Seven questions make a tracker for your situation: every document, the dates it must fall between, and each rule to check it against.
The £29,000 income rule, the £2,064 fee and the 2026 test lists, checked 7 November 2026.
Free, with no account needed. Try Ana and Tom’s tracker
Married. Tom earns £34,000 and has been in his job three years. Ana applies from São Paulo.
A refusal loses the visa fee and months of waiting; only the health surcharge comes back. An immigration adviser registered with the Immigration Advice Authority reads your whole bundle against the rules and tells you, in writing, what to fix.
Asking is free. We’re agreeing the advisers now, and will reply within a working day with a date. Nothing is charged until you agree it.
A partner visa lets someone join their husband, wife, civil partner, fiancé or long-term partner who is British, Irish or settled in the UK. It lasts 33 months from outside the UK, then a 30-month extension, then settlement. The couple must be 18 or over, have met in person, and mean to live together in the UK (GOV.UK).
| Income | £29,000 a year before tax, with nothing extra for children. £18,600 if you’re extending a visa first granted before 11 April 2024. |
|---|---|
| Savings | Anything over £16,000 counts, divided by 2.5. Savings alone: £88,500. |
| Fee | £2,064 from outside the UK, £1,407 inside, plus the health surcharge of £1,035 a year. |
| English | A1 speaking and listening to come, A2 to extend, B1 to settle (B2 from 26 March 2027). |
| TB test | If they’ve lived in one of 102 listed countries for the last six months. |
| Decision | About 12 weeks from outside the UK, 8 weeks inside. You get an eVisa, not a card. |
The evidence each kind of income needs is set out in Appendix FM-SE, and caseworkers refuse for a missing page as readily as for a missing pound. The most recent payslip and bank statement must be dated within 28 days of the day you apply.
More in the spouse visa rules, answered: payslips, savings, the employer’s letter, English and TB tests, fees and timings, each with the GOV.UK page it comes from.
£29,000 a year before tax, from the UK partner’s income (or both of you, if the applying partner already works in the UK), with no extra for children. Couples first granted before 11 April 2024 who are extending with the same partner stay on the old £18,600 rule. Savings count too: savings alone need to reach £88,500.
From outside the UK the fee is £2,064, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge of £3,105 for the 33-month visa: £5,169 in all. Extending inside the UK costs £1,407 plus £2,587.50. Priority decisions cost £500 or £1,000 more where offered.
Six months of payslips if the UK partner has been with the same employer for six months or more, with bank statements for the same months showing the pay going in. The most recent must be dated no more than 28 days before you apply. The checklist works out those dates from the day you plan to apply.
From outside the UK, an A1 speaking and listening test from an approved provider, taken within the last two years. For the extension it’s A2. Nationals of 17 mostly English-speaking countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica, and people with a degree taught in English, don’t need a test.
No. Information, not immigration advice. It lists the documents the Immigration Rules and GOV.UK ask for in the situation you describe, and never says whether you meet a requirement. Only a regulated adviser or a solicitor can tell you that. The figures were last checked on 7 November 2026.
In your browser, so it’s there when you come back, and we never see it. If you want it on your phone and laptop too, save it to an account with just your email: no password, and the tracker and any scans you attach are encrypted. You can download everything or delete the account at any time.
Proposed, not yet in the rules. The government’s November 2026 response on “earned settlement” keeps a five-year route for partners of British citizens, with new conditions: B2 English, no specified public funds, and a household income of at least £25,142. From 26 March 2027 the English level for settlement rises from B1 to B2. None of this changes what you send for your first visa.