Your dependent partner can join you in the UK
Your dependent partner aged 18 or over on the date of application can join you in the UK, if you are here on a Skilled Worker visa.
Your dependent partner can apply from outside the UK, seeking permission to enter, both where you are already in the UK as a Skilled Worker, and where you are applying at the same time for entry clearance on the Skilled Worker route.
If already in the UK, your dependent partner can apply from within the country for permission to stay. In this case, your partner must not be in the UK as a Visitor, Short-term student, Parent of a Child Student, Seasonal Worker, Domestic Worker in a Private Household, or with leave outside the Immigration Rules.
Depending on the circumstances, your partner may need to provide a valid medical certificate confirming that your partner has undergone screening for active pulmonary tuberculosis and that this tuberculosis is not present in your partner.
If you and your partner are not married, you must demonstrate that you have been living together in a relationship similar to marriage for at least the two years before the date of application. Any previous relationship of yours or of your partner with another person must have permanently broken down. You and your partner must not be so closely related that you would not be allowed to marry in the UK.
Irrespective of whether you are married to your partner or not, your relationship must be genuine and subsisting, and you must intend to live together throughout your partner’s stay in the UK.
If your partner is applying for entry clearance, or has been in the UK for less than 12 months on the date of application, either you or your partner must have funds of at least £285 (see here how to demonstrate that), or your sponsor must certify that they will, if necessary, maintain and accommodate you and your dependent partner, up to the end of the first month of the permission to enter or remain, to at least the amount of £285. If your partner is applying for permission to stay and has been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, your partner will meet the financial requirement and do not need to show funds.
Where you are being sponsored as a Skilled Worker for a job in an occupation listed here, your partner applying for entry clearance must provide a criminal record certificate from the relevant authority in any country in which your partner has been present for 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the 10 years before the date of application, and while aged 18 or over. Your partner is exempt of this requirement if a satisfactory explanation why it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a criminal record certificate is provided.
If all conditions are satisfied, your dependent partner will be granted leave to enter or remain. Your partner will be granted permission which ends on the same date as yours (or 3 years’ permission if you settled as a Skilled Worker). Your dependent partner will be able to work (as an employee, self-employed or as a volunteer) and study, but will have no access to public funds (will not be permitted to claim benefits). Your partner will not be permitted to work as a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach).
You partner may be required to register with the police.
If the application is refused, your partner can apply for an Administrative Review.
Your partner can settle in the UK after a continuous period of 5 years in the UK with permission as a dependent partner. Your partner must show English language ability on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in speaking and listening to at least level B1, and must pass the Life in the UK test.
If you want me to assist your dependent partner in the process of applying for permission to enter or stay in the UK, feel free to contact me. Please note that I am an accredited immigration adviser, not an employee of UK Visas and Immigration, and that I charge fees for the advice provided.