Meeting the financial requirements for a UK spouse visa application

UK Spouse visa or marriage visa allows a non-British husband/wife of a British citizen or one who is settled in the UK to join him/her in the UK. A spouse or marriage visa is a type of Family visa. Those granted a UK Spouse visa can live with their partners for up to two and half years in the UK, after which they can apply for a visa extension.

Spouse visa financial requirements

The UK Immigration Rules require applicants to meet the financial requirement. Financial Requirement is an essential eligibility criterion for the UK Spouse Visa application. If the applicant and their partner are inside the UK they can show that their joint annual income is a minimum of £18,600. You must earn this income from a permitted source, unless exempt, you must meet the financial requirement for a spouse visa in the form of a minimum income limit.

If you have children

If you apply with a child or more than one child, you must prove an additional annual income of £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for each additional child.

What counts as income?

Income can be from salary from the employment or non-employment income such as property rentals, pension, dividends, etc.

Meeting the financial requirement for a spouse visa

There are various ways to meet the financial requirements for a spouse visa or marriage visa application. 1. You can show your or your partner's salary Income from employment; 2. You can show your or your partner's non-salaried employment income; 3. Your or your partner's income from self-employment – (self-employment for UK sponsor can also be outside the UK if you are seeking entry clearance and submitting an application from outside the UK) 4. Income as a director or employee of a limited company in the UK or your partner; 5. Income in the form of non-employment includes property rentals, child maintenance, Stipend, grants, dividend, from a specified limited company or non-specified limited company, investments, and stocks.                               6. If you or your partner is receiving money from the state, occupational or private pension; 7. If you want to rely on savings you can show savings of £62500 for at least six months, this can also be a gift, acquired after the sale of assets, stocks, or shares that you have owned for 6 months or more. You can also combine savings with some of the other sources of income to meet the minimum income threshold.

Exemptions from meeting the financial requirements

You can get exemptions from meeting the financial requirements if your partner in the UK is a recipient of certain benefits or allowances in the UK. This includes the following:

• Carer's Allowance.
• Disability Living Allowance.
• Severe Disablement Allowance.
• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
• Attendance Allowance.
• Personal Independence Payment.
• Armed Forces Independence Payment or Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
• Constant Attendance Allowance, Mobility Supplement, or War Disablement Pension under the War Pensions Scheme.
• Police Injury Pension.

However, in such cases, you still need to meet the maintenance and accommodation requirement, which is calculated on case to case basis and must leave you with an amount higher than the income support allowance for a couple.

If you fail to meet the financial requirements

If you fail to meet the financial requirements, you may still apply for a UK spouse visa if:

• You have a British child in the UK or have lived in the UK for seven years, and it would be unreasonable for them to leave the UK;
• It is unjustifiably harsh and the difficulties cannot be overcome if you and your partner live together as a couple outside of the UK;
• There are exceptional circumstances because if your visa application has been refused, it would be a breach of your human rights; or
• There are exceptional circumstances where you cannot meet the financial requirement, however, there is a credible guarantee of sustainable financial support to the applicant or their partner from a third party.

Should you need professional representation in applying for a UK spouse visa, you can contact Visa and Migration Ltd on 02034111261 for a free assessment. ...