Student Dependent Visas Compared: Bringing Your Spouse to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia or Germany

For many international students, the hardest question about studying abroad is not which university to choose. It is whether your husband, wife or partner can come with you — and whether they will be allowed to work when they get there. Get this wrong and the consequences are serious: families have paid tuition deposits, resigned from jobs and signed leases, only to discover that the course they chose makes their spouse ineligible to join them at all.

The reason this keeps happening is that the rules changed, sharply and recently, in several major study destinations. The United Kingdom restricted Student dependants from January 2024. Canada restricted spousal open work permits from January 2025. The United States has always barred F-2 spouses from working. Australia’s student visa integrity reforms took effect on 2 October 2026, removing the right for most students to include a partner or children on a Student visa (Subclass 500), with only limited exemptions. Germany works on a completely different legal logic — family reunification — with its own language and housing conditions. Old forum posts and agent summaries from 2022 or 2023 describe a world that no longer exists.

This guide compares, country by country, who can bring a spouse or partner as a student, what that dependant is allowed to do, how much extra money you must show, and what the common traps are. It is written for married and partnered students planning 2026 and 2027 intakes, especially from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria and Indonesia. Read the section for your destination carefully, then verify your exact situation on the official government website linked for each country before you commit money — dependant eligibility turns on fine details of your specific course, and no general guide can decide your case.

Dependent Visas at a Glance: the Five Countries Compared

The table hides an important distinction. In some countries the question is “can my spouse enter and live with me?”, while in others it is “can my spouse work?” Canada is the clearest example: your spouse may be able to accompany you as a visitor or hold another status, but the valuable right — the open work permit — is now restricted to a minority of students. Always separate the right to reside from the right to work when you compare offers, because a family budget built on a second income collapses if that income turns out to be unlawful.

USA: the F-2 Dependent Visa — Together, but No Work

In the United States, the spouse and unmarried children under 21 of an F-1 student are eligible for F-2 status. Each dependant receives their own Form I-20 from the student’s school, applies for an F-2 visa (application fee currently USD 185 per applicant, the standard machine-readable visa fee — confirm on the U.S. Department of State student visa page), and may live in the USA for as long as the F-1 student maintains valid status, including during any authorised post-completion Optional Practical Training period.

The defining rule of F-2 status is simple and absolute: F-2 dependants cannot work in the United States — under any circumstances. Not part-time, not on campus, not freelance, not remote work performed from inside the USA for a foreign employer for pay. Unpaid volunteering in a genuine volunteer role is a different matter, but any arrangement that looks like employment for compensation puts the dependant’s status — and by extension the family’s position — at risk. The U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security’s Study in the States guidance on bringing dependents state this plainly; there is no hardship exception and no application you can file to lift it while remaining in F-2 status.

What can an F-2 spouse do? They may study part-time at an SEVP-certified school (less than a full course of load), and take recreational or avocational courses. If an F-2 spouse wants to study full-time toward a degree, they must change to their own F-1 status first. F-2 children may attend elementary and secondary school full-time. Financially, the F-1 student must show the school funds covering the family’s additional living costs before dependant I-20s are issued — each school sets its own per-dependant figure on top of the student’s own expenses.

Practical implication: the USA works for couples where one income (the student’s limited campus work and later OPT earnings) plus family savings can carry the household, or where the spouse is content to study part-time or pause their career. Couples who need two incomes from day one usually find the USA the hardest of the five destinations in this guide, whatever the university’s ranking. If the USA is still your goal, start with the visa basics in our guides hub and plan the family budget around a single income.

UK: Student Dependants Only for Research Postgraduates and Government-Sponsored Students

The UK’s change is the one that catches the most families out, because it reversed a long-standing position. For Student visa courses starting on or after 1 January 2024, dependants are permitted only where the student is:

• a government-sponsored student starting a course that lasts longer than 6 months; or
• a full-time student on a postgraduate course at RQF level 7 or above lasting 9 months or longer — and, for courses starting on or after 1 January 2024, that course must be a PhD or other doctorate (RQF level 8) or a research-based higher degree.

