UK Spouse Visa

The spouse visa may be suitable for you if you have a spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner with whom you have been in a relationship and have been living with for two years or more. If unmarried, you should be planning to marry or gain a civil partnership within six months of being in the UK. The UK partner will need to either be a British citizen, or have settled status.

You must also both be at least eighteen years of age in order to be approved for the spouse visa.

There are several restrictions on this pathway, though, making it less straightforward than it may initially seem.

As the applicant, you will need to prove that your relationship, marriage or civil partner is genuine. This is a test designed to prevent arranged marriages or marriages undertaken for visa/citizenship purposes alone. If you are in a genuine relationship with your British partner, you can prove this by sending several kinds of documentation or proof to the Home Office.

This proof can include such unofficial seeming evidence as chat logs on social media or text messages you have sent to one another, and photographs to show the times you have spent with each other. You must prove that you have visited one another at least one time before marrying, and show travel documents to demonstrate this (such as plane tickets, passport stamps, and photographic evidence from these visits). You may also show a joint tenancy or mortgage agreement, whether this is within or without the United Kingdom, or proof of your intention to live together. You might show evidence of a bank account that you share with your partner, or savings that you have accrued together.

Finally, if you have any children together, you will need to provide birth certificates for each child, if applicable.

It is possible to renew/extend your spouse visa when your current visa nears its expiry date. You will need to extend it by two years and six months (thirty months overall) at a time, making this application prior to your current visa expiring in order to make sure you are always residing in the UK legally.

Applying for an extension on your spouse visa might feel as challenging as your initial spouse visa application, as you are once again required to submit the information and documents you needed for your initial visa. If you find it difficult to collate this information, you may need to attend an interview. When applying, you will need to show your current and any previous passports, as well as your Biometric Residence Permit, if this is applicable to you.

Everyone’s circumstances are unique, but you will as standard be expected to show proof of identity and of your spouse’s citizenship or settled status within the UK. You will also need to show your marriage certificate or other proof of your established relationship, such as shared bills or legal documents, as well as documents which prove your status financially. These may include bank statements in the case of savings, or your pay slips.

At this stage, it will also be necessary for you to prove your competency with the English language, as well as proof of previous divorces you may have had.

The overall cost for your visa extension will depend on your individual circumstances, with some basic rates applying to everyone.

The length of time that it takes for the spouse visa to be processed can depend on your circumstances, the complexity of the documentation provided, and where you are submitting your application from (either inside or outside of the UK).

It can take as little as two weeks when it comes to the processing time, but can also take as long as six months. Take into account the time it will take you to gather the information before you make your application, as this can take several weeks.

Keep in mind that if your case is complex, or you are applying with dependents, the processing time may be longer than you expect.

Financial Requirement Exemptions

The cost of the initial spouse or partner visa application if you are making it within the UK is £1033. You will also be required to pay a £19.20 biometric enrolment fee.

If you are applying from a different country, you will pay a visa cost of £1523. If you wish to have your case examined as a priority, then you can pay an additional £573 to expedite your application.

You will also be required to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, which comes in at £624 per year in order to allow you to utilise the National Health Service as a spouse visa holder.

If you are coming to live in the UK, you will need to prove that you have sufficient English language ability. This allows you to integrate into your new community. You can take an English Language Test, which is then valid for two years.

Your test must be carried out by a Secure English Language Testing (SELT) Provider, and will contain both a speaking and listening portion.

However, you may be exempt from this requirement if you come from an English speaking country, are younger than eighteen or older than sixty-five, or have a physical or mental condition that makes this challenging for you.

You will also be exempt if you have a degree that was either researched or taught in English. The validity of this must be fully confirmed in order to qualify you for an exemption.

When applying for your spouse visa, you must show that you have accommodation that is compliant with UK living standards. This means that your UK partner has to demonstrate that they themselves have accommodation that is adequate for them, you, and your dependents (if applicable).

To qualify for this, you will need to prove that your accommodation has enough rooms for you and your partner and your dependents. Each individual requires a room of their own, however, there are some caveats to this. Couples may share a bedroom, and living rooms can be counted as bedrooms. Children under a year old are not required to have their own bedroom. Children between one and nine years old are counted as “half a person” and can share a room. However, children over ten years old are counted as an adult and cannot share a room with a child of the opposite sex.

