The Family Life application must be made online, and the application form can be found here. 

Tick ‘parent route’ on the first page. 

The application will ask for information about your children, your Immigration history, your family abroad and your income. There will also be questions about why you can’t go back or why you need to appeal from within the UK. In your answers it is important to particularly highlight in your answers that ‘your children are unable to go back as they have built their life in the UK’. 

You can start the form at any time and then save it by pressing the ‘return to application’ button at the bottom of each page. This allows you to download the part completed form. You also need to press the ‘send email’ button as this sends an email to you to allow you to get back into the form again to change it before making the application. 

If you are paying the fee:

If you are paying the fee, the application is made by pressing the green button saying ‘pay the IHS charge’. Once you press this button, you will not be able to make any further changes to the form. 

You will then be taken onto their website and pay the health surcharge.  You need to say that you are applying for discretionary leave for 2 and a half years and, after the money is paid, you get a special IHS number which you must put into the application. 

If you have been granted a fee waiver:

At the end of the application it will ask if you have been granted a fee waiver. You will need to tick this box and then enter the code on the fee waiver grant letter exactly. 

Once the application is made, there are various documents that you need to download. There are consent forms to sign, as well as a list of the documents you must send to them. This is called the checklist. You should also download a copy of the application form. 

The next step is to make an appointment to have your biometrics (photograph and fingerprints) taken and to upload the documents they ask for.  

On the website, you will be able to book an appointment at a Service and Support Centre. There are 8 of these around the UK. The full list is here Service & Support Centres. This is free, but you will have to travel at your own expense. If you have been granted a fee waiver, then you can ring the number on the link instead and ask for travel assistance. The Home Office will pay for you to travel to the nearest location and confirm the time and date of the appointment. 

You will be sent a link by email for a portal to upload your documents. You need to use your application number for the username. You will need to click reset password first and then create your own once you get the email with the link. You can upload your documents at any time but have to do it before the date of the biometric appointment.  You can re-access the portal at any time by clicking the link in the email, if you need to add more documents, before you upload them. 

You can only upload the documents once, so you need to make sure that you have all the documents ready before you do this. 

The Home Office may email you asking for more documents. You normally only have 14 days to send these. It is very important to do so, or if you cannot email the Home Office back and ask for more time.  

If the application is granted, then you should be granted leave to remain for 30 months.  If you have asked for access to public funds and this is accepted as necessary because of your lack of accommodation or money; or you were granted a fee waiver, then you should be granted access to public funds. Otherwise, there will be a no recourse to public funds condition imposed. 

If the application is refused, then you should normally have a right of appeal. If so, you have 14 days to submit your appeal from the date that you received it. You will receive instructions on how to appeal with the decision if so.