Accredited official statistics

Why do people come to the UK - Family?

Published 27 November 2025

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025’ content page.

Data relates to the year ending September 2025 and all comparisons are with the year ending September 2024 (unless indicated otherwise).

Statistics on dependants travelling with or joining family members on work and study visas are not included in this section and can be found in the relevant ‘Why do people come to the UK - Work?’, and ‘Why do people come to the UK - Study?’ topics.

1. Family-related visas

Family-related visas may be granted to persons wishing to live with family members, who are British citizens or non-British settled migrants in the UK, as part of their family. This will include people coming to marry and includes people wishing to join a relative with refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK.

Family visa grants declined in the latest year, mainly due to fewer Partner visas, though Refugee Family Reunion grants increased to their highest level on record.

Figure 1: Family-related visa grants by visa type, year ending September 2011 to year ending September 2025

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes: Vis_D01 and Vis_D02

In the latest year, 67,537 Family visas were granted, a 22% fall from the previous year. Family visa grant trends in recent years have been influenced by both operational and policy drivers.

As shown in Figure 1, Family visa grants increased between late 2021 and 2024, driven in part by higher volumes of Partner visa grants throughout this period. The increase between 2022 and 2023 reflected efforts to reduce casework backlogs following the reallocation of resource to support the Ukraine schemes in early 2022. A temporary rise in applications between 2023 and early 2024 followed the announcement that the Minimum Income Requirement would increase from £18,600 to £29,000 from April 2024, resulting in higher numbers of Partner visa applications (and subsequently grants) ahead of the change coming into effect. Since the policy change, numbers have fallen, with Partner visa grants decreasing by almost one third to 39,404 in the latest year.

The higher threshold is likely to have contributed to this decline, reducing the number of applicants and sponsors able to meet the financial requirement. The fall was concentrated among nationalities that have historically accounted for a large share of Partner visa grants, particularly Pakistan (−37%), Bangladesh (−37%) and India (−36%).

In contrast, Refugee Family Reunion grants increased by 11% in the latest year, reaching 20,876, the highest volume recorded since the time series began in 2005 . This continues the trend observed since late 2023, as growing numbers of people granted refugee status have become eligible to bring partners and children to the UK. The recent growth reflects a broader range of nationalities being granted visas; however, there was a sharp fall in grants to Syrian nationals (-52%), who accounted for the highest volume in the previous year. The UK Government temporarily paused new applications from 4 September 2025, although it is too early to identify what impact this will have on the total volume of family visa grants. For further details on the Refugee Family Reunion route, see How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?.

Pakistani nationals accounted for the highest number of Family visa grants in the latest year, mainly through the Partner route, while increases among several other nationalities reflected growth in Refugee Family Reunion visas.

Figure 2: Top 10 nationalities for family-related visas granted, by family visa type, year ending September 2025

Source: Entry clearance visa outcomes: Vis_D02

Pakistani nationals continued to be granted the highest number of Family visas in the latest year (8,992), accounting for 13% of all Family visa grants. As shown in Figure 2, most (81%) grants to Pakistani nationals were Partner visas. United States nationals were the next largest nationality group for Partner visas, followed by Indian nationals. Afghan nationals were the second-largest nationality group for Family visa grants overall, with 4,600 grants, an increase of 23% in the latest year. Most were issued under the Refugee Family Reunion route. Nepali nationals continued to account for a high proportion of Child visa grants, reflecting policy provisions that extend settlement eligibility to pre-1997 Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veterans and their families, in recognition of their historic service to the UK.

EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) Family Permits

In the latest year, 8,050 EUSS Family Permits were granted, a 43% decrease from the previous year, continuing the decline since 2021. These permits allow eligible family members of an EEA or qualifying British citizen (if applied for by 8 August 2023) to join or accompany them in the UK. For further information on EUSS Family Permits, see ‘How many Indefinite Leave (Settlement and EUSS settled status) and Citizenship grants have been issued in the UK?’.

2. Extensions for family reasons

Extensions of stay for family-related reasons relate to people wishing to extend their stay in the UK for family reasons. It covers extensions where an individual is applying based on their relationship to a person settled in the UK or a British citizen. An individual is required to apply for an extension before their existing permission to enter or stay expires and may make more than one application in any given year.

Family-related extensions fell slightly in the latest year, driven by fewer Partner extensions, while grants through the Family and Private Life route rose by 9%.

There were 60,861 Family extensions of stay in the latest year, a 5% decrease from the previous year. Most extensions continued to be issued to individuals recorded as partners (59,815). Pakistani, Indian, and Nigerian nationals accounted for the largest volume of grants, together representing just under one-third of all partner visa extensions.

There were 80,726 Family and Private Life grants in the latest year, a 9% increase compared with the previous year. As with partner extensions, Nigerian, Indian, and Pakistani nationals received the highest numbers of grants.

The Family Life (10-year route) allows individuals to remain in the United Kingdom where they have an established family life, such as a partner or child, but do not meet all the requirements of the standard five-year family route. The Private Life route allows individuals to remain in the United Kingdom where they have established a private life through long-term residence or community and social ties, and where removal would breach their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Both are in-country routes grounded in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and individuals may progress to settlement after repeated grants of leave.

