UK Spouse Visa Financial Requirement

If you want to apply for a UK spouse visa, but you and your partner don’t earn together at least £18,600 per year, your partner’s annual income must be at least £18,600 per year. As a result, the spouse SMS (Short Message Service) will be higher than £29,000 in Spring 2024, then later on it will be £38,700 according to the latest Home Office policy paper 1.

How to meet UK spouse visa financial requirement

Meet the financial requirement for granting a spouse visa; it can be done using your income your savings account or even a combination of these. If you have children, then you will pay more fines for your firstly £3,800 per year, and for the second and all next children you would pay £2,400 per year.

Income requirement for spouse visa

For a spouse visa, your yearly income needs to be at least £18,600. If you’re supporting children too, this amount increases. To demonstrate your income, you can use your salary slips. For those employed at their current job for more than half a year, the recent six months’ salary slips are necessary. However, if your employment is newer than six months or your salary varies, then presenting salary slips from the past year is required.

Other ways to prove your income include:

Income from Employment:

Payslips for the last 6 months
Payslips for the last 12 months
A letter from your employer
P60 form

Self-Employment:

Tax return
Account statements (SA300 or SA302)
HMRC self-employed registration
Personal bank statements for 12 months
Accounts (audited or unaudited)
VAT registration if applicable

Director of a Limited Company:

Company Tax Return (CT600)
Registration documents
Annual accounts
Bank statements for 12 months
Appointment report from Companies House
VAT registration and return if applicable

Cash Savings Over £16,000:

Bank statements for 6 months
Declaration of savings’ source

Pension Income:

Official pension documents
Bank statement showing pension payment

Other Income (e.g., property rental, dividends):

Property deeds for rental income
Bank statements showing rental income
Dividend certificates or vouchers
Bank statements showing dividend income
These documents help prove you meet the financial requirements for a spouse visa.
£62,500 cash savings for spouse visa
The savings are in a bank.
You have had the money for at least 6 months.
The account is with a regulated financial institution.
You provide regular bank statements.
The savings are in cash and can be taken out right away, even if there’s a penalty.
You and/or your partner control the savings, and have done so for 6 months.
The money comes from a legal source.
You have declared where the money came from.

You may prefer saving in a temptation-free environment provided by a fixed-term deposit or ISA. Just make sure that you have access to these accounts quickly.

Another advantage of saving money to meet the financing requirement for a spouse’s visa is that if you have saved enough, you will not have to show that you indeed have a currently ongoing income. In this case, where you are using only cash from savings to meet the required financial amount, you are willing to have £62,500 cash. To calculate the effect of your savings on meeting the financial requirement, you will need to: To calculate the effect of your savings on meeting the financial requirement, you will need to:

Examples of the £16,000 savings to the savings that you have held.

Divide the remaining sum by 2.5 which will give you the number of years (2.5) that your initial spouse will be granted.

For example:

Savings

Amount of savings that can be used

Amount of annual income from other sources needed

£62,500

(62500 – 16000) ÷ 2.5 = £18,600

£0

£40,500

(40500 – 16000) ÷ by 2.5 = £9,800

£8,800

£33,000

(33000 – 16000) ÷ 2.5 = £6,800

£11,800

£25,000

(25000 – 16000) ÷ 2.5 = £3,600

£15,000

£17,500

(17500 – 16000) ÷ 2.5 = £600

£18,000