Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will consider an exemption for dependants of care workers who were lawfully resident in the UK with their sponsoring partner before dependant rule changes came into force.

Immigration Rules preventing those holding leave as a care worker from having dependant applications associated with their visas took effect on 11 March 2024 and transitional arrangements were put in place to protect those already in the route. Dependants who are born whilst the worker in the UK, and those who are settled in the UK were not affected by the change.

The rules are clear, and it is reasonable to expect those with families to bear them in mind when making decisions about whether to apply for a Health and Care visa as a care worker, no matter where they intend to make that application from.