To prove this to the Home Office, you must provide a description of your home, and prove the number of rooms is adequate. You must also prove that you have sufficient finances to pay for this accommodation.

Should your spouse visa application be rejected, you have the right to appeal against this and pursue a different decision. However, this is a highly difficult process, and you are advised to attempt it with the support of an immigration expert. You may also wish to make a new application. This is often seen as the preferable option, as it is both less time consuming and less expensive.

If you are going through the appeal route, you will need to appeal to an immigration judge. You only have the right to appeal if you feel that the refusal was genuinely unfair or that errors were made by your legal representative.

You can lodge your appeal either in person or in writing. If the original decision is upheld, this will lead to your case being presented at a Tribunal hearing, which you will need to attend.

The spouse or partner visa is one of the routes to settlement and British citizenship. The usual settlement option is that you can extend your visa every thirty months. Once you have lived in the UK under a spouse visa for five years (at least one extension), you will qualify for settlement. However, you may be required to extend again if you do not meet the settlement requirements – this can be due to not fully meeting the English language requirements, or failing the Life in the UK test.

Should you meet these requirements, you can then apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

In order to settle in the UK on a spouse or partner visa, you will need to supply certain documents. You will in the first instance need to have lived in the UK for at least five years on a spouse visa (meaning you will need to extend at least once in the sixty-month period), and then you can apply for ILR. You must not have had significant absences from the UK during this period in order for your ILR application to be successful.

You will also need to supply your ID documentation, the spouse visa extension checklist, and your current biometric residence permit. You are required to show that you are still cohabiting with your spouse and that you continue to meet the financial requirements laid out in your initial spouse visa application. You will be required to also meet the English language requirements, and to show evidence of your accommodation.

When applying for settlement, it is also necessary to provide an applicant and sponsor declaration.

When applying for ILR, or an extension in general, you must do this no later than twenty-eight days before your current visa is due to expire. It is advisable to act in advance of this late stage, as it can take some time for your application to be processed.

You should consider the amount of time that you plan to spend outside of the UK. While taking holidays is fine, more extended periods of time may be considered suspicious, especially without your British spouse. It is best that during the last twelve months of your time in the UK, you have not been away from the country for more than 180 days. This is a requirement of your application but also helps to prove that you have a genuine connection and roots within the United Kingdom.

In order to settle in the UK on a spouse or partner visa, you will need to supply certain documents. You will in the first instance need to have lived in the UK for at least five years on a spouse visa (meaning you will need to extend at least once in the sixty-month period), and then you can apply for ILR. You must not have had significant absences from the UK during this period in order for your ILR application to be successful.

You will also need to supply your ID documentation, the spouse visa extension checklist, and your current biometric residence permit. You are required to show that you are still cohabiting with your spouse and that you continue to meet the financial requirements laid out in your initial spouse visa application. You will be required to also meet the English language requirements, and to show evidence of your accommodation.

When applying for settlement, it is also necessary to provide an applicant and sponsor declaration.

When applying for ILR, or an extension in general, you must do this no later than twenty-eight days before your current visa is due to expire. It is advisable to act in advance of this late stage, as it can take some time for your application to be processed.

You should consider the amount of time that you plan to spend outside of the UK. While taking holidays is fine, more extended periods of time may be considered suspicious, especially without your British spouse. It is best that during the last twelve months of your time in the UK, you have not been away from the country for more than 180 days. This is a requirement of your application but also helps to prove that you have a genuine connection and roots within the United Kingdom.

A spouse visa is valid in the first instance for thirty months when you apply from within the UK, or thirty-three months when you apply from a different country. This is because you are being granted leave to remain within the UK, however, if you are applying from another country, you are given extra time for entry clearance. If you are unmarred, you will be given an initial six-month visa to allow you to marry within the UK.

During this length of time, you will be able to work within the United Kingdom but will not be able to access any public funds or government support. You will have full access to the NHS.

Over this time, you may travel overseas, but you must live in the UK to qualify for a spouse visa extension or ILR, when the time comes.