also called accompanying family member · dependent
A family member, usually a spouse and children, whom a main visa holder is allowed to bring and be legally responsible for.
A dependant is a family member, usually a spouse and children, that a main visa holder is allowed to bring and be legally responsible for. Who actually counts is defined narrowly and differently in each country, so unmarried partners, adult children and parents are often left out. Each dependant also tends to raise the income you must prove and brings their own documents, fees and police checks, so the family a visa stretches to may be smaller than you planned.
You qualify for a visa comfortably and plan to bring your partner and your parent along. Reading the rules, you find your unmarried partner and your parent do not count as dependants at all, and that each person you can bring lifts the income you have to show, so the move you pictured for everyone shrinks to just some of you.
Who counts as a dependant is defined narrowly and differently everywhere, and unmarried partners, adult children and parents are often excluded. Each dependant usually raises the income you must prove and adds their own documents, fees and police checks. People plan around their own eligibility and then discover the visa does not stretch to the family they meant to bring.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
A dependant is the family member, usually a spouse or child, that a main visa holder is allowed to bring and be responsible for.
A dependent visa is the visa that lets them join, and a dependant pass is the long-stay pass issued to them on the strength of the principal holder's status, common in Malaysia and similar systems.
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