Spouse visa: eligibility, money, English and what it costs
Your partner must be British, Irish or settled, and together you need £29,000 a year of gross income or enough savings. From abroad, one adult pays £5,169 in fee and surcharge.
Spouse visa eligibility: income and savings check
Minimum income for your application
£29,000
Short by £4,500 a year. Savings needed to fill the gap: £27,250.
| Income counted | £24,500 |
| Shortfall | £4,500 |
| Savings to cover it (£16,000 + 2.5 × shortfall) | £27,250 |
| 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.
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
A spouse visa, which GOV.UK calls a family visa as a partner, lets you live in the UK with a husband, wife, civil partner or long-term partner who is British, Irish, settled, or holds pre-settled status or protection status. You both have to be 18 or over, to have met in person and to intend to live together permanently in the UK. A couple applying for the first time since 11 April 2024 must show a gross income of £29,000 a year, or cash savings above £16,000 that cover the gap, and the applicant must pass an English test at A1 in speaking and listening unless exempt. Applying from abroad costs £2,064 plus a health surcharge of £3,105 for the 33 months granted, £5,169 per adult. One extension of 30 months follows, and after 5 years on the route you can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
Who can sponsor you, and which relationships count
The person you join is called the sponsor. Under paragraph E-ECP.2.1 of Appendix FM they must be a British citizen in the UK, settled here (indefinite leave to remain, settled status or permanent residence), in the UK with protection status, holding limited leave under the EU Settlement Scheme, or in a few smaller categories such as stateless permission or the Turkish worker routes. A partner who is here on a Skilled Worker, Student or other temporary visa cannot sponsor you on this route; you would apply as their dependant instead, under the rules of their own visa.
Four kinds of relationship qualify. You can be married or in a civil partnership recognised in the UK; you can have lived together in a relationship for at least two years when you apply; you can be engaged and plan to marry within six months of arrival (that is the fiancé visa, a separate grant); or you can have been together two years without sharing a home because of work, study or culture. The caseworker must accept the relationship is genuine and subsisting, and any earlier marriage of either of you must have ended.
Evidence should come from an official or commercial source and be less than four years old: a marriage certificate, a tenancy or Council Tax bill in both names, a joint bank statement, a letter from a GP confirming the same address. Couples who live apart send proof that they speak regularly, support each other financially and spend time together.
The income test and the English test
The financial requirement is the part most couples plan around. The sponsor's salary counts, and once you are in the UK with permission to work, yours counts too; pensions, rental income, dividends and cash savings can be added under Appendix FM-SE. The level is £29,000 gross a year for anyone whose first application on the route is made from 11 April 2024. Savings work through a formula: the first £16,000 do not count, and every pound of income you lack must be covered by 2.5 pounds of savings held for six months.
Take a sponsor on a salary of £24,500 and no other income. The calculator above finds a gap of £4,500, so the couple needs £27,250 in cash savings to qualify: £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall. Without any salary at all, savings alone must reach £88,500. The financial requirement page lists which documents prove each source, and which benefits switch the test off.
English rises in steps. The first visa needs a speaking and listening test at A1 from an approved provider, a degree taught in English, or nationality of a majority English speaking country such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the United States. The extension after two and a half years needs A2 if you relied on an A1 test. At settlement the level is B1, and it becomes B2 for applications made from 26 March 2027 (HC 1691). People aged 65 or over and those with a disability that prevents them from taking a test are exempt.
Fees, surcharge and how long each grant lasts
A first spouse visa from outside the UK is granted for up to 33 months. You pay the application fee and the immigration health surcharge for the whole grant at the time you apply. Children added as dependants pay the same fee and a lower surcharge.
| Stage | Where you apply | Grant | Fee | Health surcharge | Total, one adult |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First visa | outside the UK | 33 months | £2,064 | £3,105 | £5,169 |
| Extension | inside the UK | 30 months | £1,407 | £2,587.50 | £3,994.50 |
| Indefinite leave to remain | inside the UK | permanent | £3,226 | none | £3,226 |
Across the three stages one adult pays £12,389.50 at today's rates, before the Life in the UK test (£50), English tests, translations and travel. The Home Office has issued 12 fee tables since January 2024, so treat the figure as a floor rather than a quote. If you are already in the UK on another visa of more than six months, you may switch to the spouse route at the in-country fee; visitors and holders of short visas generally have to leave and apply from abroad. A fee waiver exists for those who cannot afford housing or essential living costs. The spouse visa cost page prices a family with children and the optional fast-track services.
From abroad, UKVI aims to decide partner applications within 12 weeks of your biometrics appointment; in the UK, 8 weeks when you meet the income and English rules. The processing time calculator turns that into a date.
From first visa to settlement
The five-year clock starts when you enter the UK on your first spouse visa, or on the day it is granted if you switched inside the UK. Time spent on a fiancé visa, a visitor visa, a work or student visa does not count, and the partner must be the same person throughout. Before your first grant ends you extend for 30 months, and you can then apply for indefinite leave to remain up to 28 days before reaching 5 years. At that stage the income test is checked again, but savings above £16,000 count pound for pound instead of at 2.5 to one, and you need the Life in the UK test.
Couples who cannot meet the income or English rules, but whose case rests on a British child or on human rights grounds, may still be granted leave under paragraph EX.1 or GEN.3.2. That leave sits on a 10-year route to settlement. The ILR after a spouse visa page works out your date from your trips abroad, and once you are settled and married to a British citizen you can apply for citizenship straight away.
The rules quoted here are those of Appendix FM in force on 13 October 2026. The Home Office consulted in November 2025 on lengthening settlement periods ("earned settlement"); nothing had changed the partner route by that date. This page explains the rules and is not legal advice: for a refusal, an appeal or an immigration history with gaps, speak to a solicitor or an adviser registered with the Immigration Advice Authority.