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How to organise a wedding in the UK? Which visa will allow you to live together with your British partner in their home country? And what visa is required to qualify for permanent residency and UK citizenship?

Here you will find the details about the different types of family visas to the UK and the main requirements that apply to them.

Visa categories

Marriage visitor visa

It is not a family visa but a type of tourist visa. Created for anyone who wants to get married in the UK.

Issued for up to 6 months, after which the couple must leave the UK. If one partner is a UK citizen or permanent resident, the other partner will still have to leave and apply for a different visa category from their country of residence.

Does not entitle you to work in the UK, start a business or claim welfare benefits.

Fiancé/ Fiancée Visa

Designed for couples where one of the partners is a citizen or permanent resident of the United Kingdom. Requires proof of the authenticity of the relationship and the financial solvency of the partner. You will find the details of the requirements below.

It is issued for a period of 6 months to allow the couple to marry. The visa also allows you to apply for a spousal visa (wife’s visa) without leaving the UK. The time spent in the country on a fiancée visa does not count towards permanent residence status.

You can’t work or study in the UK with this type of visa. You can read more about the fiancée or fiancé visa here.

Spouse/ civil partner visa

Gives rights for a long-term residency to the spouse of a UK citizen or permanent resident.

Issued for 30 months if applied for within the UK or 33 months if applied for through an overseas diplomatic mission. After this period the visa can be extended for a further 30 months.

Allows you to study and work in the UK. Allows you to apply for permanent residency and then citizenship after 5 years of residence in the UK.

Visa for unmarried partners

Suitable for couples who are not planning to get married. One of the partners must be a British citizen or permanent resident. The couple must be in a relationship and have been living together for more than 2 years.

Issued for the same duration as a spouse visa.

Gives the right to work in the United Kingdom. Allows you to apply for permanent residence status in the future.

Family visas eligibility criteria

Your partner must reside in the UK as a citizen or permanent resident.Your English partner must legally reside in the UK. This can be either UK citizenship, indefinite leave to remain, or citizenship of a European Union country or Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, combined with a relocation permit issued under the pre-Brexit resettlement programme.
It is important that the British subject or resident must actually reside in the United Kingdom or has a firm intention to return home and remain living there if the couple’s relationship was built outside the British Isles.
Both partners must be of legal age.Both partners must be at least 18 years of age to apply. Age is confirmed by copies of passports, which are sent together with the official visa application form.
The relationship between partners must be authentic.You need to prove that your relationship is genuine and your intentions are serious. To prove the authenticity of your relationship with a British person, prepare:
- Joint photos and videos, if possible, from different events – holidays at the sea, hiking trips, dates, and dinners together. In other words, it is not enough to show only photos from your engagement or wedding as proof of a strong relationship.
- Old airline and train tickets, travel vouchers, joint hotel bookings – documents that convincingly prove that you have spent time together repeatedly.
- If you have lived together for a long time, you can provide shared rent bills and a joint bank statement.
  You need to show that you know each other well, have met in person and have spent a lot of time together. A remote relationship based solely on social media correspondence and video calls is not sufficient.
  The British immigration authorities may also request a face-to-face meeting with the applicant at which you will be asked questions about certain facts, dates and circumstances of meetings with your British partner. These questions will usually be based on the material you provide as evidence of a strong relationship.
All previous marriages of both partners must be legally annulled.It is necessary to provide documents proving the end of each of the marriages in which both partners were married in the past. Such documents are divorce certificates or death certificates of the previous spouse.
For a spouse visa, the marriage must be recognised by the British authorities.Nuances worth paying attention to here:
- Marriages between blood relatives are forbidden in Britain.
- The religious ceremony can be equivalent to the official registration of marital relations only if it took place on the territory of Great Britain and in the Anglican Church. In other cases, the British authorities do not recognise a church marriage.
The couple must have sufficient funds to live together within the United Kingdom.The minimum combined income of a couple for a spouse visa is now £29,000 per annum. This takes into account wages, various types of pensions, allowances, dividends, interest on deposits, royalties, etc. In short, labour and non-labour income received by the applicant or a British partner on a regular basis.
The income of a spousal visa applicant is only taken into account if:
- funds are earned on a regular basis in the UK;
- application is also submitted domestically.
  To prove a family’s financial solvency, you can use:
  - bank statements;
  - references from the tax authorities;
  - paid receipts;
  - employment contracts and letters from the employer;
  - financial records of a company or partnership that brings one spouse regular income in the form of dividends.
    Savings can also cover all or part of the amount needed. To determine the amount of savings required, multiply the missing annual income by 2.5 and add £16,000. So, if you have no regular income and are relying on savings alone, you should have at least £88,500 in your bank account or your partner’s bank account.
    If you obtained your spousal visa before the new spousal income and savings limits were set (April 2024), to extend your immigration status, a couple will only need to earn £18,600 a year or have £62,500 in savings in deposit accounts.
Spouses must have a place to live together in the UK.It is necessary to provide proof of ownership or a tenancy agreement for the accommodation in which the couple intends to live in the United Kingdom. The accommodation must be of an appropriate quality and of sufficient size to accommodate the couple.
To find out how many rooms and squares of living space your UK spouse should have so that they can move the whole family to their home country without any problems, contact Imperial & Legal for a consultation.
The couple should plan to continue living together in the UK.Intent must be demonstrated by both the applicant and the receiving party. Traditionally, a letter of intent serves as proof. If you are having difficulty drafting such a letter, our immigration lawyers are here to help.
Applicant’s A1 level English proficiency.
Applicant has no criminal or immigration offences.
A negative TB test if the applicant is a resident of one of the countries on the Home Office list.

