Spouse / Partner Visa
Relationship must be genuine and subsisting.
Financial requirement is £29,000 per year (the planned increase to £38,700 was withdrawn).
The rest of the key points ↓↑
- No additional income requirement applies for dependent children under the £29,000 threshold.
- Transitional £18,600 threshold applies if first visa was granted before 11 April 2024.
- Adequate accommodation for the family unit required.
Eligibility Checker
This is guidance, not legal advice. VisaExplain is not a law firm and is not regulated to give immigration advice. This tool applies published Immigration Rules to the answers you give and shows you the rule behind each result. It is general information — it is not a decision on your case, and it is not a substitute for advice from a qualified adviser.
Rules change, and your circumstances may include facts this tool does not ask about. Always check the official GOV.UK guidance, and take advice before you act. VisaExplain accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this tool.
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Must hold ILR, British citizenship, or refugee status
Required for unmarried partner applications
3 questions still to answer
- Is your partner a British citizen or settled in the UK?
- Are you married or in a civil partnership?
- Have you been living together for at least 2 years?
How an answer is produced
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01
What you enter
Your dates, visas, absences and circumstances.
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02
What we apply
The published Immigration Rules in force for those dates.
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03
What you see
A calculation, an explanation, and the rule it came from.
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04
What it cannot tell you
Whether an application will be granted, or what you should do.
What VisaExplain is not
VisaExplain is not a law firm and is not regulated to give immigration advice. It applies published rules to the information you enter. It is not a decision on your case, it does not know facts you have not given it, and it cannot tell you what to do.
How we produce our answers →Where the rules come from
Every route page cites the GOV.UK page or Immigration Rules Appendix it comes from, and every calculation records which dated policy version produced it.
The Spouse / Partner Visa allows you to live with your British or settled partner in the UK. This is a 5-year route to settlement (ILR).
Continuous Residence & Absence Tracker
Calculate your exact ILR eligibility date against the 180-day absence rules.
Spouse / Partner Visa Updates & Policy Breakdown
No published updates for this category yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no single document that proves this. Caseworkers look at the relationship as a whole: how long you have been together, cohabitation, shared finances and responsibilities, communication over time, visits, and whether family and friends know about the relationship.
Evidence spread across the length of the relationship is more persuasive than a large amount from one recent period. This is an assessment, not a checklist, and it is a decision for a caseworker.
Several categories of income can be used — employment, self-employment, pensions, non-employment income and cash savings among them — and each has its own evidence rules about how long the income must have been received and how it must be documented.
The threshold itself has changed in recent years. Check the current figure and the permitted sources on GOV.UK rather than relying on any amount quoted elsewhere, including older guidance.
The requirement applies at each stage, but the level rises as you progress towards settlement. If you met it for your first application, you may still need a higher level later. Some applicants are exempt — by age, or on medical grounds among others.
Your permission is based on the relationship. If it ends, you must tell the Home Office, and your permission will normally be curtailed. There are provisions covering certain circumstances, including domestic abuse.
This is a situation where advice from a regulated adviser is genuinely important — the options depend heavily on your own circumstances and on timing.