UK Spouse and Partner visa
Joining a British or settled partner: income threshold, relationship evidence, fees, and the five-year route to settlement.
Rules and fees checked against gov.uk on 8 November 2026. Page updated 8 November 2026. How we check our guides.
- Who it is for
- Spouses, civil partners, fiancé(e)s and unmarried partners of British citizens and people settled in the UK
- Income rule
- £29,000 a year, or savings in place of income
- Fee
- £1,938 from abroad, £1,321 to extend in the UK, plus the health surcharge
- Leads to settlement
- After 5 years on the five-year route
The partner route, Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules, lets the partner of a British citizen or settled person live in the UK. It is granted in two blocks of 33 months (from abroad) or 30 months (in the UK), after which you apply for indefinite leave to remain. The financial requirement is where most applications fail, so this guide spends most of its time there.
Who qualifies
- Your partner must be a British or Irish citizen, have settled status or ILR, have pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme with a qualifying date, or hold refugee status or humanitarian protection.
- The relationship must be a marriage or civil partnership recognised in UK law, or you must have lived together in a relationship like marriage for at least two years. Fiancé(e)s and proposed civil partners can apply for a six-month visa to marry in the UK, then switch.
- You must both be over 18, have met in person, and intend to live together permanently in the UK.
- The relationship must be genuine and subsisting. You prove this with evidence of living together, shared finances, communication records, photos over time and statements from people who know you.
- English at A1 for the first visa, A2 for the extension and B1 for settlement. See the English requirement.
- Adequate accommodation that is not overcrowded and that you have a right to occupy.
- The financial requirement, below.
The minimum income requirement
Since 11 April 2024 the sponsoring partner, or the two of you together if the applicant is already in the UK with permission to work, must show a gross annual income of at least £29,000. No extra amount is added for children. Before April 2024 it was £18,600 plus £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for each further child; people who applied under the old figure stay on it when they extend.
The previous government planned to raise the figure to £38,700 in stages. The current government paused that and asked the Migration Advisory Committee to review the level. The committee reported in June 2025 recommending a range between about £23,000 and £25,000. At the time this page was reviewed the £29,000 figure was still in force and no change had been announced; check gov.uk before you rely on any figure.
What counts
The rules are in Appendix FM-SE and they are strict about form as well as substance. Income can come from:
- Salaried employment with the same employer for six months (Category A), evidenced by six months of payslips and matching bank statements plus an employer's letter. If you have been in the job for under six months, or your income varies, you use Category B and must show you also earned £29,000 in the previous 12 months.
- Self-employment (Category F or G), using the last full tax year's accounts, tax return and business bank statements.
- Cash savings above £16,000, held for six months. Savings replace income at the rate of £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall, so to meet the whole requirement from savings alone you need £88,500.
- Pension income and non-employment income such as rent, dividends and maintenance payments.
The applicant's own overseas earnings do not count for the first application unless they have a confirmed UK job offer paying £29,000 starting within three months. Promises of support from family do not count. If your partner receives certain disability or carer's benefits, the income test is replaced by an adequate-maintenance test.
The five-year and ten-year routes
If you meet every requirement you are on the five-year route: two visas of 30 to 33 months, then ILR. If you cannot meet the income or English rules but refusing you would breach your right to family life, usually because you have British children or there are insurmountable obstacles to living abroad together, you can be granted leave on the ten-year route: four periods of 30 months before settlement, and each renewal costs the full fee again. You can move from the ten-year route to the five-year route once you meet the requirements.
Fees and timescales
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Partner visa, applying from outside the UK (per person, including each child) | £1,938 |
| Extension in the UK (FLR(M)) | £1,321 |
| Immigration Health Surcharge, 33 months | £2,846 |
| Indefinite leave to remain after 5 years | £3,029 |
Standard processing is 12 weeks for applications from outside the UK (it has been 24 weeks at busy periods) and eight weeks inside. The priority service (£500) is available in most countries. Over five years a couple with no children will spend about £11,722 in Home Office fees alone.
What you can do on the visa
You can work in any job, be self-employed and study. You cannot claim most public funds (benefits), and your partner cannot claim extra benefits on your account, until you have settlement. You can leave and re-enter the UK freely; unlike work routes, there is no 180-day absence rule for the partner route, but long absences can undermine the claim that you live together.