Bringing Your Spouse and Children From Nigeria on a UK Skilled Worker Visa
Once your own Skilled Worker visa is sorted, the natural next question for many Nigerian applicants is: can my spouse and children come with me, and what will that actually involve? Here's a clear, practical breakdown of the costs and requirements.
Who counts as an eligible dependant
Under the Skilled Worker route, your spouse or partner (including an unmarried partner in a genuine, subsisting relationship meeting the relevant criteria) and your children under 18 (with some provisions for certain children over 18 who were already part of the family unit) can generally apply as dependants alongside you, or join you later on their own separate application.
The application fee for each dependant
Each dependant pays their own application fee, at the same rate as the main applicant: £819 for a visa of 3 years or less (applying from outside the UK), or £1,618 for more than 3 years. There's no discount for applying as a family — each person's fee is calculated and paid individually, meaning a larger family faces a genuinely significant combined total.
The Immigration Health Surcharge for each family member
Each dependant also pays their own IHS, at £1,035 per year of visa length for an adult spouse or partner, and generally the same standard rate for children on this particular route (the discounted rate is specifically tied to the Student visa category, not to age alone on the Skilled Worker route). For a 3-year visa, that's £3,105 per family member — a cost that adds up meaningfully for a family of four or five.
A worked example for a family of four
Take a Nigerian father sponsored on a 3-year Skilled Worker visa, bringing his wife and two children. Application fees: £819 × 4 = £3,276. IHS: £3,105 × 4 = £12,420. Combined total: £15,696 before flights, accommodation, or anything else is factored in — a substantial sum worth planning for well in advance, not discovering as a surprise partway through the process.
The financial requirement for maintenance funds
Beyond the application fee and IHS, you (or your sponsoring employer, if they certify this) generally need to show sufficient maintenance funds — commonly cited around £285 for the first dependant and £315 for each additional dependant, held for the required 28-day period, though these figures should always be confirmed against current guidance. Some sponsoring employers certify maintenance on your behalf, which can simplify this requirement considerably if your employer offers it.
Relationship evidence for your spouse or partner
For a spouse, your marriage certificate is central evidence, alongside evidence the relationship is genuine and ongoing — this is generally more straightforward for a married couple with a formally registered marriage than for an unmarried partner, who needs to evidence a genuine, subsisting relationship meeting specific duration and cohabitation criteria instead.
Documentation for children
Each child's birth certificate showing their relationship to you (and your spouse, where relevant) is essential, along with a valid passport. If only one parent is applying with the children and the other parent isn't part of the application, additional evidence around parental consent or custody arrangements may be required — check the specific requirements for your family's exact situation.
Applying together versus applying separately later
Dependants can apply at the same time as the main applicant, or join later through their own separate application — each approach has practical trade-offs. Applying together simplifies the overall process and gets the whole family settled at once, while a staged approach might suit families managing other logistics (a child finishing a school term in Nigeria, for instance) before the full move.
Work out your family's full cost
Use our Dependants Visa Cost & Eligibility Calculator to get your family's specific total cost, and our IHS Calculator to double-check the surcharge portion specifically.
Planning your family's finances well ahead of time
Given the substantial combined figure involved for a family of any real size, it's worth starting to save and plan specifically for this cost as soon as bringing dependants becomes a realistic part of your plans, rather than only once you have a confirmed sponsorship offer in hand. Building a dedicated savings plan over several months, rather than scrambling to assemble the full amount at short notice, makes the whole process considerably less stressful when the time actually comes to apply.
Discussing this openly with your employer, where relevant
If your prospective UK employer offers any support with relocation costs — sometimes covering flights, temporary accommodation, or even the visa and IHS costs for the main applicant and occasionally dependants too — this can materially change your family's financial planning. Don't assume such support exists or doesn't; ask your employer directly and clearly what, if anything, they're willing to contribute toward your family's move, since practices vary considerably between different employers and this kind of extra support is rarely, if ever, offered entirely unprompted by the employer itself without being asked.
The genuine reward at the end of this process
It's worth remembering, amid all the practical detail around fees, forms, and evidence, exactly what this process is ultimately building toward: your family, together, in the UK, starting a genuinely new chapter of life. The costs are real and the process demanding, but for the many Nigerian families who've successfully navigated it before you, the outcome — genuine reunification and a shared, settled future together in the UK — has consistently proven worth the careful, sometimes genuinely stressful preparation it takes to actually get there in the end.
Considering whether to bring everyone at once or in stages
Some families choose to bring dependants in stages rather than all at once — perhaps a spouse joins immediately while children finish a school term in Nigeria first, or vice versa. There's no single right answer here; it depends on your family's specific circumstances, finances, and preferences. What matters is making this a deliberate, planned decision rather than something forced purely by financial constraints you hadn't anticipated or budgeted for properly.
Helping your family settle once they arrive
Bringing your family to the UK is only the beginning of a much bigger adjustment — helping a spouse understand the UK job market and potentially find their own employment, getting children settled into school and making new friends, and generally helping everyone adapt to a new country, climate and culture. It's worth researching and planning for this settling-in period alongside the visa process itself, rather than treating the visa application as the entire challenge and assuming everything else will simply fall into place afterward.
Reviewing your family's total budget beyond just the visa costs
The application fees and IHS discussed in this article are significant, but they're only part of your family's total relocation budget — flights for everyone, initial accommodation costs, school-related expenses, and general settling-in costs all add up alongside the visa fees themselves. Building a complete, honest picture of your family's total moving budget, not just the visa-specific costs, helps you plan realistically for the whole transition rather than being caught short once you've already arrived.
Frequently asked questions
Can my dependants work in the UK once they arrive?
Generally yes — dependants on the Skilled Worker route typically have permission to work, though it's worth confirming the specific conditions attached to their visa.
What if I have a child born after I've already moved to the UK?
A child born in the UK to parents with valid leave generally has their own specific status considerations to work through — check the current guidance carefully for your family's exact situation.
Do older children over 18 ever still qualify as dependants?
In limited circumstances, where they were already genuinely part of the family unit and meet specific criteria — this is considerably more restrictive than for children under 18, so check very carefully.
Does bringing dependants affect my own visa conditions in any way?
Generally no — your own visa conditions remain governed entirely by your own sponsorship, kept genuinely separate from your dependants' own individual applications and status.