The UK Spouse Visa is a category for the married foreign partner to join or stay with their partner/spouse in the UK. Provided they meet the relevant requirements of the immigration rules, applications as a spouse can be made from inside or outside the UK.
In 2024 according to the Home Office latest statistics 86,000 of foreign nationals were granted family visa to come to the UK. The applications are submitted under the Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules and allows fiancé or proposed civil partners, married couple, civil partners or unmarried partners to live with their family in the UK. The children of the applicant or of the couple can also apply under Appendix FM to accompany or join and live in the UK.
The applicant's UK partner/spouse must be a British citizen, holding Indefinite Leave to Remain, EEA national with Settled or pre-settled status under Appendix EU or person in the UK with leave to remain under Appendix ECAA or a person who has been granted humanitarian protection or a refugee status. The UK partner/spouse must sponsor the applicant for them to apply for a UK spouse visa and often referred as Sponsor.
What is a UK Spouse Visa?
The UK Spouse visa is an immigration route allowing married couple to live together in the UK. If you are a non-UK and non-Irish national and your husband or wife is British citizen, holding Indefinite Leave to Remain, EEA national with Settled or pre-settled status under Appendix EU or person in the UK with leave to remain under Appendix ECAA or holding a humanitarian or refugee status then you need to apply for a UK Spouse Visa to live with him/her in the UK.
One can apply for the spouse visa from outside the UK or from inside the UK. However, in order to submit an application from inside the UK you must meet the immigration status requirement, which means that, you cannot switch to a spouse visa if you are in the UK on a visa (except a UK fiancé visa) that lasts 6 months or less or visitor visa or on immigration bail.
If you are applying from outside the UK, you will be granted a leave of up to 2 years and 9 months. On the other hand, if you apply from inside the UK, you may be granted a leave of up to 2 years and 6 months. You can apply for a visa extension of another 2 years 6 months before your partner visa expires. Since the E-Visa has been introduced, you are expected to complete the E-Visa process once you have received a decision letter.
After you have lived 5 years continuously in the UK excluding the time on fiancé visa, you may apply for settlement, i.e., indefinite leave to remain (ILR), provided you meet the eligibility criteria. If you are married to a British citizenship for 3 years or more you can immediately apply for British citizenship immediately upon grant of ILR.
In this article we are going to discuss a step-by-step guide for UK Spouse Visa 2025 applicants.
Check if You Meet the Eligibility Requirement
The first step is to check if you meet the eligibility criteria for a UK spouse visa in 2025. The eligibility criteria for 2025 are as follows.
1. Age Requirement – You and your partner must be aged 18 or over.
2. Relationship Requirement – You must be married with your UK partner/spouse. Your marriage must be legally recognized in the UK. You must also provide evidence to establish that your relationship is genuine and subsisting and you intend to live permanently together in the UK. Any previous relationship you and/or your partner were in must have broken permanently.
3. Immigration Status of Your Partner – Your partner must be one of the following:
- A British or an Irish citizen
- Settled in the UK,
- Someone with pre-settled status under the EUSS,
- Someone holding a Turkish businessperson or Turkish worker visa,
- Someone with refugee status or humanitarian protection.
Your partner/spouse must be present and settled in the UK, however if you and your spouse are travelling together to the UK, then they are considered to be present and settled for the purpose of this application.
4. Financial Requirement – Financial requirement is also referred as minimum income requirement (MIR). You must demonstrate that you, your partner, and dependent children (if any) can meet your financial requirement without relying on public funds. Financial requirements in 2025 can be met by –
- Earnings from employment for last 6 months;
- Earnings from employment for last 12 months, if the sponsor is not employed for 6 months with their current employer;
- Non-employment income – if you receive hourly wages;
- Self-employment;
- Company directors;
- Pension;
- Rental income;
- Overseas employment of your spouse if you both are returning to the UK;
- Overseas self-employment or income from company earnings if you both are returning to the UK;
- Earnings before maternity pay;
- Savings of £88500 for 6 months and if your initial status was granted before 11 April 2024 then savings of £62,500;
- Gifts held as savings, money received after sale or asset such as property, bond, shares, etc
- Grants or stipends
You can combine some of the above sources to meet the financial requirement, however not all of them can be combined.
Note that, if you are applying from outside the UK, only the earnings of the sponsor can be considered. On the other hand, if you are in the UK on another visa or spouse visa and working, you can combine your income/savings with your partner's income/savings to meet the financial requirement.
