Your Essential Guide to UK Partner Visas in 2026
Section 1: Intro
Welcome, I’m glad you’re here. I expect you’ve done some reading already – maybe a little, maybe a lot – so I’ll keep my intro brief.
First up: if you’re stressed, it’s because this is stressful, and there’s no point pretending it isn’t.
Is it fair to say this is the most important thing in your life right now? And, at the same time, the system you have to work with is fiendishly complex, especially for first-timers.
Those two things – the importance plus the complexity – are the perfect recipe for a whole lotta stress. It’s no wonder the cortisol is flowing.
A solicitor can help, and many will do a very competent job of reviewing evidence and processing applications, although it can all feel a bit… impersonal.
If you want a solicitor who can do all the above, and also understand the human side, take on the things keeping you awake at 3am, and make the whole thing feel a lot calmer – you’re in the right place.
Start by reading my essential guide below, and if you’d like my support, please get in touch – I’ll be pleased to hear from you.
You and Your Partner
‘Partner visa’ is an umbrella term covering various romantic relationships with Brits (and UK settled people).
If you’re married or in a civil partnership, you might call it a spouse visa. There’s also the unmarried partner visa, which applies where a couple has been in a relationship for at least two years. Finally, there’s the fiancé(e) visa, which applies where the couple is engaged and want to marry or enter into their civil partnership in the UK.
This is all just shorthand, really, as everyone above will be applying for a UK partner visa under Appendix FM.
The Joys of Appendix FM (and FM-SE)
FM stands for Family Migration. Appendix FM is the delightful bit of the Immigration Rules which governs partner visas, among other things. It’s where you’ll find the requirements for the visa, all in one not-very-accessible place.
FM-SE is like the evil twin. SE stands for Specified Evidence, and this appendix sets out rules to be followed regarding your evidence.
The are also Home Office guidance documents, which are undoubtedly helpful, including this one for relationships and this one for finances.
Section 2: Requirements for Your Visa
In this section, I’ll go through each requirement and the evidence you need to meet them. I’ll weave in some real-life examples where helpful.
1. Relationship Requirement
Regardless of whether you’re married, unmarried, or planning to be married, you will need to prove that your relationship is “genuine and subsisting”.
Genuine means real, subsisting means continuing at the time of application.
If you are married or in a civil partnership, your certificate is essential evidence. You should also include evidence of cohabitation, if you have cohabited, or an explanation as to why you haven’t. When couples haven’t lived together, it’s commonly for immigration reasons (why else would you be applying for the visa, right?!), but it could also be for work or study.
Cohabitation evidence is more weighty for unmarried partners, who must demonstrate a relationship which has been ongoing for at least two years.
Fiancé(e)s should include evidence of their intention to marry, such as enquiries or a booking with a UK registry office.
If anyone has been married before, you should include the divorce certificate.
You can include other stuff: photos, call logs, messages, evidence of financial transfers, statements, etc. But just be careful – if it’s easy to fake it carries less weight, or at least that’s the Home Office attitude. This kind of evidence is what I call ‘nice-to-have’, but it should be included in addition to the more substantive stuff, not instead of.
I do love looking at photos, though, especially the wedding snaps!
2. Financial Requirement
Everybody’s favourite… not.
The purpose of this is to prove that you can support yourselves as a couple in the UK without relying on welfare. That’s broadly fair enough I think, as a concept, but proving it has become unnecessarily complicated.
For first-timers, the threshold is currently £29,000 per year, before tax. If you made a first application before 11 April 2024, when the threshold was £18,600, that same threshold will continue to apply throughout your partner visa journey, up to and including your application for ILR.
There are several ways to meet the financial requirement, some of which can be combined with each other, and some of which can’t.
Employment Income
The most common I come across is, of course, employment income, which is split into salaried and non-salaried employment.
Salaried is where the number at the bottom of your payslip does not change month-on-month. Your salary is probably expressed as an annual figure rather than an hourly wage.
