The rules around dependants for Health and Care Worker visas changed on 11 March 2024. These changes affect who can include family members in their visa applications and under what circumstances they can stay in the UK or apply for an extension.
👨👩👧 Who Can Still Bring Dependants?
If you applied before 11 March 2024 and included dependants (your spouse/partner or children under 18), don’t worry - they can:
✅ Stay in the UK
✅ Extend their visa
✅ Switch to another eligible visa route
❌ What Changed After 11 March 2024?
If your application was submitted on or after 11 March 2024, the rules are much stricter:
Care Workers and Senior Care Workers (SOC 6135 and 6136) can no longer bring dependants, unless they qualify for an exemption (see below).
This includes people switching into this visa (e.g. from Student or Graduate visas).
✅ Who Is Exempt From These New Rules?
You may still be able to include dependants if:
You were already on a Skilled Worker visa (SOC 6135 or 6136) before 11 March 2024
You are the sole surviving parent of a child
You have a child born in the UK
If you qualify under one of these exemptions, you can still bring or extend dependants under the usual rules.
🛂 Child Dependants Still Need a Passport
Being eligible to include a child as a dependant is not the same as having the right documents to apply. Every dependant, including a child, must make their own application, and a child dependant must hold a valid passport in order to apply.
This applies even where the child was born in the UK and even where a previous dependant application was granted using only a UK birth certificate. A UK birth certificate and a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) are not a substitute for a passport at the application stage.
If your child does not currently hold a passport, start the passport application with your embassy as early as possible, because the dependant application cannot be submitted until the passport is available. If the child's leave is close to expiry, tell your Borderless caseworker straight away so the timeline can be managed.
🧾 What Happens if You Change Visa?
If the main applicant switches to a visa that doesn’t allow dependants, existing dependant visas will remain valid until they expire, but can’t be extended.
These changes do not apply to other Skilled Worker roles (non-care roles). If you’re in a different job type:
✅ You can still include your partner and children as dependants
✅ The rules haven’t changed for you
🧮 Need Help Understanding Your Situation?
This table outlines who is eligible to bring partners and children as dependants on a Health and Care Worker visa, based on their personal situation and when they applied.
Main Applicant Scenario | Partner Dependent | Child Dependent (Born Overseas) | Child Dependent (Born in the UK) |
Main applicant is overseas, and applies for a new care worker visa after 11/03/2024 | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No |
Main applicant is overseas, and applied for a new care worker visa before 11/03/2024 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant is in the UK on a care visa (SOC 6145/6146), and switched sponsors before 11/03/2024 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant is in the UK on a care visa (SOC 6145/6146), and switched sponsors after 11/03/2024 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant was working as a nurse, and now switching to a care role (SOC 6145/6146) after 11/03/2024 | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant was working as a nurse, and switched to a care role (SOC 6145/6146) before 11/03/2024 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant is on a Student visa, and finishes studies after 11/03/2024. They want to switch to a care visa. | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant was on a Student visa and switched to care visa before 11/03/2024 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant was a carer (6145), and promoted to senior carer (6146) after 11/03/2024 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant is on a dependent or graduate visa and switches to a care visa before 11/03/2024 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Main applicant is on a dependent or graduate visa and switches to a care visa after 11/03/2024 | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
🔍 What the pre-March 2024 exemption actually requires
The most common misunderstanding is that being in the UK before 11 March 2024 is enough. It is not. The exemption turns on the permission you have held, not on how long you have been here.
To rely on it, the main applicant must have continuously held permission as a Skilled Worker sponsored in the care worker or senior care worker occupation codes, and the original application for that permission must have been made before 11 March 2024. In the older SOC 2010 codes used in the transitional wording these are 6145 and 6146; the current SOC 2020 equivalents are 6135 and 6136. You will see both sets of numbers referred to, and they describe the same roles.
This is why some situations that feel like they should qualify do not:
You were in the UK before 11 March 2024, but on a Student, Graduate, dependant or other non-sponsored visa. The exemption does not apply, because you were not sponsored in those codes.
You held a care worker visa before 11 March 2024 but there is a gap in your permission since, or you moved onto another route in between. Continuity is broken, so the exemption is lost.
You are switching into a care role now from another route. You cannot bring dependants, and dependants you currently hold on your existing visa cannot move across with you. Their existing permission stays valid until it expires but cannot be extended.
🚧 If the platform will not let you add a partner or child
The application form checks eligibility before it lets you add a dependant, so a block usually means the answers recorded on the platform do not meet the test above. That may be correct, or it may be that a date or a previous visa type has been entered wrongly.
Do not remove a dependant you believe is eligible in order to get past the section, and do not submit with details changed to unblock the form. Instead, send your caseworker the specific detail that supports the exemption: the date of the application for your first care worker visa, the occupation code you were sponsored in, and evidence of unbroken permission since. If a dependant already holds permission as your partner or child, say so and give their expiry date. We will check the exemption and correct the application if it has been assessed on the wrong facts.