In 2025, the minimum gross annual income threshold is £29,000 and applicants who submitted their initial application before 11 April 2024 they only need to provide income of £18600 and additional for each child. However, £29000 income is inclusive of dependent children after 11 April 2024. If you are going to meet the financial requirement through cash savings alone, then you and/or your partner must have at least £88,500 or £62,500 if your initial grant was before 11 April 2024.
5. Maintenance and Accommodation requirement – Where the sponsor is in receipt of certain benefits such as carers allowance, disability living allowance or PIP, etcetera does not need to meet the financial requirement and rather need to prove that after the payment of rent and council tax from their net income through benefits or other sources, they are left with an amount above income support allowance for the family of same size.
6. Adequate Accommodation Requirement – You must prove that there will be adequate accommodation for you, your partner, and children in the UK. The accommodation must be rented, provided by family or friends or owned by you or your partner. It must not lead to overcrowding or contravene public health regulation.
7. English Language Requirement – Unless exempt, you must prove that you have proficiency in the English language. To prove this, you need to pass an approved English language test and demonstrate your competence in the English language to at least CEFR level A1 if it is your initial application or level A2 if it is your extension application.
If you are a national of a country where English is the majority spoken language, you meet the English language requirement automatically.
If you have a degree or above-level education taught in English, you might automatically meet the English language requirement by providing ECCTIS statements
Prepare the supporting documents
Once you have checked that you meet the eligibility requirements, the next step is to prepare the supporting documents. Here is the list of documents that include but are not limited to the following:
- Your current passport and previous passports or travel documents to prove your identity and nationality.
- Documents such as a marriage or civil partnership certificate to prove your relationship with the UK partner.
- Documents such as shared bills, photographs, and correspondences to prove your relationship is genuine and subsisting.
- You need to submit a copy of the UK partner's British passport, settled status (ILR), limited leave to remain, or Biometric Residence Permit, depending on their immigration status.
- Documents to prove that you meet financial requirement.
- Tenancy or ownership documents to prove accommodation details.
- Certificate at CEFR A1 level or higher from an approved SELT centre to prove your proficiency in the English language.
- A medical certificate to prove that you are free from TB (if applicable).
- Sponsorship undertaking completed and signed by your sponsor;
- Translated copies of documents that are not in English or Welsh.
You may have to submit more documents depending on your circumstances.
1. Apply Online
The application for the UK spouse visa process is to apply online on GOV.UK. You need to pay the application fee of £1,938 per applicant if you are applying for entry clearance from outside the UK. If you are applying to switch to a UK spouse visa from inside the UK, you need to pay the application fee of £1,321 per applicant.
You also need to pay the immigration health surcharge of £1,035 per year, therefore you will pay £2587.50 for 30 months (£1035 x 2.5) or £3105 (1035 x 3) for 33 months entry clearance.
2. Enroll Your Biometrics
You need to schedule an appointment at the UKVCAS (UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service) center if you are applying from inside the UK. If you are applying from outside the UK, the same appointment needs to be made at a VAC (visa application center) in your country.
On the date of appointment, you need to enroll your biometric information (photograph and fingerprints) at the UKVCAS or VAC.
3. Wait for the Decision
It should usually take 8 weeks if you are applying from inside the UK and 12 weeks if applying from outside the UK.
It may take longer depending on your circumstances.
You can opt for 'super priority' service when applying from inside the UK to get a decision at the end of the next working day inside the UK or 'priority' from outside the UK to receive decision within 4 to 6 weeks. There are additional fees for these services.
4. Receive a Decision
If the Home Office is satisfied with the information and evidence submitted, you will get an email and a letter confirming you have been granted a UK spouse visa. You must apply for your E-Visa to check you have been granted everything correctly, if not then you need to contact the Home Office to correct any errors.
Conclusion
Joining your life partner and living with them is an important decision. Hence, you should ensure you meet the eligibility requirements fully. Once you are sure that you meet the eligibility criteria, you should gather the necessary documents to prove your relationship, financial requirement, English language skills, and other requirements of the visa.
Meeting financial and English language requirements can be challenging. You need to ensure you meet both adequately.
Even though it may look simply to apply for a UK spouse visa in 2025, it is not. It is a complex process and costs highly. Thus, you should take the services of an expert UK immigration lawyer.