Proposed Civil Partner Visa UK

Recent and Upcoming Changes

• On 11 April 2024 the Minimum Income Requirement for partner and proposed partner applications rose to £29,000 gross per year.
• The previous £18,600 floor was replaced, with transitional protection for applicants already in the five year route.
• The £29,000 figure applies to the Proposed Civil Partner Visa in the same way as to the Fiancé and Partner routes.
• The May 2025 Immigration White Paper, “Restoring Control over the Immigration System”, proposed a shift to an earned settlement framework. Under that framework the qualifying residence period for Indefinite Leave to Remain would double from five to ten years on many routes.
• The reform would affect the onward Civil Partner Visa stage, not the six month bridging visa itself.

Who Can Apply

The Proposed Civil Partner Visa is for an overseas national engaged to a qualifying UK sponsor where the couple intend to register a civil partnership in the UK during the six month stay.

You can apply if:

• You and your sponsor are both aged 18 or over at the date of application.
• You intend to register the civil partnership within the six months of the visa.
• You intend to live together permanently in the UK afterwards.
• Your sponsor is a British citizen, a person with Indefinite Leave to Remain or Indefinite Leave to Enter, a person with settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, a qualifying pre-settled status holder, a refugee, or a person with humanitarian protection.

The route is open equally to same sex and opposite sex couples, since opposite sex civil partnerships became available in England and Wales on 2 December 2019.

Couples already in a subsisting civil partnership, whether registered in the UK or in a jurisdiction recognised under Schedule 20 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, should apply under the Civil Partner Visa instead.

Proposed Civil Partner Visa Requirements

You must satisfy each of the following to be granted a Proposed Civil Partner Visa.

• Both parties aged 18 or over at the date of application.
• Genuine and subsisting relationship, with a settled intention to live together permanently in the UK after registration.
• Both parties legally free to form a civil partnership, with divorce, dissolution, annulment or death evidence for any prior marriages or partnerships.
• Genuine intention to register the civil partnership within the six month visa.
• Financial requirement of £29,000 combined gross income, £88,500 cash savings, or a qualifying combination under Appendix FM-SE.
• English language at CEFR level A1 in speaking and listening, unless exempt.
• Adequate accommodation in the UK that the couple can occupy exclusively, without recourse to public funds.
• You have not broken any laws.
• Tuberculosis test certificate where applying from a country on the Home Office TB screening list.
• Application from outside the UK only, with no in-country switch into this route.

The Genuine Intention to Register Within Six Months

You must demonstrate that you have taken concrete steps to register the civil partnership during the six month visa.

The Home Office UKVI treats this as a question of evidence, not assertion. A strong application includes:

• A provisional booking with a designated register office in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
• Written correspondence confirming the date of notice, ceremony and fees.
• A booking confirmation or written quote for any licensed ceremony venue.
• A short timetable in the covering letter showing when notice will be given, when the 28 day waiting period falls, and when registration is scheduled.

Build a margin into your timetable. The Immigration (Procedure for Marriage) Regulations 2005 require notice to be given at a designated register office, with both parties present, and proof of immigration status produced at the appointment. The waiting period can be extended to 70 days where the Home Office refers the notice for further investigation.

Once the partnership is registered, you must apply in country under section R-LTRP of Appendix FM on form FLR(M) before your six month visa expires. That switch leads to a 30 month grant as a partner and starts the clock to Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK.

The Financial Requirement

You must evidence a combined gross income of at least £29,000 per year, or meet the requirement through savings or a permitted combination.

The requirement sits in paragraph E-ECP.3.1 of Appendix FM, applied through Appendix FM-SE. The £29,000 floor took effect on 11 April 2024 for applicants new to the route.

Income is assessed under Appendix FM-SE Categories A to G:

• Category A: same salaried or non-salaried employment for at least six months.
• Category B: current employment plus twelve months’ earnings history.
• Category C: non-employment income held for at least twelve months.
• Category D: cash savings.
• Category E: pension income received for at least 28 days.
• Categories F and G: self-employment or specified limited company income, over the last full financial year or averaged across the last two.

Cash savings of £88,500 or more, held for six consecutive months in a qualifying account under the parties’ control, satisfy the requirement on their own. That figure is derived from paragraph 11A of Appendix FM-SE: £16,000 plus 2.5 times the £29,000 threshold. Partial savings can be combined with qualifying income.

Evidence must match the category you rely on. Payslips, bank statements, employer letters, tax returns and accountants’ certificates are all prescribed in Appendix FM-SE and will be rejected if they miss a listed element.

Freedom to Form a Civil Partnership

You and your sponsor must each be legally free to form a civil partnership under UK law on the date of application.

This requirement is straightforward in principle but is a recurring cause of refusal.

You must evidence the end of any prior marriage or civil partnership of either party by:

• An original or certified copy of the decree absolute for a prior marriage.
• A dissolution order for a prior civil partnership.
• An annulment order where the earlier union was annulled.
• A death certificate where a former spouse or partner has died.

Where the prior decree was issued outside the UK, the Home Office will look for evidence that it is recognised under the Family Law Act 1986. Recognition is not automatic, and applicants often assume an overseas divorce is effective in the UK when it is not. Where there is any doubt, obtain a declaration of marital status from the Family Court before lodging the application, or take advice on whether the existing decree is sufficient on its face. An unrecognised overseas decree leaves both parties not free to form a civil partnership and leads to refusal under S-EC or the eligibility rules.

The parallel pre-marriage route, the Fiancé Visa, applies the same freedom-to-marry logic in the marriage context.

How Whytecroft Ford Can Help

The Proposed Civil Partner Visa is a document heavy application with little room for error.

The refusals we see most often turn on:

• The £29,000 financial requirement and mismatched Appendix FM-SE evidence.
• Generic or inconsistent relationship evidence.
• Overseas divorce documents that are not recognised in the UK.
• English language certificates from non-approved test centres.

We help with:

• Eligibility assessment and route comparison against the Fiancé Visa and Civil Partner Visa.
• Document audit and evidence preparation tailored to the financial category that fits your facts.
• Drafting of the application and covering letter.
• In country switching applications to the Civil Partner Visa after the partnership is registered, and later steps toward British citizenship.
• Advice on refusal strategy where an earlier application has not succeeded.

Whytecroft Ford’s immigration team is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, registration F201900075. To discuss your application, call +44 (0)208 757 5751, email info@whytecroftford.com, or book a consultation.

Sources 

• UK family visa: proposed civil partner, fiancé or fiancée, GOV.UK
• Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members, GOV.UK
• Marriages and civil partnerships: give notice, GOV.UK

Disclaimer

This guide is published by Whytecroft Ford Ltd for general information only. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor-client or adviser-client relationship. Immigration law is complex and changes frequently; the rules and figures stated here reflect the position at the publication date and are subject to change, including through Statements of Changes that may follow the 2025 White Paper. Application of the Immigration Rules depends on the facts of each case.