That is the wording of the official GOV.UK page on Student visa family members. In practice: undergraduate students cannot bring dependants. Taught master’s students — including the very popular one-year MSc and MBA programs — cannot bring dependants. Only research-degree students (PhD, other doctorates and genuinely research-based higher degrees) and government-sponsored students keep the right. A “research-based” label in a marketing brochure is not enough; the course must actually be a research-based higher degree, and your university’s Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) and visa advice team are the authority on how your program is classified.

Where dependants are eligible, the financial requirement is separate from the student’s own maintenance. Per GOV.UK, each dependant must have £845 per month (for up to 9 months) if the course is in London, or £680 per month (for up to 9 months) outside London — held for at least 28 consecutive days, with the end of that period within 31 days of the application. Note carefully that these dependant figures are different from the student’s own maintenance figures (£1,529 per month London / £1,171 outside London in current settings). Each dependant pays their own application fee (£558 per person in the GOV.UK fee listing at the time of writing) plus the Immigration Health Surcharge, so a partner and one child add a four-figure sum in fees and surcharge before you count the maintenance evidence.

The compensating advantage: eligible UK dependant partners can generally work full-time (with narrow exceptions such as professional sportsperson roles), and dependant children can attend state school. So for a PhD student, the UK can work well for a family. For a taught master’s student, the honest advice is that your family cannot join you on the Student route at all — options are limited to your partner qualifying in their own right (for example their own work or study visa) or visiting on short stays as a visitor, which never carries work rights and cannot be switched into dependant status from inside the UK.

One connected point: partners who were already in the UK as Student dependants can continue as dependants when the student moves onto the Graduate visa — but a partner who was never a Student dependant cannot newly join on the Graduate route. Families sometimes assume they can “wait and join after graduation”; under current rules, that assumption is wrong. Our UK Student visa guide covers the main applicant process that sits underneath all of this.

Canada: Your Spouse May Come — but the Open Work Permit Is Now Restricted

Canada used to be the family-friendly outlier: almost any full-time student’s spouse could get an open work permit and work for nearly any employer. That era ended in stages. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced in September 2024 and confirmed in its official notice of 14 January 2025 that, effective 21 January 2025, family open work permits for spouses of international students are limited to students enrolled in:

• master’s programs that are 16 months or longer;
• doctoral programs; or
• select professional and other eligible programs listed by IRCC (professional degrees such as medicine, dentistry, law, pharmacy, nursing, engineering and similar regulated fields, plus certain eligible pilot programs).

The full official text is on Canada.ca — Changes to open work permits for family members of temporary residents. Read it first-hand; this is the page officers apply.

What this means in practice: if you are taking a bachelor’s degree, a college diploma or certificate, or a master’s program shorter than 16 months, your spouse is not eligible for the spousal open work permit. Your spouse could still apply to enter Canada as a visitor, or qualify for a work permit in their own right under another program, or apply for their own study permit — but none of those is a right, each needs its own application, and a visitor cannot work. The 16-month detail is also widely misunderstood: it refers to the length of the master’s program, and a 12-month master’s — common and legitimate — falls below the line.

Money also needs planning. Canada’s study permit financial requirements cover the whole family: for a single applicant the living-expenses figure is CAD 22,895 for applications from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026 and CAD 23,448 from 1 September 2026 (excluding tuition and travel), with additional amounts required for each accompanying family member — check the IRCC proof-of-funds table for your family size at application time. Most applicants also need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) for the student’s own study permit application under the national cap system. Our Canada study permit guide works through the student’s side of the process in full.

Existing open work permits approved under the previous rules remain valid until they expire, and IRCC allows certain in-Canada renewals where the family member is extending under the same criteria and for a duration matching the principal applicant’s permit. If your family’s plan depends on a renewal or on a program being on IRCC’s eligible list, verify that specific point on Canada.ca before you rely on it — the eligible-program list is exactly the kind of detail that updates without headlines.

