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You are in the right place if you want to apply for a UK spouse visa from abroad, extend a spouse visa from inside the UK, switch into the partner route, or prepare for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), including under the proposed new settlement rules. We also help couples who are not married but have lived together for at least two years.

If you are only looking for how much the visa costs, read our spouse visa cost guide. If you are weighing up a regulated adviser against a solicitor, read solicitor or IAA adviser.

What the UK partner visa is

The UK partner visa lets the husband, wife, civil partner or long-term partner of a British citizen or a person with settled status live in the UK. The rules sit in Appendix FM. Most people search for it as a spouse visa, family visa or marriage visa, but the main requirements are the same.

The route currently takes five years. You apply for entry clearance first, which gives you permission for about two and a half years. You then apply to extend (further leave to remain as a partner), which gives another two and a half years. After that you can apply for ILR under the settlement rules in force when you apply. The government has announced proposed Earned Settlement changes (explained below), so we check which rules apply to you before you apply.

What may change for partners

Under the proposals, the partner of a British citizen would have a recognised British connection and qualify for a five-year pathway to settlement, provided the mandatory standards are met: no criminal record, no outstanding government debt, English at B2, and the Life in the UK test. The published text refers to eligible partners, parents and children of British citizens. It does not list partners of people who hold settled status but are not British citizens. Those applicants may fall under the standard earnings-based pathways, which start at 10 years. The Immigration Rules will confirm this.

A partner who arrives together with the main applicant would settle at the same time. A partner who joins later would complete the same qualifying period. Where couples rely on earnings, a household threshold of £25,142 is proposed, and only one partner could rely on the other.

Time on the partner route counts towards settlement. Time on a visit, student, graduate or Youth Mobility visa would not.

The main requirements

Every partner application is judged on the same core areas.

1. Relationship. You must be in a genuine and subsisting relationship and intend to live together permanently in the UK. Married and civil-partner couples must show the marriage is valid. Unmarried couples must show at least two years of living together in a relationship akin to marriage.

2. Your sponsor's status. Your partner must be a British citizen, hold settled status, or have another qualifying status.

3. Financial requirement. The couple must meet the minimum income requirement or an alternative such as savings or other qualifying income. The current threshold is £29,000 a year for a sponsor working in the UK. How income is counted depends on whether the sponsor is employed, self-employed or relying on savings, which is where applications often go wrong.

4. Accommodation. You must show you will have adequate housing without relying on public funds.

5. English language. At least level A1 for entry clearance, A2 on extension and B1 for ILR, unless an exemption applies. The government proposes B2 in all four components for settlement; no start date has been published.

6. Suitability. Immigration history, criminal record and past refusals are checked.

Why applications are refused

Most refusals we see are for avoidable reasons: missing or inconsistent evidence, income documents that do not match the rules on specified evidence, gaps in cohabitation proof for unmarried couples, and unexplained immigration history. A refusal also stays on your record and must be declared on later applications.

A regulated adviser cannot make a weak case strong. What we can do is check that your evidence is complete, consistent and presented the way the caseworker expects, before you pay the application fee.

How we help

We offer fixed-scope help at each stage. You choose the level of support.

Initial advice. A focused call to assess your eligibility, identify risks and explain next steps. £60 to £125.

Document check. We review your evidence against the Immigration Rules and tell you what is missing or weak. £200 to £700 depending on complexity.

Full application support. We prepare the application, review the financial and relationship evidence, complete the forms and submit with you. Family applications are £400 to £1,050 for our professional fee, depending on the case.

Our fee is separate from the Home Office fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge. We agree our scope and price in writing before work starts.

Applying from outside the UK

Many of our clients are UK-based sponsors with a partner overseas, in the United States, India, Pakistan, the UAE, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. We advise and represent clients wherever they live, because our Level 1 scope is defined by the type of work, not by location.

If you apply from abroad, you will normally:

• complete the online application and pay the fee and Immigration Health Surcharge;

• book an appointment at a visa application centre to give biometrics;

• provide a tuberculosis test certificate if you are from a listed country;

• show your English language evidence and your sponsor's financial evidence.

We work with you by video call and email across time zones, so you do not need to be in Cambridge.

Applying from inside the UK

If you are already in the UK, the most common applications are to extend as a partner after about two and a half years, or to switch from another category where the rules allow it. Many people search for this as a spouse visa extension after 2.5 years. It has a different fee from the first application, a lower English language level and a separate set of documents. Timing matters: apply before your current leave expires.

Unmarried partners and fiancé(e)s

If you are not married, the rules are stricter on evidence. You usually need to show two years of living together, with documents that cover the whole period: joint tenancy or mortgage, utility bills in both names, post, bank statements and photographs. Couples who are separated by distance but in a long-term relationship have a harder case, and the reasons for living apart must be explained clearly.

If you plan to marry in the UK, the fiancé(e) route gives six months' permission to marry and then switch to a partner visa. We can advise on which is better for you.

Costs, in outline

The government charges separately from us. As a guide to a full partner route to settlement, the Home Office fees in the cost guide total about £12,390 per applicant over five years, including the health surcharge. Our own fees are on this page. The full breakdown, with tables, is in the spouse visa cost guide.

What we do not do

We do not guarantee any outcome, and we do not promise a decision date, because decisions are made by the Home Office.