What are my Options if I Don’t Meet the Financial Income Requirement for a Spouse Visa?
The planned changes to the Family Visa financial requirement have been widely publicised. After 11 April 2024, our Immigration Solicitors expect to receive more inquiries about your options if you don’t meet the financial requirement for a Family Visa or Spouse Visa.
In this blog, our specialist Spouse Visa Solicitors run through the timeline for the changes to the Family Visa financial requirement and your options if you are going to struggle to meet the relevant financial requirement.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Lawyers and Spouse Visa Solicitors
For Spouse Visa immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi
The Family Visa financial requirement timeline for change
The financial requirement timeline for change is in 4 stages:
| 1 | Up to 11 April 2024 | The financial requirement for a Family Visa is an income of £18,600 unless you are bringing dependant non-British children with you. For your first child, you need to prove an additional income of £3,800 and an extra £2,400 for each additional child |
| 2 | 11 April 2024 | The minimum income requirement rises from £18,600 to £29,000 but you will no longer have to prove extra income if you are bringing dependant non-British children with you |
| 3 | Mid to late 2024 | The minimum income requirement for the Family Visa and Spouse Visa increases from £29,000 to £34,500 |
| 4 | Early 2025 | The minimum income requirement rises from £34,500 to £38,700 |
The obvious advice is that where possible apply for your Family Visa (Spouse Visa, Unmarried Partner Visa or Civil Partner Visa) before 11 April if you are an applicant without dependent children and you and your sponsoring partner's income falls below £29,000 or if you know you will have difficulty in proving £29,000 of gross income.
Likewise, if you are struggling to meet the current £18,600 financial requirement, our Spouse Visa Solicitors recommend that you consider your options now rather than wait until after 11 April when the Home Office is likely to be inundated by requests to treat a Family Visa application as exceptional and grant it even though the financial requirement is not met.
Remember, if you are in the UK on a Spouse Visa before 11 April and you apply to extend your Family Visa or apply for indefinite leave to remain, your application is considered on the financial requirement that applied to you at the time you secured your Family Visa. That is a massive advantage if you know that you and your spouse or partner will struggle to meet a financial requirement of £29,000, £34,500 or £38,700.
The Spouse Visa financial requirement exemptions
There are 4 ways you can currently secure a Family Visa without meeting the financial requirement. They are:
- Your sponsoring partner receives one of several specified qualifying state benefits. These benefits include Personal Independence Payment, Carer’s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, Attendance Allowance, Armed Forces Independence Payment or Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, Constant Attendance Allowance, Mobility Supplement or War Disablement Pension under the War Pensions Scheme and Police Injury Pension
- You have a child in the UK who is a British citizen or has lived in the UK for 7 years and it would be unreasonable for them to leave the UK
- There would be very significant difficulties for you and your partner if you lived together as a couple outside the UK that could not be overcome
- There are exceptional circumstances that could render refusal of your application a breach of your human rights
Immigration Solicitors recommend that we go through your options on how to meet the Family Visa financial requirement. In some scenarios, you may be able to meet the financial requirement through your sponsor combining their salary with pension income or income from other sources. There are many ways in which the financial requirement can be met and the immigration rules are confusing. Likewise, you may think that you meet the financial requirement but unfortunately, not all sources of income can be combined to meet the financial requirement.
For Spouse Visa financial requirement advice call our Spouse Visa Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
If you do not meet the financial requirements for the Family Visa then Immigration Solicitors can look at your alternate visa options. For example, entry on a Skilled Worker Visa, the Health and Care Worker Visa, or Senior or Specialist Worker Visa. Expert immigration legal advice is required as not all visa routes lead to settlement in the UK and British citizenship. Also, immigration rule changes mean that carers and senior carers coming to the UK on Health and Care Worker Visas will not be able to bring dependent children with them.
Exceptional circumstances and Family Visa applications
If you are struggling to meet the Family Visa financial requirement but your circumstances are exceptional the eligibility criteria are not waived entirely. You will still need to meet the general eligibility criteria as well as the requirement that your relationship with your spouse or partner is genuine and subsisting.
The test of exceptional circumstances is a high one so that is why Spouse Visa Solicitors suggest you explore the various ways in which the financial requirement can be met before you try to argue that your application is exceptional.
To meet the exceptional circumstances test you need to show that if the Home Office refuses your Family Visa application the refusal would breach your rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This relates to the right to private and family life. You need to be able to establish that the refusal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for you, your partner, or a relevant child.
The exceptional route does not mean that you escape the financial requirement entirely. The immigration rules say that if you cannot meet the financial requirement under the rules, but your circumstances are exceptional and a refusal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences, then the Home Office caseworker must consider whether the financial requirement is met by taking into account the extra sources of income, financial support or funds detailed in the immigration rules Appendix FM. These are:
- A credible guarantee of sustainable financial support to you or your partner from a third party
- Credible prospective earnings from the sustainable employment or self-employment of you or your partner
- Any other credible and reliable source of income or funds that you or your partner have available at the date of application or will become available during the period of the Family Visa you are applying for
There is a but if you succeed on a Family Visa application using the exceptional circumstances criteria. Instead of being able to apply for indefinite leave to remain after meeting a 5-year residence requirement, your residence requirement is 10 years before you can apply to settle. You can switch to the 5-year indefinite leave to remain route if you later can show that you meet the financial requirement.
Are your family circumstances exceptional?
Everyone is inclined to think that their family circumstances qualify as exceptional. Maybe it is because your partner is only £500 short of meeting the financial requirement or because you want your child to be educated in the UK and they are coming up to age 5. These sorts of reasons are not likely to be classed as exceptional by Home Office officials. Our Spouse Visa Solicitors have substantial experience in arguing human rights claims and exceptional circumstances so can advise you on whether this route is a realistic option for you to enter the UK on a Family Visa and advise on the full range of options.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Lawyers and Spouse Visa Solicitors
For Spouse Visa immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi
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