UK Dependant Visa 2026: Children of Care Worker Visa Holders Told to Leave UK Despite Parents Being Allowed to Stay
UK Dependant Visa 2026: Children of those on care worker visas, who arrived legally before rule change, told to leave even if parents can stay.
Children as young as five legally resident in the UK are being advised by the Home Office that they must leave the country – even when their parents have been allowed to stay.
The Guardian has seen five letters written to youngsters by the Home Office advising them they must leave the UK. A sixth letter has been written to a woman who is six months pregnant and lives in the UK with her husband telling her she must leave him and return to her country. The children’ parents are on care worker visas, which until March 2024 had enabled them to bring spouses or children to the UK with them.
UK Care Worker Families Shocked by Home Office Letters
“We are absolutely shocked that the family is getting these letters,” said Varuni Arachchige, a care worker stationed in Perth, Scotland, with her husband who works in a factory. They have two children ages eight and five who are doing well at school and established in their community.
Arachchige holds a chemistry degree and a postgraduate diploma in analytical chemistry from her family’s home country, Sri Lanka, and an MSc in sustainability and water security from the University of Dundee.
Her husband has a degree in physical science and double maths. He and their children are on her care worker visa as dependants. The family pay taxes and do not claim any benefits – and have paid the Home Office thousands of pounds for their immigration applications.
UK Family Visa Rule Changes Affecting Care Workers
The government moved to tighten the rules on family visas for care workers when the Home Office estimated in 2023 that around 120,000 family members were in the UK, joining 100,000 applicants for care worker visas. Care workers have not been able to bring their partners or children with them to the UK since March 2024 and a restriction on international recruitment of care workers was brought in from July 2025.
But the children who received the letters in the last several weeks were in the UK before the various bans and restrictions were introduced.
“We have been living legally in the UK since we came here on Christmas Day 2022,” stated Arachchige. “My visa’s been extended by the Home Office until 2031. ‘But my husband and children, who are my dependants, have been advised to leave the country.
Lawyers Raise Concerns Over Increasing Cases
Lawyers claimed they had noticed an increase in these sorts of situations in the past several weeks.
Two recent studies of migrant care workers found that new plans to prolong the period before they may reside in the UK – from five years to a baseline of 15 years – could trigger a huge departure of this category of workers.
Tulia Group CIC, which offers help and legal guidance to migrants, surveyed 269 migrant care workers who all thought the settlement route should stay at five years. With extended settlement restrictions, just 36% stated they would stay here.
A separate study of 1,162 migrant care workers by health and social care platform Lifted found 69% would consider leaving the UK if the 15-year restriction was introduced. The present workforce of sponsored migrant carers offers 4.2m hours of care a week for up to 280,000 individuals, most of which could be lost if the new restrictions trigger an exodus.
Migrant Care Worker Faces Family Separation
Rasika Samarasinghe, a care worker who moved to the UK in October 2022 and studied for a master’s in business management at Northumbria University, has had a Home Office refusal to allow his dependants on his visa – his wife, a teaching assistant, and their three young children, aged 12, nine and eight – to remain in the UK.
“I don’t know what to do,” he stated.
“We have done everything legally in this country and paid every single tax the Home Office has required us to pay. I am not overstayer, i just desire better future for my children. Family is first for me. I can’t accomplish anything without my family. My wife and I both work very hard here. We are so confus’d as to what has befal’d us. We haven’t told the kids yet. My children are all adjusted in and doing well in school. “The youngest just talks and writes English.”
Immigration Lawyers and Rights Groups Respond
Migrant care workers in the UK are being put in an impossible position, Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors said:
“To continue their vital work or risk being separated from their children or partners.
“The result is an impossible choice between important work in the social care system and prolonged separation from family.
“These workers care for vulnerable people but sometimes the rules mean they can’t care for their own families.”
Fizza Qureshi, chief executive of Migrants’ Rights Network, denounced the “go home” order to youngsters.
“Migrant care workers are still the one’s left holding the bag for this government’s contempt for migrants. No one should have to choose between losing their jobs and being separated from their families.
“The government really needs to grow a heart and treat migrant workers who are the foundations of our health and care systems, with more respect.”
Home Office Defends Immigration Reforms
A Home Office official said:
“We will always welcome people who want to make a better life here and who contribute to this country. But we’ve got to get control and order back at our borders.
“We have outlined plans for the biggest legal migration reforms in a generation, responding to the challenges posed by unprecedented levels of migration under the last government. It is a privilege, not a right to settle in the UK and it has to be earned, rewarding contribution and those who play by the rules.”
Conclusion
The latest Home Office letters sent to children and dependants of care worker visa holders have sparked concern among migrant families, immigration lawyers, and rights groups. While the government continues to pursue stricter immigration policies and legal migration reforms, affected families argue that they have followed all legal requirements, paid taxes, and built their lives in the UK. The issue highlights the growing debate surrounding UK care worker visas, family migration policies, settlement rules, and the future of migrant workers in Britain.
No major new UK dependant visa regulation adjustments have been announced this week. That, however, was eclipsed by a recent scandal that has garnered much attention when the UK Home Office sent out letters to some children of migrant care workers, including youngsters as young as five, telling them to leave the UK.
Why are these letters being mailed?
Recent reports say the impacted youngsters are dependants of migrant care workers, who entered the UK legally before the government imposed restrictions on care worker dependants in March 2024. Some families have been told their children must leave the UK, even though the main visa holder still has permission to remain and work there.
Immigration lawyers said they’ve seen a rise in similar instances in recent weeks. The grounds for this differ from case to case and may relate to immigration status checks, eligibility for dependant visas or an administrative decision, rather than a new blanket law targeting children.
UK Dependant Rules (Current)
The official UK government guidance still maintains that qualifying Skilled Worker visa holders are able to bring partners and children as dependants. However, there are additional limits on care workers and some other medium-skilled occupations.
Dependants are normally only authorised for care workers who have been continuously employed on a Skilled Worker visa since before 11 March 2024 or who meet certain exceptions.
Why is this news causing concern?
Many of the families impacted say they:
Came to the UK legitimately.
Visa fees and immigration charges paid.
Children have settled in UK schools.
Keep work visas up to date.
As a result, the letters have come under fire from migrant rights groups, legal counsel and immigration activists who say families have been left in limbo despite meeting UK immigration rules.
If you are enquiring because you are on a Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker or Care Worker visa, give me your occupation and visa category and I can explain how the current dependant regulations apply to you.