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What Is a Spouse or Partner Visa?
If you are British and your spouse or partner is not, the spouse or partner visa is the route that allows you to bring them to the United Kingdom to live with you. It is also the route that allows you and your partner to move to the UK together if you are both currently living abroad. The visa leads to settlement and, eventually, to British citizenship for your partner through naturalisation. Understanding the requirements, stages involved, and costs before you apply is essential, as the process is detailed and the financial commitment is significant.
A spouse or partner visa falls under the family visa category governed by Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. It allows your non-British spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner to live and work in the United Kingdom. Once granted, your partner has full permission to work with no restrictions on the type of employment or hours.
The visa is granted in two stages. The initial visa is granted for 33 months if you are applying from outside the UK, or 30 months if you are applying from within the UK. After this first period, you apply to extend the visa for a further 30 months. Together, these two periods make up the five years of continuous residence required before you can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
As a British citizen, you can sponsor your spouse or partner for this visa, whether you are already living in the UK or intend to return to the UK with them. The same route is also available to sponsors who hold indefinite leave to remain, EU settled status, refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK. The relationship must be genuine and subsisting, and both you and your partner must intend to live together permanently in the United Kingdom.
Eligibility Requirements
The eligibility criteria for a spouse or partner visa are set out in the Immigration Rules and must be met at the time of application. Some requirements fall on you as the sponsor, such as the income threshold, while others fall on your partner as the applicant, such as the English language requirement. Failing to meet any of the requirements can result in a refusal, and Home Office fees are not refunded if an application is refused. The core requirements are as follows.
- You must be legally married, in a civil partnership, or have been in a relationship akin to marriage for at least two years (for unmarried partners). If you have not been living together for the full two-year period, you will need to show a good reason why cohabitation was not possible.
- Your relationship must be genuine and subsisting.
- You and your partner must both be aged 18 or over.
- You must meet the minimum income requirement.
- You must have adequate accommodation in the UK that is not overcrowded and does not rely on public funds.
- You must meet the English language requirement.
- You must not fall for refusal on general grounds of suitability, including criminal history and immigration compliance.
Each of these requirements has its own evidential standards. The Home Office applies strict rules about what documentation is acceptable, and applications can be refused for missing or incorrectly formatted evidence, even where the underlying requirement is met. This is why careful preparation matters.
The minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa application is currently £29,000 per year. The income requirement is assessed primarily on the basis of your earnings as the sponsor, although your partner’s own income can also be counted in certain circumstances, such as where they are already working in the UK with permission to do so.
Accepted income sources include the following:
- Employment income (salaried or non-salaried).
- Self-employment income.
- Pension income.
- Other lawful income, such as rental income or dividends.
- Cash savings are either to bridge a shortfall in income or to meet the requirement in full.
Multiple sources can be combined to meet the threshold. If the £29,000 requirement cannot be met through earnings alone, cash savings can be used to bridge the shortfall. The savings formula is: the annual shortfall multiplied by 2.5, plus £16,000. The resulting figure must have been held in savings for at least six months before the application is submitted.
Worked example: If your combined income is £19,000, the shortfall is £10,000, and you would need at least £41,000 in savings. To meet the requirement entirely through savings without any income, you would need to hold at least £88,500.
If you and your partner are both living outside the UK and plan to move together, meeting the income requirement through UK employment is not straightforward, because the sponsor typically needs to evidence earnings from a UK-based role. In practice, the most common solution for couples relocating together is to rely on savings in full, holding at least £88,500 for a minimum of six months before the application is submitted.
If the sponsor receives certain disability-related benefits, the standard income threshold does not apply; instead, the applicant is assessed under the adequate maintenance test, which sets a lower threshold.
The English language requirement applies to your partner at each stage of the spouse or partner visa route, and the required level increases as they progress:
Initial application → CEFR level A1 (speaking and listening)
Extension after 30 months → CEFR level A2
Indefinite leave to remain → CEFR level B1
- Passing an approved Secure English Language Test (SELT) at the required level.
- Being a national of a majority English-speaking country.
- Holding an academic qualification that was taught or researched in English and is recognised as equivalent to a UK degree.
Exemptions are available for applicants aged 65 or over, or where a physical or mental condition prevents the applicant from meeting the requirement. It is worth noting that your partner can choose to take a higher-level test than the minimum required at any given stage. For example, passing B1 at the initial application stage means the same certificate can typically be reused for the extension and settlement applications, avoiding the need to sit the test multiple times.
Unmarried Partners and Civil Partners
The spouse visa route is not limited to married couples. If you are in a civil partnership with your partner, the same visa route, the same path to settlement, and the same requirements apply. Civil partnerships are treated identically to marriage for the purposes of both immigration and nationality law in the United Kingdom.
If you and your partner are not married or in a civil partnership but have been in a relationship akin to marriage for at least two years, your partner may be eligible to apply for an unmarried partner visa. The requirements and the path to settlement are the same as for the spouse visa. The two-year requirement refers to the length of the relationship, not necessarily two years of living together. However, you will need to show that you have been cohabiting, or if you have not, that there was a good reason why you could not live together, such as immigration restrictions or work commitments in different countries.
Evidence of the relationship and any cohabitation is required at the time of the application, and can include joint tenancy agreements, utility bills, bank statements, travel records, or official correspondence addressed to both partners.
How Much Does a Spouse or Partner Visa Cost?
