Bringing Relatives To The UK

There are various ways to bring family members over to the UK if you are in the UK yourself.

  • If you are living with sponsors yourself, you could ask your sponsor to make an application for your family members under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, provided they have space and are willing
  • You can look for a new sponsor for them if your sponsor cannot host them

Additionally, before 19th February, 2024, these were also options available to you:

  • If you had Settled Status or Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, you could bring your family members over under the Ukraine Family visa scheme
  • If you yourself arrived under one of the three Ukraine visa schemes (Family, Homes for Ukraine or Extension visa), you could act as a sponsor for your relatives, as well as friends.

However, things have changed since 19th February 2024, and on this page, we provide further details on your options now.

On this page

Can I bring my relatives under the Family visa scheme?

This scheme is now CLOSED to any new applications.

In any case, if your own visa is Homes for Ukraine, Family or Extension, you only have 3 years leave to remain in the UK. (Note also that you are NOT officially a refugee or under humanitarian protection.) This means you would not have met the criteria required to use the Family visa route, and your relatives’ visa application would have 100% been rejected.

If you were a Ukraine scheme visa holder, and applied to be their sponsor before 19th February, 2024, then it’s possible you will still be able to complete the application successfully, as you would have had the minimum of 6 months leave to remain in order to be approved as a sponsor for a Ukrainian.

However, since 19th February, 2024, a Ukraine visa holder will no longer meet the criteria to be a sponsor. Only those who have British or Irish nationality, or ‘settled status’, can be sponsors.

Thus, if previously you held a form of permanent residence status in the UK, and therefore would have been eligible to bring your relatives to the UK on the Ukraine Family visa scheme, which is now closed, you are now likely to meet the eligibility criteria to bring them over under Homes for Ukraine instead (as this now requires the sponsor to have permanent residence status).

Do I need to register anywhere to be a sponsor?

No, absolutely not. You know who you want to sponsor, so just go ahead and make the visa application.

You do not need to ask or inform the local council; they will receive details of your application from the Home Office, and will contact you in due course to conduct their checks.

How do I apply for their visa?

See our guide to the visa application process here: Applying For A Visa. Each person must make their own application.

If you get stuck, you can contact one of the organisations mentioned here for help.

Will I receive any financial support?

If you have passed the criteria to be a host, then:

  • Each of your guests is entitled to an initial £200 ‘welcome’ payment from the local council
  • You are entitled to £350 a month ‘thank you’ payment, but you need to tell the council you want to claim this, as it’s optional. The ‘thank you’ payment goes up to £500 for the second and third years of sponsorship.

You cannot charge your guests rent if you want to claim the ‘thank you’ payment, therefore, you cannot put them on your tenancy agreement to begin with. They are allowed to contribute towards your bills.

If you are a Homes for Ukraine visa holder, then you are entitled to a 50% discount on your council tax bill in England, which is not affected by your guests. Your benefits are also not affected by receiving the ‘thank you’ payment. However, you should update DWP in case there is an impact on the benefits you receive (some situations depend on whether or not people are related). You can check by using a benefits calculator.

My council refused the ‘thank you’ and ‘welcome’ payments as my guests were related to me

As of 1 October 2024, it is no longer possible for hosts who are close family members or in close relationships with their guests to make new claims for the ‘thank you’ payments.

However, any hosts who were related to their guests, who met the critieria to receive ‘thank you’ payments (i.e. passed the council DBS and accommodation suitability checks) and who made claims for the ‘thank you’ payment before this date, should continue to have their ‘thank you’ payments paid. The council should not stop such existing payment arrangements continuing after 1 October 2024. Our contact at MHCLG (the Government department which is responsible for the Homes for Ukraine guidance) says: “If a sponsor meets the sponsor criteria set out in the guidance then they are entitled to the thank you payment. Please see the guidance here: Eligibility, safeguarding, DBS and accommodation checks: Homes for Ukraine – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).”

Contact us or your MP if you experience problems with this.

Can I be the ‘second host’ for my relatives already in the UK?

In this scenario, your family member has already received a Homes for Ukraine visa through a sponsor, and may already be in the UK. However, they would like to live with you now, and you would like to be their new host.

As of 1 October 2024, it is no longer possible for hosts who are close family members or in close relationships with their guests to make new claims for the ‘thank you’ payments. You may find it easier to add them to your tenancy agreement with your landlord’s permission, and for them to pay their share of the rent, for which they may be entitled to receive help from the UK benefits system. See Renting Privately for more information on this.

However, if they moved in with you before 1 October 2024 and you were being paid the ‘thank you’ payments, these should continue.

What should my guests do on arrival?

A good place to start is our Priority Tasks On Arrival. You can also look at our Top Tips for Ukrainian Refugees.

What happens if my guests go back to Ukraine?

If your guests go back for more than 28 days, there are implications in two key areas:

  • Their benefits claims
  • Your ‘thank you’ payments

See our web page Going Back to Ukraine for more information. In particular, we do not recommend travelling back without first receiving the BRP or setting up your eVisa (which replaces the BRP after December 2024).