Who can apply, and what you must show
Your partner — the sponsor — must be a British citizen, settled in the UK, or hold protection status or certain other qualifying leave. You must both be aged 18 or over, and you must be married or in a civil partnership that is legally recognised in the UK.
Beyond that, five requirements have to be met, and each is proved differently.
- A genuine and subsisting relationship Proved on documents, not on how convincing you seem. Evidence built up over time carries far more weight than a folder assembled last week.
- You intend to live together permanently Usually straightforward, but it needs saying and supporting rather than assuming.
- The financial requirement Currently £29,000, and the category of income determines the documents and the qualifying period.
- Adequate accommodation A home available to you both that is not overcrowded within the meaning of the Housing Act 1985 and does not breach public health regulations.
- English language at A1 An approved test at A1 CEFR, or a degree taught in English, or an exemption. The provider must be Home Office approved — a test from an unapproved centre is a painful way to be refused.
The financial requirement, and where it goes wrong
The minimum income requirement is £29,000, raised on 11 April 2024. That was correct at August 2026; figures here move, so confirm the current position before relying on it.
Almost nobody fails this because they earn too little. They fail because the income was not proved in the way Appendix FM-SE requires.
The simplest case is salaried employment with the same employer for at least six months, where you supply six months of payslips and bank statements that match them exactly. Everything else has its own rules: employment of less than six months looks at annual earnings over twelve; self-employment runs on the last full financial year and needs tax returns, accounts and business bank statements; variable hours are averaged over a specified period; and cash savings can only be used above a threshold and only after being held for a continuous qualifying period.
Two alternatives are worth knowing. Where the sponsor receives certain disability or carer's benefits, an adequate maintenance test applies instead of the income figure. And where the requirement cannot be met at all but refusal would breach Article 8 — most often where a child is involved — the Rules allow for exceptional circumstances, which is an argument to be made properly rather than a box to tick.
If your income is anything other than a single steady salary, this is the requirement most worth paying for advice on.
How long a spouse visa lasts, and what comes next
This is the question we are asked most, and the answer has a detail in it that catches people out.
A first grant made through entry clearance from outside the UK is for 33 months — two years and nine months. A grant made in-country, whether that is an initial switch or an extension, is for 30 months — two years and six months. The extra months on the entry clearance grant exist because the clock starts before you travel.
At the end of the first period you apply to extend, on form FLR(M). The relationship must still be genuine and subsisting, the financial requirement must be met again, and the English requirement rises to A2.
After five years of continuous leave on this route you can apply for indefinite leave to remain, which needs English at B1 and the Life in the UK Test. British citizenship by naturalisation normally follows twelve months after that, though a spouse of a British citizen can usually apply as soon as they hold ILR.
So this is not one application to survive. It is three over five years, each with a deadline and each needing the evidence assembled again — and people come unstuck at the extension far more often than at the first grant, because they assumed it would be a formality.
Proving the relationship is genuine
Couples find this the strangest part of the process. You are being asked to evidence something that to you is simply true.
The caseworker decides on the documents. What persuades is a picture built across the length of the relationship: correspondence to both of you at the same address, a tenancy or mortgage in joint names, joint accounts or regular transfers, utility bills, travel to see each other with the tickets and stamps, photographs spread across years rather than one wedding, a sensible selection of messages rather than five hundred pages, and statements from people who know you both.
A marriage certificate on its own proves a ceremony happened. It does not prove a subsisting relationship, and applications supported by little else are the ones that attract an interview.
Start collecting now, even if you are applying next year. The evidence you cannot get later is the evidence you did not keep at the time.
If your application is refused
Most spouse visa refusals carry a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal on human rights grounds, and the deadline is short and strictly applied — get advice immediately rather than reading the refusal several times first.
An appeal is not always the best route. Where the refusal turned on a document that was missing or in the wrong format, a fresh application that fixes it is often faster and more likely to succeed than waiting many months for a hearing. Where the refusal turned on the caseworker's assessment of the relationship or on an exercise of judgement, an appeal is usually the better answer.
We will tell you which we think it is, and why, rather than recommending whichever produces more work.