The costs associated with a spouse or partner visa are substantial and should be budgeted for carefully before you apply. The main costs are the Home Office application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), both of which must be paid upfront at the time of application.
Home Office application fee (from outside the UK): £2,064 per applicant
Home Office application fee (from within the UK): £1,407 per applicant
Immigration Health Surcharge: £1,035 per year for adults, £776 per year for children
Total upfront cost: For an initial 33-month visa granted from outside the UK, the IHS alone amounts to approximately £2,846. The total upfront cost for a single applicant applying from outside the UK regularly exceeds £4,500 before any additional costs such as translations, English language tests, or professional fees.
These fees apply per applicant, so if dependent children are included, the same application fee and IHS apply to each child individually. Home Office fees are non-refundable, even if the application is refused.
The Application Process
The spouse or partner visa application is submitted online through the UK government’s visa application service. The process involves several steps, and it is important to follow each one carefully to avoid delays or refusals.
- Complete the online application form and pay the Home Office application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge.
- Book and attend a biometrics appointment at a visa application centre to provide fingerprints and a photograph.
- Submit all required supporting documents, including evidence of your relationship, financial circumstances, accommodation, English language ability, and identity.
- Wait for a decision from the Home Office.
Standard processing times for spouse visa applications made from outside the UK are typically around 12 weeks, although this can vary depending on demand and the complexity of the case. Priority processing may be available for an additional fee. Applications made from within the UK follow a similar process, although the biometrics appointment is attended at a UK service centre rather than an overseas visa application centre.
The documents required will depend on your individual circumstances, but the following are commonly needed for a spouse or partner visa application:
- Valid passports for both the applicant and the sponsor.
- Marriage certificate, civil partnership certificate, or evidence of two years of cohabitation (for unmarried partners).
- Six months of payslips and corresponding bank statements to evidence income.
- Employer letter confirming employment details and salary.
- Evidence of adequate accommodation in the UK.
- English language test certificate or evidence of exemption.
- Photographs, correspondence, and other evidence of the genuineness of the relationship.
- Any decree absolute or annulment from previous marriages, if applicable.
All documents not in English or Welsh must be accompanied by a certified translation. The Home Office applies strict “specified evidence” rules, which means documents must be in the correct format and cover the correct periods. Missing or incorrectly formatted evidence is one of the most common reasons for refusals.
Extending the Visa and the Five-Year Route
After the initial period of leave, your partner must apply to extend their spouse or partner visa before it expires. The extension is granted for a further 30 months, bringing the total period of residence on the route to five years. The extension application is submitted from within the UK and is assessed against the same core requirements as the initial application, including the financial requirement, relationship genuineness, accommodation, and English language.
The English language requirement increases at the extension stage. Where A1 was required for the initial application, A2 is required for the extension. You must also continue to meet the minimum income requirement, and the Home Office will expect to see evidence that you and your partner have been living together in the UK. The application fee and IHS are payable again at this stage.
Life does not always follow a predictable path, and circumstances can change during the five years. If your relationship breaks down, some provisions may allow your partner to remain in the UK depending on the circumstances, including where domestic abuse is involved. If you, as the sponsor, die during the route, your partner may be able to apply for leave to remain outside the Immigration Rules on human rights grounds. Changes in income or employment should be managed carefully, because the financial requirement must be met at the point of each application.
From Spouse Visa to Settlement and British Citizenship
The spouse or partner visa is the first stage in a longer journey that can ultimately lead to British citizenship for your partner. After completing five years of continuous residence in the UK on the partner route, your partner becomes eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), also known as settlement. ILR removes your partner from immigration control and grants them the right to live and work in the UK permanently, without the need for further visa applications.
To qualify for ILR, your partner must demonstrate that the relationship is still genuine and subsisting, meet the financial requirement, pass the B1 English language test, pass the Life in the UK test, and show that they have not spent more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period during the qualifying five-year period. The Home Office application fee for ILR is separate from the visa fees paid during the route.
Once your partner holds indefinite leave to remain, the path to British citizenship through naturalisation becomes available. If you and your partner are married or in a civil partnership, your partner can apply to naturalise immediately upon receiving ILR, without needing to wait an additional 12 months. This is one of the key advantages of the spouse route compared to other settlement routes, where a 12-month waiting period after ILR is normally required. However, if your partner entered the UK on an unmarried partner visa and you are still not married or in a civil partnership at the point of naturalisation, the 12-month waiting period after ILR will apply.
Naturalisation has its own requirements, including a qualifying period of residence, a good character assessment, the B1 English language requirement, and the Life in the UK test. Once your partner is naturalised as a British citizen, they can apply for a British passport and will hold British citizenship permanently. This status can also open routes for your children to be registered as British citizens.
Applying from Israel
If your partner is an Israeli national, they will submit their application online and attend a biometrics appointment at a visa application centre. Documents issued in Hebrew will need to be accompanied by certified English translations. As with all overseas applications, the initial visa is granted for 33 months, and your partner must travel to the UK within the validity period of the entry clearance.
Israeli applicants should be aware that inconsistencies in the English transliteration of Hebrew names across official documents can raise queries during the application process. Names may appear differently on birth certificates, marriage certificates, and passports, and these discrepancies should be addressed when preparing the supporting evidence. Ensuring that all documents are consistent, properly translated, and clearly linked to both you and your partner is an important part of the preparation.