A UK spouse visa lets the husband, wife or partner of a British citizen or someone settled here come to the UK to live together. It is one of the most common applications we handle, and also one of the most frequently refused — usually not because the relationship is in doubt, but because the paperwork behind the financial requirement does not quite hold up.

This guide sets out what the Home Office currently requires, how long a decision takes, and the points where applications go wrong. The requirements below are taken from GOV.UK.

It also sets out the current Home Office fees, so you can see what the application itself costs before you speak to anyone.

At Kenton Solicitors, our immigration team has advised partners and families on these applications from our office in Harrow for over 20 years.

Call us on 020 8907 2444 or get in touch for a free initial consultation and we will give you a clear picture of what your application will involve.

Who Can Apply

You can apply as a partner if you are both 18 or over, you intend to live together permanently in the UK, and your partner is one of the following:

• A British or Irish citizen
• Settled in the UK — for example holding indefinite leave to remain
• Holding pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, having started living in the UK by 31 December 2020
• Holding protection status in the UK

If your partner holds pre-settled status, our EU Settlement Scheme team can advise on how that affects your application.

Proving Your Relationship

You must prove one of the following:

• You are in a marriage or civil partnership recognised in the UK
• You have been living together in a relationship for at least 2 years when you apply
• You are engaged — the fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner route, where you must marry or form a civil partnership within 6 months of arriving
• You have been in a relationship for at least 2 years but are unable to live together

You will also need evidence that you live at the same address, such as bills or a tenancy agreement in both names.

This sounds straightforward and often is not. A couple who have genuinely been together for years may have very little in joint names, particularly if one of them has been abroad. Build the picture across the whole period rather than the last few months.

The Financial Requirement

This is where most applications are won or lost.

You and your partner must show a combined income of at least £29,000 a year.

There is an important exception. If you first applied as a partner before 11 April 2024 and you are extending that same visa, the figure is £18,600 a year. This also applies if you first applied as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner. On that older basis you need additional income for children — £3,800 a year for the first child and £2,400 a year for each additional child — though if the total would come to more than £29,000 you only need to prove £29,000.

You may be able to use savings instead of income, or a combination of the two. The calculation is set out in the Immigration Rules and depends on how much income you have and how long the savings have been held, so it is worth getting it checked rather than estimating.

When You Do Not Need to Meet It

You are exempt from the minimum income requirement if your partner receives certain benefits, including Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment or Carer’s Allowance.

In that case you must instead show you can house and support yourselves without relying on additional public funds. This is a different test, and in practice it is often easier to satisfy — but it still needs evidencing properly.

The English Language Requirement

For a first application you must pass an approved test at CEFR level A1 or higher. You can take a higher level if you want to, and there is a good reason to consider it.

Here is how it works through the route:

• First application — at least level A1
• Extension after 2.5 years — at least level A2 in speaking and listening, unless you already passed A2 or above first time, in which case you can reuse that result
• Settlement after 5 years — if you passed B1 or higher, you can reuse that result

So passing at B1 at the outset can mean never sitting another test for the rest of the route. If your English is already at that level, taking the higher test first time is usually worth the effort.

You are exempt if you are over 65, if you have a physical or mental condition that prevents you from meeting the requirement, or if you are a national of one of a number of majority English-speaking countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, Malta and most of the Caribbean.

How Long a Decision Takes

The Home Office publishes service standards for family visa applications:

• Applying from outside the UK — 12 weeks
• Applying from inside the UK — 8 weeks

Those are the standard timeframes where the application meets the minimum income and English language requirements. Faster options are sometimes available and you will be told when you apply.

One figure worth knowing: applications made in the UK on the basis of private life rather than the partner route have no service standard at all, and the published waiting time is around 12 months. If your circumstances mean you may fall into that category, the difference in timescale is substantial, and it is worth taking advice before you choose which application to make.

Plan around the longer end of the range. These timeframes are standards rather than guarantees, and an application that triggers further enquiries can take considerably longer.

