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Thousands of foreign nationals apply for a UK partner visa every year. A UK partner visa, also known as a UK spouse visa, allows foreign nationals to unite with their UK partner. The UK partner visa falls under the UK family visa category. The visa also leads to settlement and eventually British citizenship, provided the applicant meets the eligibility criteria.
What is a UK Partner Visa?
A UK partner visa or UK spouse visa allows foreign nationals to apply to join their partner in the UK, who must be one of the following:
- A British or Irish citizen
- Someone who is settled in the UK, which means they have indefinite leave to remain, settled status, or proof of permanent residence
- Someone from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein who has pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme.
- Someone with a Turkish businessperson or Turkish worker visa
- Someone with refugee or humanitarian protection status
- Someone with permission to stay as a stateless person
For a partner visa, your partner must sponsor you. Hence, they are also called ‘sponsors.’
The visa also allows you to work and study in the UK. You can apply for a visa from outside the UK and switch to this visa from inside the UK. Initially, you are granted a leave of 30 months if you are in the UK and 33 months if you are outside the UK when you apply. You can also apply for an extension of the visa for another 30 months. Once you complete 5 years of continuous residence in the UK, you may be eligible to apply for settlement, i.e., indefinite leave to remain.
Any time spent on a UK fiancé, fiancée, or proposed civil partner visa will be excluded from the 5-year continuous residence.
After holding ILR for 1 year, you may apply for British citizenship and then a British passport. However, you need to meet certain eligibility requirements for a UK partner visa, which we are going to discuss in this article.
Eligibility Requirements
You need to meet the following eligibility requirements for a UK partner visa.
1. Age –
You and your partner must be 18 or over.
2. Relationship Requirement –
You must prove the following relationship requirements:
- You and your UK partner are married or in a civil partnership that is recognized in the UK.
- You and your partner have met in person.
- You and your partner are not within a prohibited degree of relationship, such as adoptive child, adoptive parent, child, parent, grandparent, sibling, etc.
- Your relationship is genuine and subsisting. Any previous relationship you and/or your partner were in has broken down permanently.
- You and your partner, post acquiring the partner visa, intend to live together permanently in the UK.
Financial Requirement –
Unless exempt, you must prove to the UKVI that you and/or your sponsoring partner will be able to support you financially in the UK without recourse to the public funds.
To meet the financial requirement, the minimum annual income threshold has been set to at least £29,000, effective from 11 April 2024. Now, no more extra funds are required for dependent children, which was the case earlier.
You can meet the minimum income threshold in any of the following ways:
- The income of your sponsoring partner must be £29,000 or more if you are applying from outside the UK or applying to switch from a UK fiancé, fiancée, or proposed civil partner visa from within the UK.
- If you are in the UK on another visa and you are working, you can combine your income with your partner’s income to meet the minimum income threshold of £29,000.
The applicant can also meet the financial requirements through a combination of income and savings in the following ways:
- If you are applying from outside the UK or switching from a UK fiancé, fiancée, or proposed civil partner visa to a partner visa your UK partner must have cash savings of at least £16,000. The remaining amount has to come from you or your partner’s income to meet the £29,000 threshold. Cash savings and income of your partner only will be counted in this case.
- In other situations where you are switching from visas such as UK skilled worker visa to a partner visa from within the UK, you and your partner must have combined cash savings of at least £16,000. The remaining amount must come from you and/or your partner’s income to meet the £29,000 threshold.
You can also meet the financial requirements through cash savings alone. For this, you and/or your partner must have combined savings of at least £88,500.
You do not need to meet a minimum income requirement if your partner is a recipient of one of the following benefits:
- Disability Living Allowance
- Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Attendance Allowance
- Pension Age Disability Payment
- Carer’s Allowance
- Carer Support Payment
- 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
- Child Disability Payment
- Adult Disability Payment
4. Adequate Accommodation Requirement –
You must prove that there is adequate accommodation to house you, your partner, and dependent children in the UK without relying on public funds. The accommodation must be exclusively owned or occupied by you and/or your sponsor.
5. English Language Requirement –
Unless exempt, you must meet the English language requirement. For this, you need to prove your proficiency in English to at least CEFR level A1.
You don’t need to meet the English language requirement if one of the following is true:
- You are aged above 65 when you apply;
- You suffer from a mental or physical disability due to which you cannot meet the English language requirement;
- There are exceptional circumstances that mean that before entering the UK, you cannot satisfy the English language requirement.
6. Tuberculosis Test Certificate Requirement –
If you come from a country where taking a TB test is mandatory before applying to enter the UK, you must take a TB test and prove that you are free from the disease.
7. Dependent Children Requirement –
You can add your child to your partner visa application as a dependent if both of the following are true:
- Your child is under 18 when you apply or was under 18 when he/she was first granted leave.
- He/she does not live an independent life, is not married, and has no children.
Final Thoughts
The UK partner visa is a legitimate route for non-UK nationals to unite with their UK partners and live with them in the UK. You can apply for a UK partner visa if you:
- Marry or enter into a civil partnership outside the UK, or
- You enter the UK on a fiancé or proposed civil partner visa and then marry or enter into a civil partnership with your UK partner within 6 months, or
- You are in the UK on another visa, such as a UK skilled worker visa, and while you are in the UK, you marry or enter into a civil partnership with a UK partner.
In all cases, the marriage or civil partnership must be recognized in the UK. You also need to meet other eligibility requirements as mentioned above. For any help, you should contact an expert UK immigration lawyer.