The spouse visa financial requirement, source by source
You need £29,000 of gross annual income from accepted sources, or savings above £16,000 worth 2.5 times any shortfall. Enter your figures to see which way you pass.
Financial requirement calculator: income plus savings
Minimum income for your application
£29,000
Short by £8,000 a year. Savings needed to fill the gap: £36,000.
| Income counted | £21,000 |
| Shortfall | £8,000 |
| Savings to cover it (£16,000 + 2.5 × shortfall) | £36,000 |
| Savings alone, with no income | £88,500 |
| Your savings count as income of | £0 |
| Fee + surcharge, first visa (33 months) | £5,169 |
Savings cannot be added to self-employment income, nor to a job held for less than 6 months (Appendix FM-SE). Cash savings must have been held for 6 months. Income from employment is gross, before tax and National Insurance.
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Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
The financial requirement for a partner visa is set by paragraph E-ECP.3.1 of Appendix FM (E-LTRP.3.1 inside the UK) and proved with the documents listed in Appendix FM-SE. You must show a specified gross annual income of £29,000, or combine income with cash savings: the first £16,000 of savings is ignored, and each pound of missing income needs 2.5 pounds above that. A couple relying on savings alone therefore needs £88,500. Countable sources are the sponsor's employment or self-employment, pensions, maternity or bereavement payments, other income such as rent and dividends, and savings held for six months; the applicant's own UK earnings join in once they are in the UK with permission to work. Loans, Universal Credit, Child Benefit and tax credits do not count. If the sponsor receives a listed disability or carer benefit, the fixed figure is replaced by an adequate maintenance test.
Which money counts, and whose
Paragraph E-ECP.3.2 is a closed list. For an application from abroad, the sources taken into account are: the partner's income from specified employment or self-employment (which can include work overseas when the partner is returning to the UK with you); specified pension income of either of you; maternity allowance, bereavement benefit or HM Forces payments; other specified income of either of you; and specified savings of either of you. The applicant's own salary from a job abroad is not on the list, which surprises many couples where the overseas partner is the higher earner.
Inside the UK the list in E-LTRP.3.2 widens. The applicant's employment counts if they are working legally, and an adult dependent child in the household can contribute income and savings. Paragraph 21 of Appendix FM-SE closes the door on the rest: loans and credit, income-related benefits, Child Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Universal Credit and promises of help from relatives are all excluded. A cash gift is accepted only as savings, once it has sat in your account for six months.
Salaried work: the six-month rule in Appendix FM-SE
How a salary is counted depends on how long the person has been with their current employer.
- Six months or more (paragraph 13(a)): the annual salary you rely on counts, provided every payslip in the six months before the application was at that level or higher. Send six months of payslips, the matching bank statements showing the pay going in, and a letter from the employer confirming the salary, the start date, the period paid at that rate and the type of contract.
- Less than six months (13(b) and 15): the current annual salary must reach the level, and the person's actual earnings over the previous 12 months must reach it too. Under paragraph 15(b)(iv), this second limb cannot be topped up with savings.
- Self-employed or company director (13(e)): income comes from the last full financial year, or the average of the last two, shown on tax returns and accounts. Savings cannot be added to self-employed income (13(f)).
- Returning to the UK (13(c) and 13(d)): a partner working abroad who will start a UK job within three months of returning must meet the level on both the overseas salary and the UK offer.
The most recent document in any series must be dated no earlier than 28 days before you apply (paragraph 1(l)), so a payslip run that ends two months before submission fails. Unpaid maternity, paternity or sick leave in the last year is ignored when counting the six months.
Savings: the formula and three worked cases
Savings must be cash, in an account that can be accessed immediately, in the name of the applicant, the partner or both, and held at or above the amount relied on for the full six months before the application (paragraph 11). Two exceptions shorten the six months: money moved into cash from shares, bonds or investment funds you already owned, and the net proceeds of selling a property you owned at the start of the period (paragraph 11A). The source of the money has to be declared.
| Couple | Income counted | Shortfall | Multiplier | Savings needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No income, savings only (first visa) | £0 | £29,000 | 2.5 | £88,500 |
| Salary plus rental income (first visa) | £24,000 | £5,000 | 2.5 | £28,500 |
| Same couple at settlement | £24,000 | £5,000 | 1 | £21,000 |
In the second case a sponsor earns £21,000 from a job held for over a year and receives £3,000 a year in rent. The total of £24,000 leaves a shortfall of £5,000, so the couple needs £28,500 in cash. Five years later, at the indefinite leave stage, paragraph E-ILRP.1.3(1A) removes the words "2.5 times", and the same couple would need only £21,000. Income and savings in a foreign currency are converted to pounds at the spot rate for the date of application, as Appendix Finance sets out.
When there is no fixed figure
If the sponsor receives Disability Living Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Armed Forces Independence Payment, a War Pensions Scheme payment, Police Injury Pension, or one of the Scottish disability and carer payments, paragraph E-ECP.3.3 applies. You show instead that the sponsor can maintain and accommodate the family adequately without further public funds; the caseworker compares your income with your housing costs.
Where the rules are not met but refusal would breach the right to family life, for example because of a British child, the decision maker must also weigh other credible sources under paragraph 21A, such as a guarantee of support from a third party. A grant on that basis leads to settlement after 10 years rather than five. The spouse visa overview covers the other requirements, and the extension page explains the lower figure for couples first granted before 11 April 2024.