the applicant is a parent applying with their child(ren) from abroad under Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse, the arrangements for their accommodation in UK ‘may not be easily evidenced’, and that the care requirement should not be considered not met merely because there are no firm accommodation plans.

Relationship Requirement

The provisions relating to the Relationship Requirement are more complex. There are differential requirements, depending on whether the child is applying for entry clearance/permission to stay or settlement, specific provisions for particular routes, and requirements as to the status of both parents. 

For entry clearance or permission to stay, the applicant must generally be a child of a parent who must either: 

• have entry clearance or permission to stay on the same route the child applicant is applying on; or
• be, at the same time, applying for (and be granted) entry clearance or permission to stay on the same route the child applicant is applying on; or
• be settled or have become a British citizen, provided they previously had permission to stay on the same route the child applicant is applying on and the child applicant had permission as their child at that time or was born since their last grant of permission and before they settled. 

For applications in the UK Ancestry route where the parent has settled or become a British citizen, the requirement that the child applicant have held permission as a dependent child on that route before the parent settled does not apply (unless they are over 18). There are also specific provisions for those applying under Appendix HM Armed Forces and Appendix International Armed Forces. 

Where the application is for settlement, the applicant must generally be a child of a parent who must either: 

• be being granted settlement on the same route, at the same time as the child applicant; or 
• be settled or have become a British citizen and previously have held permission on the same route as the child applicant. 

Again, more specific provisions apply to members of the Armed Forces. 

The child applicant must either: 

• have last been granted permission as a dependent child of the parent above; or
• have been born in the UK; or
• for applications under Appendix UK Ancestry, be applying as a dependent child of the parent above (but with no requirement that they have last held permission as that parent’s dependent child, unless they are over the age of 18); or, if none of the above apply,  
• have been born overseas after their parent’s last grant of permission as a partner, where the application for settlement is being made on either the Bereaved Partner or the Victim of Domestic Abuse route. 

Appendix Children also contains eligibility requirements relating to the status of the child’s other parent (i.e., not the person as whose dependent the child is applying). 

For entry clearance or permission to stay, 

• both parents must be applying at the same time as the child applicant or have permission to be in the UK; or 
• the parent without permission must be a British or Irish citizen or a person with the right of abode and they live or intend to live in the UK; or 
• the parent applying for entry clearance or with permission to stay must be the sole surviving parent or have sole responsibility  for the child’s upbringing; or 
• there must be serious and compelling reasons to grant the child applicant’s application for entry clearance or permission to stay with the parent as whose dependent they are applying. 

In settlement applications, 

• the other parent must be being granted settlement at the same time or be settled or a British citizen; or 
• the parent as whose dependent the child is applying for settlement must be the sole surviving parent or have sole responsibility for the child’s upbringing; or 
• there must be serious and compelling reasons to grant the child applicant’s application for settlement; or  
• the child applicant must be applying as a dependent child under Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse. 

Children born in the UK and making their first application for permission to stay must provide their full UK birth certificate, showing the name(s) of their parent(s). 

The caseworker guidance clarifies that the references to parent include non-parents who have assumed parental responsibility, for instance through de facto adoption (defined by the guidance as having lived with and cared for the child for at least 12 months ending with the date of application and assumed the role of parent for that period, there having been a ‘genuine transfer of parental responsibility’.)

When Does Appendix Children Apply to Those Not Applying as a Dependent Child?

Appendix Children also contains rules in respect of applications by children under any of the below routes, which allow applications from individuals under the age of 18: 

• Appendix Child Student
• Appendix International Sportsperson
• Appendix Returning Resident
• Appendix Short-term Student (English language)
• Appendix Student
• Appendix Temporary Work – Creative Worker
• Appendix Temporary Work – Government Authorised Exchange
• Appendix UK Ancestry

When making an application as an underage applicant in any of the above routes, Appendix Children requires that written consent be provided from both of the applicant’s parents, one parent (if that parent has sole responsibility/the other parent is deceased), or the applicant’s legal guardian. Evidence of the applicant’s relationship to the person(s) providing consent must also be included (such as birth certificates, certificates of adoption, or relevant court orders). The document must be in English or Welsh or be accompanied by a verified translation and contain certain key information, including contact details for the parent(s)/guardian(s). 

However, the guidance also states that where no parental consent is provided, or only that of one parent where both share responsibility for the child, any explanations given for this omission should be considered, and discretion may be exercised to grant the application. Examples given in the guidance include where the child is estranged from their parent(s), where there is evidence of domestic abuse, or where the parent(s) is/are uncontactable .

Contact Our Immigration Barristers

For expert advice and assistance in relation to making a UK immigration application for a child, contact our immigration barristers in London on 0203 617 9173 or via the enquiry form below.