How Long the Visa Lasts

The spouse route is a five-year route to settlement, taken in two stages:

• First grant — up to 2 years and 9 months
• Extension — up to a further 2 years and 6 months, and you can extend more than once
• Settlement — the earliest you can apply for indefinite leave to remain is after 5 years of continuous residence in the UK on a family visa as a partner

A fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner visa is granted for 6 months only, and that time does not count towards the five years. Nor does time spent on any other kind of visa. People sometimes assume years spent here as a student or worker will count towards settlement on this route. They do not.

Our guide on when to apply for ILR sets out how the qualifying period is counted, and our ILR and settlement team can advise on your specific dates.

Home Office Fees

These are the fees payable to the Home Office. They are set by the government, not by us.

Application Fee

• Applying from outside the UK — £2,064 per application
• Applying from inside the UK — £1,407 per application

Each person applying pays their own fee, so a child applying alongside you pays the same amount again.

Immigration Health Surcharge

This is paid upfront for the whole period you are granted, at £1,035 per year for an adult and £776 per year for a child under 18. For the grants typical on this route that works out as:

• 2 years 9 months — £3,105 per adult
• 2 years 6 months — £2,587.50 per adult
• 5 years — £5,175 per adult

Settlement

Indefinite leave to remain costs £3,226, for the main applicant and for each dependant.

Faster Decisions

Where available, the priority service is £500 and the super priority service is £1,000, whether you apply from inside or outside the UK.

What That Adds Up To

For a single adult applicant on the standard five-year route, the Home Office fees across the whole journey come to roughly:

• First application from outside the UK — £2,064 plus £3,105 surcharge = £5,169
• Extension from inside the UK — £1,407 plus £2,587.50 surcharge = £3,994.50
• Indefinite leave to remain — £3,226

That is around £12,390 in Home Office fees over the five years, for one person, before any priority service or legal fees. Children applying with you increase it substantially.

A fee waiver may be available if you cannot afford the fee. It is worth asking about rather than assuming.

Note that these fees change, usually in April. The figures above were checked in October 2026.

Our Fees

What we charge depends on what your application needs. A straightforward first application with clear salaried income is a different piece of work from one where the financial requirement has to be built from savings, self-employment or a combination, or where there is a previous refusal to deal with.

Speak to one of our consultants and we will tell you what we would charge for your matter, in writing, before you commit to anything. The initial consultation is free and there is no obligation to proceed.

Call 020 8907 2444 or contact us here.

Where Applications Go Wrong

After two decades of these applications, the same problems recur:

• Income that meets the threshold on paper but not in the specified format. The rules are prescriptive about which documents prove which kind of income, over which period. Earning enough is not the same as proving it correctly.
• Assuming the older £18,600 figure still applies. It only applies to extensions of a partner visa first applied for before 11 April 2024.
• Thin relationship evidence. Particularly for unmarried couples, where two years of living together has to be documented across the whole period.
• Taking the minimum English test when a higher one would do. Passing at B1 first time can carry you through to settlement.
• Expecting fiancé time to count towards settlement. It does not.
• Missing the savings calculation. The formula is specific and an estimate that falls short means a refusal.
• Applying too close to a deadline. With a 12-week standard from outside the UK, there is little room for a request for further information.

Where an application has been refused, the time limits for challenging it are short. Our immigration appeals team can advise on the options quickly. For a full picture of the route, see our spouse and partner visa service.

How We Can Help

A spouse visa application is a document exercise as much as a legal one. The relationship is usually not in question. What matters is whether the financial evidence is in the exact form the rules require, whether the relationship evidence covers the right period, and whether anything in the history needs explaining before the Home Office asks.

We review the whole picture before anything is submitted, tell you honestly if there is a gap, and help you fill it. Where the financial requirement is borderline, we will say so rather than let you find out by refusal.

Our office is on Kenton Road, Harrow, open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, with appointments in person, by telephone or by video call. See our immigration services for the full range of what we do.

Frequently Asked Questions

The requirements and figures in this article were checked against GOV.UK in October 2026. Immigration rules, fees and processing times change regularly, so please confirm the current position on GOV.UK before applying. For advice specific to your circumstances, please contact us directly.