UK Family Visas

What is a UK family visa?

A UK family visa is permission for a family member of a British citizen or settled person to live in the UK. It covers partners, fiances, civil partners and dependent children, and it is the legal route to building a family life together in the UK.

Most family visas are granted under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. Appendix FM sets the relationship, financial, English language and suitability requirements, and Appendix FM-SE sets out the evidence each requirement needs. The routes differ in detail, but they share this common framework.

A family visa is different from a Standard Visitor visa. A visitor cannot live in the UK, work, or settle, and cannot switch into a family visa from a visit in most cases. A family visa, by contrast, carries the right to live and work in the UK and leads to settlement.

• What Appendix FM means for UK partner and child visas

The UK family visa routes

The family visa a person needs depends on their relationship to the sponsor and whether they are already married or in a civil partnership. Each route has its own detailed guide; the table below shows which route fits which situation.

The fiance and proposed civil partner routes are short entry clearance visas. The holder comes to the UK to marry or register the partnership within six months, then switches into the spouse or civil partner route to remain. The other routes are granted for an initial period that counts towards settlement.

• UK Spouse Visa: requirements, costs and how to apply
• Unmarried Partner Visa guide
• Child Dependant Visa guide

The relationship requirement

Every partner route requires the relationship to be genuine and subsisting, and the couple to intend to live together permanently in the UK. This is the foundation of a family visa, and it is evidenced rather than assumed.

For a spouse or civil partner route, the couple must be legally married or in a civil partnership recognised in the UK. For the unmarried partner route, the couple must have been in a relationship akin to marriage for at least two years. For the fiance and proposed civil partner routes, the couple must intend to marry or register their partnership within six months of arrival.

Evidence of a genuine relationship typically includes proof of cohabitation, joint finances or correspondence, and a record of the relationship over time. Applications that do not evidence the relationship in the way Appendix FM-SE expects may be refused, so the evidence is built carefully rather than left to a single document.

• Proving your relationship for a UK partner visa

The financial requirement

Most family visa routes require the sponsor to meet a minimum income requirement, so that the couple can support themselves without public funds. The requirement is currently £29,000 a year (as of June 2026). Applicants who were already on the partner route under the earlier £18,600 threshold may continue under transitional arrangements.

The requirement can be met in several ways, not only through a salary. The accepted sources are the sponsor's employment income, self-employment income, non-employment income such as rental, pension income, or qualifying cash savings, and these can sometimes be combined.

Each source has its own evidence rules under Appendix FM-SE, covering the period the income must span and the documents that must support it. The detailed calculation, including how cash savings convert into income and how each category is evidenced, is set out on the dedicated financial requirement guide.

• The UK partner visa financial requirement guide
• Meeting the requirement with cash savings

The English language requirement

Most partner applicants must show knowledge of English to apply for a family visa. The level required at the entry and extension stages is A1, rising to A2 at the extension after the first stage, and B1 by the time of settlement.

The requirement can be met with an approved Secure English Language Test, a degree taught or researched in English, or by being a national of a majority English-speaking country. Applicants aged 65 or over, and those who cannot meet the requirement because of a long-term physical or mental condition, may be exempt.

• The English language requirement for partner and spouse visas

The accommodation requirement

A family visa applicant must show that the couple has adequate accommodation in the UK without overcrowding it or relying on public funds. The accommodation can be owned or rented, and it can be shared with family, provided the couple has exclusive use of at least one room.

Evidence usually includes the tenancy agreement or property deeds, and where relevant a letter from the property owner confirming the couple can live there. Where there is any doubt about overcrowding, an independent property inspection report can confirm the accommodation meets the standard.

• The accommodation requirement for a UK partner visa

How to apply for a UK family visa

A family visa is applied for online, followed by a biometric appointment and the upload of supporting documents. Whether the application is made from inside or outside the UK depends on the route and the applicant's current status.

An applicant outside the UK applies for entry clearance and attends a visa application centre in their country to enrol biometrics. An applicant already in the UK on an eligible visa may be able to switch into a partner route from inside the country, applying for leave to remain without leaving. The fiance and proposed civil partner routes are entry clearance only.

A grant is issued as an eVisa, the digital status that replaced the biometric residence permit for new grants from the end of 2024. The applicant proves their status through their UKVI account rather than a physical card.

• Proof of relationship documents for a partner visa

Family visa fees and processing times

A family visa carries a Home Office application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge, both payable per applicant at the point of application. The fee differs for applications made inside and outside the UK, and dependent children included in the application pay their own fee.

Processing times depend on the route and where the application is made. A standard out-of-country partner application is usually decided within 12 weeks, and a standard in-country application within eight weeks, with priority services available for a faster decision where offered.

• UK visa and immigration fees guide
• UK visa processing times guide

From a family visa to settlement and citizenship

The partner routes lead to settlement after five years in the UK on the route. The five years are usually granted in two stages, an initial visa and an extension, before the applicant becomes eligible for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

At the five-year point, the applicant applies for settlement on the family route, meeting the continuous residence, Life in the UK and English requirements. Settlement removes the time limit on their stay, and most people can then apply for British citizenship, with partners of British citizens able to apply as soon as they hold settlement.

• Indefinite Leave to Remain on the family route
• Extending a spouse or partner visa

What happens if a family visa application is refused

A refused family visa application can usually be addressed with a fresh application, once the refusal reason is understood. The refusal letter sets out the ground, which is the starting point for the next step.

Common grounds include an unmet financial requirement, gaps in the relationship evidence, or a missing English language result. Many of these are answered by a corrected and better-evidenced fresh application that supplies what the first application lacked.

Where the issue is the financial requirement or the relationship evidence, the fresh application is built to present the income or the relationship in the form the rules require. The right next step depends on the specific ground, and on whether the applicant is inside or outside the UK.

• Building stronger relationship evidence

Cost and timeline in practice

The examples below show how a family visa application tends to come together. They are anonymised and indicative, given as ranges, and are not a quote for any individual application.

A couple married abroad applied for a spouse visa from outside the UK. The sponsor met the financial requirement through employment income, the couple evidenced the relationship through cohabitation and joint finances, and the standard decision arrived within roughly the 12-week out-of-country service standard.

An engaged couple used the fiance route so they could marry in the UK. The applicant entered on a six-month fiance visa, the couple married within that window, and the applicant then switched into the spouse route from inside the UK to begin the five-year path to settlement.

A sponsor who did not meet the income threshold through salary alone combined employment income with qualifying cash savings to reach the requirement. The savings were evidenced over the required holding period, and the application was built around the combined sources.

Glossary

• Appendix FM: the part of the Immigration Rules that governs family life visas, including the relationship, financial and English requirements.
• Appendix FM-SE: the specified evidence rules that set out exactly which documents prove each requirement.
• Financial requirement: the minimum income the sponsor must show, currently £29,000 a year (as of June 2026), met through income or savings.
• Genuine and subsisting: the test that the relationship is real and continuing, and that the couple intend to live together.
• Entry clearance: a visa applied for from outside the UK before travelling.
• Switching: moving from one visa to another from inside the UK without leaving.
• Settlement (ILR): Indefinite Leave to Remain, reached after five years on a partner route, removing the time limit on the stay.

Frequently asked questions about UK family visas

Sources

• GOV.UK – Family visas
• GOV.UK – Immigration Rules: Appendix FM (family members)
• GOV.UK – Family visa: proof of income