Australia: Most Students Can No Longer Include Family on the Subclass 500

That position has now changed. Under Australia’s student visa integrity reforms, which took effect on 2 October 2026, most students can no longer include a partner or children on a Student visa (Subclass 500). The official Ministerial media release, “Student visa integrity reforms take effect today” (Assistant Minister Julian Hill), confirms that family inclusion survives only in limited circumstances. The exemptions are: PhD students; nationals of Pacific and ASEAN member countries; and students sponsored by Australian or foreign governments. If you do not fall within one of those exemptions, your partner and children cannot be included as secondary applicants on your Subclass 500 — however strong your finances are. The authoritative sources are the release itself and the Department of Home Affairs Subclass 500 page and its financial capacity guidance.

Two protections and one hard rule sit alongside the ban. First, families already together in Australia will not be separated: eligible Student visa holders applying for a new onshore visa may include only family members already in Australia. Second, similar restrictions will apply to Temporary Graduate visas, and families already in Australia as secondary applicants will not be separated under those changes either. The hard rule is timing: the ability to add “subsequent entrants” has been removed for all students — even if you are exempt and your family is eligible, they must apply at the same time as you, the primary student. There is no longer an option to settle in first and add your partner or children later.

Where an exemption does apply, the financial bar remains explicit and additive — but it now applies only to those eligible cases. On top of the student’s own AUD 29,710 annual living-cost benchmark, you must show AUD 10,394 per year for a partner, AUD 4,449 per year for each child, and schooling costs for each school-age child (AUD 13,502 in recent settings), plus the family’s travel and the student’s first-year course fees. Overseas Student Health Cover must cover every family member for the full period, and family policies cost substantially more than single cover. Dependant partners in eligible cases have generally held work rights subject to hour caps (commonly aligned to the student’s study period, with more generous settings for partners of research master’s and PhD students). Because dependant inclusion now determines whether a family plan is possible at all, not just what it costs, check the Home Affairs page and, if your case is near any exemption boundary, get advice from a registered migration agent before you pay deposits. Our Subclass 500 step-by-step guide covers the main application in full.

Where family inclusion is available under an exemption, two Australian specifics matter. First, the Genuine Student assessment takes your whole circumstances into account — a family application is assessed on its overall logic, including whether the funds genuinely support everyone for the course duration. Second, partners’ work rights never remove the need to show full financial capacity upfront: the Department assesses the money you have, not the money a partner hopes to earn.

Germany: Family Reunification — a Different Legal Route Entirely

Germany does not have a “student dependent visa” in the Anglo-Saxon sense. Your spouse applies for a residence permit for family reunification (Familiennachzug) under the Residence Act — a national long-stay (D) visa first, then a residence permit after arrival. The official federal portal Make it in Germany sets out the framework, and your local German mission and the foreigners authority (Ausländerbehörde) in your university city apply it.

For spouses joining a student, the practical requirements families encounter are:

• Basic German — usually A1. Joining spouses are generally expected to demonstrate simple German at CEFR level A1 (for example a Goethe-Institut Start Deutsch 1 certificate) before the visa is issued. Exemptions exist — for example where the sponsor holds certain skilled-worker statuses such as an EU Blue Card, where a medical condition prevents learning, or where the stay is clearly temporary — but a student’s spouse should plan on needing A1 unless the mission confirms an exemption in their case. Starting German early is the single best use of your waiting time.
• Adequate housing. You must show living space suitable for the family (a rental contract for more than a single student room, in practice) and your registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung).
• Secured livelihood. The family must be supported without relying on public funds. Unlike the student’s own blocked account (Sperrkonto — €11,904 for 2026), there is no prescribed formula that simply multiplies the blocked-account amount by the number of family members. The authority assesses your actual resources — funds in the blocked account beyond the student’s minimum, part-time earnings within the student’s permitted limits, savings, or a formal obligation declaration (Verpflichtungserklärung) from a third party — against your actual household costs including rent and health insurance. In practice, families should be ready to demonstrate noticeably more than the single-student €11,904, with a clear paper trail.
• Health insurance covering each family member from arrival, and a genuine, legally valid marriage (both spouses at least 18, marriage certificate with any required legalisation and translation).

