The UK Spouse, Civil Partner or Unmarried Partner visa allows an applicant to enter or remain in the UK to live with their husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner. Applications can be made from within the UK or abroad. Where the sponsoring partner is outside the UK, they must show an intention to return and live in the UK together with the applicant.
This route provides a pathway to settlement. After completing five years of continuous residence in the UK and meeting the requirements of the Immigration Rules at each stage, applicants may become eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
The sponsoring partner must fall into one of the following categories: a British citizen, an Irish national, a person with pre-settled or settled status, someone holding Indefinite Leave to Remain, a holder of a Turkish Businessperson or Turkish Worker visa, or a person granted refugee status or humanitarian protection. Applicants must meet suitability, validity and eligibility requirements. This includes meeting the genuine and subsisting relationship requirement, the financial requirement, English language proficiency and adequate accommodation.
You will need to provide evidence that your relationship with your partner is genuine and subsisting.
Decisions on whether a relationship is genuine and subsisting are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all available evidence and individual circumstances.
Factors which may be considered by the Home Office when determining whether your relationship is genuine and subsisting include:
It is usually easier to prove your relationship is genuine and subsisting if you are married or in a civil partnership than if you are unmarried partners.
The Home Office would expect to see evidence of cohabitation in all cases. Further checks may be undertaken when they are not satisfied about the genuineness of your relationship and you may be called for an interview.
Unless exempt, you must demonstrate that your sponsoring spouse, or you and your spouse jointly (if you are already in the UK with valid leave and permission to work) have a gross annual income of at least £29,000.
There is no longer a separate child element to the minimum income requirement. The same threshold applies whether or not dependent children are included in the application.
If you applied under this route before 11 April 2024 and are now seeking to extend your permission, the previous lower income threshold outlined below will continue to apply:
Individuals who obtained a civil partner or spouse visa under the rules in place before 11 April 2024, will continue to be subject to the rules that were in place at the time of their initial application, even when applying for settlement.
When applying from overseas, only the income from your sponsor, i.e., the British citizen/settled partner, can be taken into account in most circumstances. However, both the applicant’s income and the sponsor’s income can be considered when relying on sources such as savings or non-employment income.
Sources of income that applicants can rely on to meet the financial requirement include:
In some cases, it is possible to rely on a combination of income sources to meet the financial requirement. Where an applicant relies solely on cash savings, without any additional income, the threshold is significantly higher under the rules introduced on 11 April 2024.
Different considerations apply if the sponsoring partner is in receipt of certain qualifying state benefits or entitlements. In such cases, the requirement is to demonstrate adequate maintenance and accommodation, rather than meeting a fixed income threshold.
In exceptional circumstances, where refusing the application would lead to unjustifiably harsh consequences and potentially breach Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, UK Visas and Immigration may also take into account other credible and reliable sources of income, financial support, or funds available to the couple.
Unless exempt, you must meet an English language requirement as part of your Spouse, Civil Partner, or Unmarried Partner Visa application.
For entry clearance, you need to demonstrate English ability at CEFR level A1. When applying to extend your stay after 2.5 years, the requirement increases to CEFR level A2. For settlement (ILR), you will need to show competence at CEFR level B1.
You can meet the requirement by:
Being a national of a majority English-speaking country;
Passing an approved English language test at the required level; or
Holding a recognised academic qualification taught in English.
You may be exempt if you are over 65, have a physical or mental condition preventing you from meeting the requirement, or there are exceptional circumstances.
If you cannot meet (or be exempt from) the English language requirement, your application will be refused.
Home Office processing times for these applications can be long. Therefore, it is crucial to thoroughly prepare your application and ensure accuracy from the outset to minimise the risk of greater delays. At Distinct Law, we have assisted many applicants in obtaining family visas and can advise on how to meet the financial requirement depending on your circumstances and available sources of income. We will look at your application holistically as there may be several viable options that should be considered.
Our services include:
When you apply for further leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain as a spouse, the Home Office will expect any periods of time spent outside the UK to be limited, for good reason and consistent with an intention to live permanently in the UK. Good reasons could include time spent overseas in connection with work, holidays, training or study.
If you or your spouse spend the majority of your time overseas, this could cause the Home Office to doubt your intention to live together permanently in the UK. The Home Office will consider the reasons for travel, length of absence and whether you and your spouse travelled and lived together during the time spent outside the UK.
The typical spouse or partner visa is valid for an initial duration of 33 months if obtained overseas, or 30 months if obtained within the UK.
For a fiancé or proposed civil partner, the initial period granted is six months.
UK Visas and Immigration generally takes eight weeks to process visa applications submitted from inside the UK.
For an expedited decision, the super-priority service, when available, can be purchased for a decision within one to two working days: Visa processing times for applications inside the UK
For applications submitted outside the UK, decisions typically take around twenty-four weeks.
Certain visa application centers may offer the option to pay for a priority service, this wait time can be reduced to around thirty days: Visa processing times for applications outside the UK
