UK Partner Visa Guide

Table of content

• Overview
• Genuine and Subsisting Relationship
• Unmarried Partners
• Financial requirement
  • Employment
  • Savings
  • Pension
  • Exception from the financial requirements: Adequate maintenance
  • Property rentals
• UK Spouse visa – 10 years route
• Other sources of income in “exceptional circumstances
• Accommodation Requirements
• English Language Requirement
• Tuberculosis (TB) test
• Application process
• UK Spouse Visa Duration
• Spouse Visa Extensions
• Spouse Visa Switching
• Settlement after Spouse Visa
• Supporting documents

Overview

A UK spouse / civil partnership visa is a type of family visa enabling an applicant to join their partner in the UK.

You are eligible for a spouse visa if your partner is settled in the UK based on one of the following categories:

• British or Irish citizen;
• have indefinite leave to remain or permanent residence;
• have pre-settled status – they must have started living in the UK before 1 January 2021;
• have refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK.

The settled person is called the ‘sponsor’ for the Spouse visa UK application purpose. Spouse visa and civil partnership visa applications are treated in exactly the same way by the immigration authorities.

For a partner visa application to succeed, there are, in general, 5 main requirements: evidence of relationship; comply with the financial requirement; have an adequate accommodation, meet the English language requirement and, in some cases, provide a Tuberculosis certificate.

Genuine and Subsisting Relationship

Both parties to the relationship must be aged 18 or over at the date of application and not be within the prohibited degree of relationship. They must also prove that:

• They have met in person as marriages in absentia, by telephone, by proxy etc. may not be treated as valid by the Immigration Authorities.
• They must intend to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse and the marriage must be subsisting.
• The marriage must be valid, i.e. recognised by UK law.
• Any previous relationship of the applicant or their spouse must have broken down permanently.

Although there are no set requirements for any documents proving a relationship, the most common are marriage certificate, photographs, evidence of shared financial responsibilities, evidence of cohabitation, children etc.

Unmarried Partner

Not everyone needs to get married to settle in the UK with their partner. For those who do not want to get married there is the option of the Unmarried Partner visa. The main requirements in this category are the same as those for the spouse visa, except of course the requirement to get married.

The Home Office requires vigorous evidence to demonstrate your living arrangements and cohabitation for a 2-year period.

Financial requirement

Employment

The sponsor must meet the income threshold to support their partner and any dependents without recourse to public funds. They must earn at least £18,600 per year. Employment will need to be proven to the Home Office with documentary evidence which could include:

• Employment contract
• Payslips covering: a period of 6 months prior to the date of application.
• A letter from the employer(s) who issued the payslips confirming:
  • the person’s employment and gross annual salary;
  • the length of their employment;
  • the period over which they have been or were paid the level of salary relied upon in the application; and
  • the type of employment (permanent, fixed-term contract or agency).
• Personal bank statements corresponding to the same period(s) as the payslips showing that the salary has been paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.
• P 60/45

Savings

In order to rely on cash savings, in part or in full, the minimum amount of savings you must hold is £16,000 and the savings must be under either the sponsor or applicant’s control or jointly for at least 6 months and readily available.

To rely solely on cash savings, you will need to show £62,500 in cash savings: (£18,600 x 2.5 + £16,000 = £62,500).

If you hold less than £62,500 you may still partially rely on those savings, as long as they exceed £16,000, and make up the shortfall in other permitted sources of income, for example: if you hold £25,000: (£25,000-£16,000) ÷ 2.5 = £3,600. Requiring an additional £15,000 in another source of income, such as employment, to meet £18,600.

Your savings must be held in cash in a personal bank/savings account in your name or your partner’s name or jointly. The savings must be from any legal source, including a gift from a family member or other third party, provided the source of the cash savings is declared but it cannot be a loan. The bank/savings account can be a current, deposit, or investment account, provided by a financial institution regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which that institution is operating.

Pension

The Appendix FM financial requirement can also be met by relying on the gross annual income from a pension which is received by the Applicant or Sponsor. The gross annual income received from either a state pension (UK or foreign), occupational pension or private pension received by the applicant or their partner can be counted as income providing that the pension has been a source of income for at least 28 days prior to the date of application.

When meeting the financial requirement through pension income, the evidence required in support of this is minimal. An applicant will be required to provide official documentation from the pension provider confirming the entitlement to the pension and the amount. The applicant will also be required to provide a bank statement or similar, dated within the last 12 months, showing receipt of the pension.

Property rental

You can rely on income from the rental of a property owned by the Applicant and/or Sponsor to satisfy the financial requirement in Appendix FM. However, you cannot rely on income from renting part of your main residence. Therefore, you cannot rely on income from a lodger who rents one room in your house, for example.

Income from property rental can be combined with savings and pension income.

Exception from the financial requirements: Adequate maintenance

Where the UK based sponsor is in receipt of certain benefits or allowances, the applicant will be exempt from meeting the financial requirement for spouse visas by providing evidence of “adequate maintenance”.

This includes:

• Carer’s Allowance.
• Disability Living Allowance.
• Severe Disablement Allowance.
• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
• Attendance Allowance.
• Personal Independence Payment.
• Armed Forces Independence Payment or Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
• Constant Attendance Allowance, Mobility Supplement or War Disablement Pension under the War Pensions Scheme.
• Police Injury Pension.

You must, however, also provide evidence that you and your partner are able to maintain and accommodate yourselves and any dependants adequately in the UK, without recourse to public funds.

You will have to provide the following documentary evidence in support of the application:

• Official documentation from the Department for Work and Pensions or Veterans Agency confirming the current entitlement and the amount currently received.
• At least one personal bank statement in the 12-month period prior to the date of application. The bank statement should show payment of the benefit or allowance into their account.