Non-salaried tends to apply to people on an hourly wage, whose hours and shift patterns (and therefore take-home pay) may vary from one payslip to the next. Those in non-salaried employment need to make an extra calculation before determining whether their income meets the threshold.
Note that (generally!) only income earned lawfully in the UK can be counted, so applicants outside the UK must rely solely on their UK-based partner’s income. There’s an exception where the British or settled half of the couple has been overseas too, and is returning to the UK with the applying partner. In that case, the British or settled partner’s income can be counted, even if earned overseas.
Further complexity is then introduced for people not employed by the same employer for the six-month period prior to the date of application. This requires further calculations, which generally look at your actual earnings in the last 12 months, as well as your current salary.
The most straightforward income case will always be one where the British or settled partner earns more than the threshold, in an annual salary, in a job they’ve held for at least six months.
However, I’ve also done plenty of cases which don’t fit that mould, including a Bar Manager with varying hours, and a Pharmacy Assistant with several jobs over the course of a year. It can be done.
Cash Savings
The threshold for using cash savings alone is a high one, at £88,500. However, cash savings can be combined with employment income to meet the financial requirement, following a set calculation.
A current example: my client has around £60k in cash savings, and their British partner earns £17,500 a year. Because of their particular circumstances, we’ve been able to combine these to create an equivalent annual income of more than £29,000, thereby meeting the financial requirement.
Cash savings can also be the result of a property sale or liquidation of investments, although not all investments need be liquidated. I had a family living in Vietnam who sold their home to move to the UK, and relied on the proceeds of the sale to meet the financial requirement for mum’s visa. Certain investment accounts can be relied on without having to cash out the investment.
If you’re doing anything out of the ordinary to meet the requirement through cash savings, you’re strongly advised to take legal advice first. Don’t go selling the roof over your head til you’re sure!
Other Income
There are other bits and pieces you can use. Property rental income is one, pensions another, and there are allowances for dividends and other regular payments. Again, these can be combined with other sources of income, in certain circumstances.
Evidence
There are strict requirements around financial evidence, and these requirements are strict and prescriptive. Did I mention the evidence requirements are strict? They are strict.
This is where Appendix FM-SE should help, but often confuses rather than clarifies.
The 28-day rule is important. Certain dated items of financial evidence must fall within the 28-day period immediately prior to the date of your application. For employment income, this goes for your employer letter, the final bank statement in the series, and the final payslip in the series. For cash savings, it’s the final bank statement in the series.
Take care that you are providing all the mandatory financial evidence, whichever source you’re using.
Is the Threshold Changing?
Before the 2024 election, the previous government indicated an intention to increase the financial requirement up to £38,700, in stages.
The Labour government elected in 2024 put the increase on the back-burner, which is where it has remained. The threshold is £29,000, with no current indication that it will increase again. I’ll let you know if that changes.
3. Accommodation Requirement
You must have somewhere to live in the UK which won’t be “overcrowded”. In the guidance, this means that the couple must have at least one room for their “exclusive occupation”.
This room can be a bedroom or living space, so in practice a studio flat is fine as long as there are no other occupants.
Evidence is important, such as a tenancy agreement or register of title to show ownership, written consent of the estate agent or landlord for the applicant to move in, or written consent of the property owner. I like to include a Rightmove or Zoopla screenshot too, as this often shows the number of bedrooms.
4. Suitability Requirements
These got a bit stricter of late, when all of what’s called ‘Part 9’ was transposed onto Appendix FM as well.
It generally covers criminality, immigration offending, and financial problems such as bankruptcy or debts to the NHS. If you have any concerns in this regard, you should definitely take legal advice – it may not be catastrophic.
5. English Language Requirement
For your first partner visa, you will need to pass a test at A1 level, unless you are a national of a majority-English speaking country, or you have a UK degree or a degree taught in English. Evidence is required.
