Overview
The financial requirement decides more spouse visa cases than any other rule, and it refuses more genuine couples than any other rule. The test is not simply whether you earn enough. It is whether the right person earns the right amount from the right source, evidenced in exactly the form the rules demand. Each part of that sentence has refused someone.
This guide explains the current thresholds, who they apply to, what income counts and where the traps are.
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The Current Threshold: 29,000 Gbp
For most partner applications you and your partner must show a combined gross annual income of at least £29,000.00. This applies to first applications, and to extensions and switches unless a transitional rule protects you.
The Transitional Rule: Couples Who Applied Before 11 April 2024
If you first applied as a partner before 11 April 2024, including as a fiance, fiancee or proposed civil partner, and you are extending with the same partner, the threshold remains £18,600.00. You must also show additional amounts for children who are not British, Irish, settled or holding pre-settled status: £3,800.00 for the first child and £2,400.00 for each further child. Whatever the arithmetic produces, you never need to show more than £29,000.00.
When No Minimum Income Applies: The Benefits Exemption
If your partner receives any of the specified disability or carer's benefits, the minimum income requirement does not apply. The list includes Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Child and Adult Disability Payment and several armed forces and industrial injuries benefits. Instead you must show adequate maintenance: that your income and housing costs leave your household with enough to live on without additional public funds. Adequate maintenance has its own case law and calculation method and is not a soft option; the caseworker will do the sums.
What Counts As Income
- Employment income before tax and National Insurance, but only income earned in the UK in most categories
- Self-employment or director income, taken from your Self Assessment position and based on at least the last 6 months counting back from the application date
- Cash savings above £16,000.00
- Pension income
- Non-work income such as property rental or dividends
Income sources can be combined in defined ways, and maternity or paternity leave has its own provisions. The combining rules are technical and unforgiving; this is where professional preparation earns its fee.
Using Savings
Savings above £16,000.00 can meet or top up the requirement. The rules convert savings to notional income using a formula that depends on the length of leave applied for, and the funds must generally have been held, and be evidenced, in the required manner.
The Evidence Format: Where Genuine Applications Fail
For salaried employment you will normally provide 6 months of payslips counting back from the application date, bank statements showing the salary arriving, and an employer letter on headed paper confirming the employment, the role, the contract type, the salary, how long it has been paid, and that the payslips are genuine. Miss an element and the application is at risk regardless of the truth. Our documents and evidence guide covers the full checklist, and checking this format is a core part of every application we prepare.
If You Cannot Meet The Requirement
Options exist, but they must be chosen deliberately:
- Wait and apply when the evidence is in place, if your status allows
- Use savings to bridge a shortfall
- Rely on the benefits exemption where it applies
- Raise exceptional circumstances where refusal would cause unjustifiably harsh consequences for you, your partner or a child, engaging Article 8. Success normally places you on the 10-year route to settlement rather than the 5-year route.
If you do not meet the financial requirement and succeed on the human rights basis, the earliest you can settle is after 10 years. That consequence deserves advice before it is accepted.
FAQs
Whose income counts?
For entry clearance, normally your UK partner’s income. For in-country applications, both partners’ UK income can usually count. Overseas income has limited and technical routes in.
We are just short. Can we combine salary and savings?
Often yes, within defined combinations. The calculation depends on your category of income and length of leave sought.
Does the £29,000.00 figure change with children?
Not for standard cases; the child additions apply only within the transitional £18,600.00 regime and are capped at £29,000.00.
Is the threshold going up?
Government policy on the threshold has been under review following the Migration Advisory Committee’s 2025 report. Check the current position before applying; we track changes as they are laid before Parliament.