If you are in the process of (or are planning to) apply for a Spouse Visa to join your partner in the UK, navigating the many immigration rules can seem daunting. One of the most important eligibility requirements which must be satisfied relates to the annual income of you and your partner. In this article, we will outline the key parts of the minimum income rules you need to know, and the documents you will need send to the Home Office.
The financial requirements for individuals applying for a family life with a partner Visa are laid out in Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members under section E-ECP.3.1, and in more detail in Immigration Directorate Instruction Family Migration: Appendix FM Section 1.7 Appendix Financial Requirement. These can be summarised as follows:
You and your partner
If you are applying for a Spouse Visa to join your UK partner, you will need a combined annual income of £18,600 or more. You can include different forms of income to meet the requirement, including money from employment (whether a fixed salary or variable pay), self-employment, a pension, and outside of employment.
Your children
For those with children (i.e. dependants under the age of 18), the Home Office requires you to have an additional income of £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for every other child. If your child was born in the UK, has already settled in the UK permanently, or is a national of the EU, this additional income requirement does not apply.
Evidence of meeting minimum income requirements
For income from employment, you will need to provide the following evidence to the Home Office when submitting your application:
The letter provided by the employer/s should also clarify that the payslips provided as proof of income are genuine.
Under the current immigration rules, savings can also be used to add to your income if they exceed £16,000. If your cash savings are sufficiently high, they can reduce or even remove the need for an annual income. To calculate how much cash savings contribute to the minimum income requirements, the Home Office provides a formula. You first need to work out the lowest amount of cash savings you have held in the past six months, then minus £16,000 from that amount and divide the answer by 2.5. Using this formula, we can calculate the following:
As such, savings of £65,000 will more than meet the minimum income requirement (without children) of £18,600.
When submitting your application, as evidence of your cash savings, you will be asked to provide savings account statements showing the money has have been held by you or your partner for at least six months.
Yes, if your UK sponsoring partner is in receipt of benefits, these can be used to contribute towards meeting the financial requirements. These may include one or more of the following:
Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to use income from self-employment (from you or your partner, or both), whether in whole or part towards meeting the Spouse Visa financial requirement. The Home Office will typically ask for evidence of self-employment income from the last financial year. For company directors, this will mean providing a Company Tax Return (CT600) and company accounts. Those classed as sole-traders and partnerships will be asked to supply HMRC self-assessment statements as proof of income.
The detailed guidance used by Home Office officials to determine if an applicant for a Spouse Visa meets the financial requirements is 79 pages long. Given the number of rules which apply, it is understandable that some applicants will be unsure if they meet the minimum income threshold. For this reason, if you are unsure, it is highly advisable to seek the advice of an immigration law practitioner who will be able to confirm your exact situation and recommend a solution if any problems are discovered. Doing so will provide considerable peace of mind that when your application is submitted, you have the very best chance of success.
Based in Birmingham and London, UK Migration Lawyers is one of Britain’s premier immigration law firms. Please phone our office on 0121 777 7715 to make an appointment with one of our immigration Solicitors.