One honest caution: family reunification for people residing in Germany as students is more discretionary and more locally variable than for workers. Some authorities expect the marriage to have existed before the student residence permit was issued, or expect a stay of a certain duration, and processing through embassies with long appointment queues can take months. A spouse’s work permission, where granted, is stated on their residence permit and is often linked to the student’s status rather than being an unrestricted open permission; children can attend school, and Germany’s low tuition (most public universities charge no tuition, with exceptions such as Baden-Württemberg’s €1,500 per semester for non-EU students) is a genuine family advantage. Start with our Germany student visa guide for the student’s own blocked-account and interview process.

Costs Table: What Adding a Spouse Really Costs

How to Decide: Matching the Country to Your Family

Work through these questions in order. First, eligibility: does your exact course — not your level in general, your exact program and its length — make your spouse eligible? A 16-plus-month master’s in Canada and a 12-month master’s in the same city produce opposite answers. Second, work: if your spouse cannot work (USA always; UK and Canada for most taught students), can the family genuinely live on your funds plus your own capped student work for the full course? Price it honestly, including childcare. Third, timing: Germany’s A1 certificate and embassy queues, and the UK’s 28-day funds rule, both punish late starts — begin dependant preparation the day you apply to universities, not the day you get the offer. Fourth, the long game: post-study routes treat existing dependants differently from new ones (the UK Graduate route point above is the classic trap), so read our post-study comparisons in the study abroad hub before choosing a country for family reasons.

If your partner is academically qualified in their own right, do not overlook the two-student strategy: each partner applying for their own student visa (F-1, Student, study permit or Subclass 500) gives both partners student work rights and, in some countries, two post-study pathways — at the cost of two sets of tuition. Similarly, a partner with a skilled job offer may do better on their own work route than as a dependant. These are legitimate plans, not loopholes, but each person must genuinely meet the requirements of the status they apply for.

Finally, scholarships can change the dependant picture: some fully funded government programs include family allowances or, in Australia’s case, students sponsored by Australian or foreign governments are one of the confirmed dependant exemptions under the October 2026 reforms. If you hold or are targeting a major award, read the funding detail in our scholarship directory alongside this guide.

Common Mistakes Families Make

• Assuming 2023 rules. The UK (Jan 2024), Canada (Jan 2025) and Australia (Oct 2026) changes mean any older advice about “bringing your spouse on a master’s” is likely wrong.
• Planning to add family to an Australian visa later. Subsequent entrants have been removed for all Subclass 500 students — eligible family members must apply at the same time as the student, and most students are no longer eligible to include family at all.
• Confusing entry with work rights. A spouse who can enter as a visitor (Canada) or who joins under a restricted permission may still have no right to earn.
• Ignoring program length in Canada. The 16-month master’s threshold is precise; a “two-year” marketing description is not proof — get the official program length from the institution.
• Budgeting a second income in the USA. F-2 work is prohibited, full stop. Families who budget on it face status violations or destitution.
• Starting German too late. A1 sounds basic, but course places, exam dates and certificate delivery take months in high-demand cities.
• UK funds held for too short a time. Dependant maintenance must be held for 28 consecutive days ending within 31 days of application; a dip below the threshold on any day restarts the clock.
• Planning to “add” a partner to the UK Graduate route later. New dependants generally cannot join at that stage if they were not Student dependants first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my spouse work while I study in the USA?

No. F-2 dependants (spouses and children of F-1 students) are prohibited from employment in the United States in any form, including part-time, freelance and remote work performed from inside the USA. An F-2 spouse may study part-time and volunteer in genuine volunteer roles; to work or study full-time they need their own immigration status, such as their own F-1.

I am doing a one-year taught master’s in the UK. Can I bring my wife or husband?

Not as a Student dependant. Since 1 January 2024, dependants are limited to government-sponsored students on courses over 6 months and to full-time postgraduate research students (PhD, other doctorates and research-based higher degrees) on courses of 9 months or more. Taught master’s students are excluded, however long the course. Your partner would need to qualify in their own right or visit as a visitor without work rights.

My master’s in Canada is 12 months long. Can my spouse get an open work permit?