If you are taking a test, you can use the same test certificate throughout your immigration journey in the UK. B1 level is required for ILR, so it could be worth taking the B1 level test at the outset to avoid you needing to repeat it, if you’re confident enough to do so.
6. TB Test
Unless a country is deemed low-risk, nationals coming from overseas will need a clear TB test certificate with their visa application. See here for the countries where this applies.
Section 3: The Process
To my mind, there are three components to a successful application: the application form, the evidence, and the cover letter.
The application form is completed and submitted online, at which point you pay the fees. More on fees later.
After submission, you are redirected to a third party website to book a biometrics appointment and upload all your evidence, including a cover letter. The cover letter is your opportunity to explain how you meet the requirements and why the visa should be granted.
All evidence must be uploaded by the date of the biometrics appointment. You then attend the appointment, taking with you your current original passport and the QR code sent to you during the submission process.
The biometrics appointment is nothing to worry about. They take a passport-style photo and your fingerprints, there is no interview, and the whole thing is done inside about 15 minutes.
Then the wait begins! Processing times vary, so it’s worth checking the latest standard service times here, under ‘Guides’.
Priority service options are generally available. If you are applying from overseas, it’s normally an extra £500 for a decision within 30 working days. If you are applying in-country, you can pay an extra £1,000 for a decision the next working day following your biometrics appointment.
Section 4: Fees
The fees payable depend on whether you are applying from overseas, or in-country:
Overseas, the visa application fee is £1,938 and the Immigration Health Surcharge is £3,105, representing £1,035 per year of the visa, rounded up to three years for entry clearance.
In the UK, the visa application fee is £1,321 and the Immigration Health Surcharge is £2,587.50, representing £1,035 per year of the visa for a 2.5 year visa.
Section 5: What Happens Next?
You will be notified of the decision on your visa application via email, and the email will also contain instructions on how to access your eVisa. The email and your online eVisa will both clearly state the date of your visa expiry, which you should take careful note of.
A partner visa gives you wide-ranging rights in the UK, including the right to work, study, and rent or buy property. Access to welfare is prohibited unless a specific application is made, known as ‘no recourse to public funds’.
Your visa will last for 2.5 years. If it’s your first partner visa, you can apply to extend it anytime within the 28 days before expiry. Once you’ve accrued five years in the UK, you can then apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
Section 6: How Can I Help?
On receiving your enquiry I’ll normally offer a free phone consultation, mainly to give you an idea of how I work, and also for you to decide whether I’m a good fit. I’ll then provide a quote for my assistance, which will fall within the ranges you can find on my Pricing page.
My quote will be split into two stages. The first stage is a video consultation and written advice, which allows me to carry out a full assessment of your position and chances for success. My written advice will set out my recommended approach to your application. It will also contain a personalised document checklist, with all the evidence I recommend you submit with your application.
After stage 1, you are free to take the advice and complete the application yourself, if you’d like to. Alternatively, you can stick with me for stage 2, under which I will:
Be contactable from start to finish. Throw all your 3am questions my way, even if you think they’re stupid – they’re probably not! I won’t generally respond at 3am, but I will always get back to you as soon as I can.
Register the correct application form for you and enter my details as your legal representative.
Review your completed application form, making changes and suggestions where needed to strengthen your case.
Create a shared drive for you to upload evidence for my review.
Review your evidence, making suggestions where things are missing or not quite right.
Prepare a detailed cover letter, which tells the Home Office the story of your relationship, the methods by which you meet each individual requirement, and why your visa should be granted.
Submit the visa application with you via video call, to ensure nothing goes wrong.
Be on hand to deal with any Home Office queries during the processing time (although we’ll have minimised the risk of this through our application prep!).
Section 7: Conclusions
Applying for a UK partner visa can be stressful. If you’d like a solicitor who is prepared to take some of that stress on for you - get in touch today. I’ll be pleased to her from you.
Would you like to know more about how I can help? Get in touch today and let me take some of the stress on for you – I’ll be pleased to hear from you.