The partner route under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules is how a spouse, civil partner, unmarried partner, or fiancé(e) joins or stays with someone who is British, Irish, or settled in the UK. It is the most heavily evidenced family application in the system, and most refusals turn on the evidence rather than on the genuineness of the relationship itself.
Everything below is drawn from the Immigration Rules and the published Home Office guidance on GOV.UK. Thresholds and fees change, so verify the live pages before you apply.
Who Can Sponsor You
You and your partner must both be 18 or over, and your partner must be one of the following:
- A British or Irish citizen;
- Settled in the UK — for example holding indefinite leave to remain, settled status, or proof of permanent residence;
- From the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status, having started living in the UK before January 1, 2021;
- A holder of a Turkish Businessperson visa or Turkish Worker visa;
- A person with protection status — refugee status or humanitarian protection; or
- A person granted permission to stay as a stateless person before you became their partner.
You and your partner must intend to live together permanently in the UK. If your family member is in the UK temporarily on a work or student visa, the partner route is not the right application — you apply as their dependant instead. Where your partner has settled or pre-settled status, check whether the free EU Settlement Scheme applies before paying a family visa fee.
Proving the Relationship
You must be able to prove one of the following:
- You are in a marriage or civil partnership recognized in the UK;
- You have been living together in a relationship for at least two years when you apply;
- You are a fiancé, fiancée, or proposed civil partner and will marry or enter a civil partnership within six months of arriving; or
- You have been in a relationship for at least two years but cannot live together — for example because you work or study in different places, or because it is not accepted in your culture.
What counts as evidence. Documents should come from a government body, a bank, a landlord, a utility provider, or a medical professional; should confirm the relationship, for example that you live together, share expenses, or are married; and should be less than four years old. Typical examples are a marriage or civil partnership certificate, a tenancy agreement, utility or Council Tax bills, a joint bank statement, or a letter from your doctor or dentist confirming a shared address. Where none of that is available, a one-off bill such as vet’s fees or home repairs, letters confirming you are both on the electoral register at the same address, or student finance paperwork showing a shared address can be used instead.
If you cannot live together, show an ongoing commitment instead: regular communication, financial support for each other, shared care of any children, and time spent together as a couple.
The Financial Requirement
Most partner applicants must show a combined income of at least £29,000 a year, the minimum income requirement. How you prove it depends on the source of the income, and cash savings can be used instead of income in some circumstances. The detailed evidential rules sit in Appendix FM-SE, and they are strict about which documents are acceptable and what period they must cover.
If your partner receives disability or carer’s benefits
There is no minimum income requirement where your partner receives one of the specified benefits — among them Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Carer Support Payment, Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment, Severe Disablement Allowance, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, and certain armed forces and war pension payments. Instead you must show that the family can be housed and supported without additional public funds, and the caseworker weighs your income against your housing costs.
If you first applied before April 11, 2024
If you are extending with the same partner and your first application as a partner — or as a fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner — was made before April 11, 2024, the threshold is £18,600, plus £3,800 a year for the first child and £2,400 a year for each additional child. The total is capped at £29,000. You do not need to show extra money for children who are British or Irish citizens, have pre-settled status, or are permanently settled in the UK.
If you cannot meet the requirement
You may still be able to apply, or to extend, if you have a child in the UK who is a British or Irish citizen or has lived here for seven years and it would be unreasonable to expect them to leave, or if refusing you would breach human rights. The trade-off is important: on that basis, the earliest you can apply to settle is after ten years in the UK rather than five.
The English Language Requirement
For a first partner application you must pass at least level A1 on the CEFR scale in a Secure English Language Test, or prove your English through a degree taught in English — a UK-awarded degree needs only the certificate, while an overseas degree needs an Ecctis assessment. You can choose to take a higher-level test, and if you pass B1 or above you can reuse that result when you apply for settlement after five years.
When you extend after two and a half years, an applicant who passed A1 must pass at least level A2 in speaking and listening. An applicant who passed A2 or higher can reuse the result, provided the certificate has not been withdrawn. Exemptions apply if you are over 65, have a physical or mental condition that prevents you from meeting the requirement, are applying as a child or as an adult dependent relative, or have already been in the UK on a family visa for five years and are extending as a partner or parent. Nationals of a list of majority English-speaking countries do not need to prove their English.
How Long You Get, and Extending
A partner granted permission from outside the UK can stay for up to two years and nine months. Extensions and in-country switches into the route are granted for up to a further two years and six months, and you can extend more than once.
Fiancé(e)s and proposed civil partners are granted six months and cannot work or study during the engagement. After the marriage or civil partnership, you apply to extend your stay, and the right to work and study follows a successful application. If you are already in the UK as an unmarried partner and become engaged, do not apply as a fiancé(e): extend on the status you already hold.
Where a partner has protection status and claimed asylum after March 2, 2026, and their permission ends sooner than the standard grant, the family member’s permission ends at the same time as theirs.
Applying, Timing, and Children
Applications are made online, from outside or inside the UK. A fee waiver is available if you cannot pay because you have no place to live and cannot afford one, cannot afford essential living costs, or have a very low income and paying the fee would harm your child’s wellbeing.
Processing times reward a complete application. A decision usually takes about 12 weeks from outside the UK. From inside the UK it usually takes eight weeks if you meet the financial and English language requirements — but about 12 months if you do not.
That gap is the single strongest argument for getting the financial evidence right before you file rather than after.
Children can be added as dependants if they are under 18 when you apply, or were under 18 when first granted permission, and are not living an independent life.
Settlement
The earliest you can apply for indefinite leave to remain is after five continuous years in the UK on a family visa as a partner. Time spent on any other visa does not count, and time spent as a fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner does not count either. Applicants who could not meet the financial or English language requirements and were granted on another basis are normally on a ten-year route instead.
Where These Applications Go Wrong
Refusals in this category are rarely about whether a couple is really a couple. They are about specified evidence: payslips without the matching bank statements, income calculated over the wrong period, savings held for too short a time, documents older than the permitted window, or an application filed under the wrong sub-category. Build the evidence pack against the published requirements one line at a time, and check every date.