No — since 21 January 2025 the spousal open work permit for students’ partners requires a master’s program of 16 months or longer, a doctoral program, or a select professional/eligible program listed by IRCC. A 12-month master’s does not qualify. Your spouse could apply as a visitor or pursue a permit in their own right, but cannot work on visitor status.

How much extra money do I need to show for my partner in Australia?

First, check whether you are eligible to include family at all: since the reforms took effect on 2 October 2026, most students cannot include a partner or children on a Subclass 500, and only PhD students, nationals of Pacific and ASEAN member countries, and students sponsored by Australian or foreign governments are exempt. Where an exemption applies, the financial capacity settings verified for this guide are: AUD 10,394 per year for a partner and AUD 4,449 per year for each child, on top of your own AUD 29,710, your first-year course fees and travel, plus schooling costs (AUD 13,502 in recent settings) for each school-age child and family OSHC. Eligible family members must be included in your application at the same time — subsequent entrants are no longer possible. Verify inclusion eligibility and the current figures on the Department of Home Affairs website before relying on them.

Does my spouse really need German A1 to join me in Germany?

In most family reunification cases, yes — joining spouses are generally expected to show basic German at A1 level before the visa is issued. Exemptions exist (for example, certain sponsor statuses such as EU Blue Card holders, medical inability, or clearly temporary stays), but a student’s spouse should plan to obtain an A1 certificate, typically from the Goethe-Institut, unless the German mission confirms an exemption in writing for their case.

Can our children attend school in the destination country?

Generally yes: F-2 children in the USA may attend elementary and secondary school full-time; UK dependant children can attend state schools; children accompanying students in Canada can generally study at elementary/secondary level; children of the limited group of Australian students still eligible to include family (see the exemptions above) attend school with the schooling-cost amount built into your financial evidence; and children in Germany attend local schools. University-age children (18+ in the UK; 21+ in the USA) usually fall outside dependant definitions and need their own status.

What if my spouse applies to join me later, after I have started my course?

Most systems other than Australia still allow dependants to apply later (UK dependants apply separately with your application number; F-2 visas can be sought after the F-1 has entered). Australia is now the exception: the ability to add subsequent entrants has been removed for all Subclass 500 students, so eligible family members must apply at the same time as the primary student. Later applications elsewhere still require the full funds evidence, fees and eligibility for your course type, and in the UK a partner cannot newly join later on the Graduate route if they were not a Student dependant. Applying together is usually simpler and cheaper to evidence.

We cannot be together under the student rules. What are our real options?

Honest options include: choosing a qualifying course or country (a research degree for the UK; a 16-plus-month master’s for Canada); your partner qualifying independently (their own student visa or a work route); a period of long-distance study with visitor stays where the rules allow; or delaying study until your circumstances meet a route’s conditions. What you should not do is rely on a visitor visa for de facto residence or undeclared work — refusals and removal risk follow the family into every future application.

Sources & Verification

This comparison was prepared from official sources: GOV.UK — Student visa: your partner and children (gov.uk); Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — Changes to open work permits for family members of temporary residents, 14 January 2025 (canada.ca), and IRCC study permit financial requirements; the U.S. Department of State student visa pages (travel.state.gov) and Study in the States (studyinthestates.dhs.gov); the Australian Department of Home Affairs Subclass 500 and financial capacity pages (immi.homeaffairs.gov.au) and the Ministerial media release “Student visa integrity reforms take effect today” (minister.homeaffairs.gov.au, Assistant Minister Julian Hill), which confirms the October 2026 dependant, subsequent-entrant and onshore-application changes described in this guide; and the German Federal Government portal Make it in Germany — family reunification (make-it-in-germany.com), with German mission guidance on A1 language evidence. Figures and rules change — always confirm on the official government website for your destination before applying.

Disclaimer: StudyGraduate is an information portal, not a visa agency, consultancy or immigration adviser, and this guide is general information only. Dependant eligibility depends on your exact course, dates and circumstances, and no one can promise visa approval — decisions rest solely with the relevant government authority. For advice on your individual case, consult a regulated immigration adviser or lawyer in the destination country.