Individuals on the Family Life (10-year route) or Private Life routes are normally granted leave in 30‑month periods and must apply for further leave to remain on multiple occasions before becoming eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain. The extension numbers therefore include both individuals granted leave on these routes for the first time and those granted subsequent extensions.

From Q2 2025 (April to June), extensions relating to Family Life (10-year route) and Private Life are presented under a combined ‘Family and Private Life’ category. This reflects a caseworking system change introduced in April 2025, which no longer separates these routes within the extract used for publication. For more information, see About the Statistics.

Indefinite leave to remain: Migrant journey

Those arriving on family routes are historically more likely to seek to remain permanently in the UK, and acquire indefinite leave to remain (ILR), compared with those arriving on work and study visas. Analysis from the Migrant journey: 2024 report shows that since 2007, of those whose first leave to enter the UK was on the family route, 61% had ILR after 5 years, increasing to 82% after 10 years. This is much higher than those starting on work and study routes, where 21% and 7% respectively had ILR after 10 years.

3. About these statistics

The statistics in this section provide an indication of the number of people who had an intention of entering the UK for family reasons. Year-on-year comparisons of the number of decisions can be affected by quarterly fluctuations in the data. These fluctuations can be examined in the quarterly data in the published tables.

EU/EEA nationals

Before the end of the transition period for the UK leaving the EU on 31 December 2020, EU nationals were able to come to the UK under freedom of movement and did not typically require separate permission (such as a visa). Most UK immigration control before 2021 is related to non-EEA nationals. From 2021, EEA nationals became subject to immigration controls and are now more likely to obtain permission to travel to the UK. For many this will be under the EU Settlement Scheme (see ‘How many Indefinite Leave (Settlement and EUSS settled status) and Citizenship grants have been issued in the UK?, while others will require a visa.

Entry clearance visas allow an individual to enter and stay in the UK within the period for which the visa is valid. From 2021, EEA nationals require a visa to enter the UK for family reasons, unless they are eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme or a free EU Settlement Scheme family permit.

For figures on family-related grants of settlement, as well as the residence documentation issued to EEA nationals and their family members, see ‘How many Indefinite Leave (Settlement and EUSS settled status) and Citizenship grants have been issued in the UK?’.

Refugee Family Reunion

From Q1 2025 (January to March), Refugee Family Reunion visas are reported separately rather than within the ‘Other’ family visa category. As a result, the ‘Other’ category now primarily reflects small numbers of Family Parent visas and Adult Dependent Relative applications. Trends in Refugee Family Reunion visas may reflect earlier increases in individuals granted refugee status or humanitarian protection, who are subsequently eligible to sponsor family members. Further data on the Refugee Family Reunion visa category can be found in ‘How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?’.

The UK government has announced a temporary pause on new applications for Family Reunion under the Economic note: Appendix Family Reunion, suspension of new applications (accessible) - GOV.UK, effective from 4 September 2025. Existing applications and outstanding appeal cases submitted before the pause continue to progress. This decision is part of a broader review of family migration policy to ensure fairness and manageability. Families can still apply through other routes, such as the Appendix FM, Appendix Child Relative and Adult Dependent Relative routes.

Applications submitted before 4 September 2025 may still appear in the data in the following months. This is because applicants have up to 240 days to attend a Visa Application Centre and provide their biometrics. An application is only counted in the statistics once biometrics have been taken.

More information about the statistics can be found in the user guide.

3.1 Extension of temporary stay in the UK

Extensions of temporary stay in the UK relate to individuals inside the UK extending or changing the status of their right to stay in the UK. An individual is required to apply for an extension or change in status before their existing permission to enter or stay in the UK expires.

The statistics do not show the number of people applying to extend their temporary stay in the UK, nor do they show how long an individual stayed in the UK following their extension.

Family and Private Life cases:

From Q2 2025 (April to June) onwards, all case decisions categorised as either a Family Life (10-year route) or Private Life routes have been aggregated in the extensions dataset and are now reported under a new combined leave group, Family and Private Life.’ This category is now distinct from the ‘Family’ category. It is recognised that Family Life and Private Life have distinct legal definitions under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); however, these cases cannot be disaggregated within the current administrative data extracted from the new caseworking system introduced in April 2025. Data prior to Q2 2025 (April to June), in which Family Life (10-year route) and Private Life cases were distinguishable, have been included within this category to support the user.

Further information on the statistics in this section can be found in the extension section of the user guide.

3.2 Other sources

The Home Office also publishes monthly updates on applications for family visas, from 2022 onwards - see ‘Monthly statistical releases on migration’ for further information.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish long-term international migration estimates. These are statistics under development that estimate the number of people immigrating to and emigrating from the UK for 12 months or more.

4. Data tables

Data on family immigration can be found in the following tables:

• Entry clearance visa summary tables
• Detailed entry clearance visa datasets
• Extensions summary tables
• Detailed Extensions datasets

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See Section 6 of the ‘About this release’ section for more details.