What kind of government fees and charges will applicants for spousal and fiancée/fiancé visas need to pay?

Barring the financial requirements and the cost of an immigration lawyer, you will also have to pay:

Visa Fee. It is a fee that the applicant must pay during the application process. In case of refusal, this fee is non-refundable, so it is important to consult a lawyer at every stage of the visa application process.
Immigration health surcharge. It is an obligatory fee which allows you to use the British medical system. This fee is paid in advance by the applicant for a long-term visa. The amount depends directly on the duration of the residence permit.

The IMS is £1035 per annum. For spousal visas, the medical fee will be:

£2,587.5 – if the application was made in the British kingdom;
£ 3,105 – if the application was made overseas.

Costs of obtaining a fiancée visa and spouse visa

Visa category	Visa validity period	Visa fee, £	Medical Fee (IHS), £	Total, £
Bride	6 months	1 846	–	1 846
Spouse	33 months if the application is made abroad;	1 846	3 105	4 951
Spouse	30 months if the application is made in the UK	1 048	2 587,5	3 635,5

How do I get married if one partner is British?

If one partner is resident in the UK and the other is not a citizen of the UK or a European country, you can choose one of the following marriage options before you get married:

A wedding in the UK

You will, first, need to obtain a wedding visitor visa or fiancé/fiancée visa to have a wedding in Britain.

A wedding visitor visa means that you will have to leave the country after your marriage. You will only be able to apply for a spouse visa from your home country. The separation from your loved one is slightly offset by the lower cost of the visa, minimal application documents and no additional financial requirements.

The Fiancée Visa to England allows a non-resident partner to apply for a spouse’s visa without leaving the UK. However, it will cost considerably more. There are also financial restrictions, which we discussed earlier. The British spouse must show annual earnings of at least £29,000.

ILR and citizenship on a spousal visa

The standard route to British citizenship usually takes 5 years. It can be divided into the following stages:

Obtaining a spousal visa and moving to England.
After 2.5 years of marriage (if filing domestically) – spousal visa extension.
After 5 years of cohabitation in the UK with a British spouse in the immigration status of wife, husband or civil partner you can apply for permanent residence or ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain).
Immediately after obtaining a residence permit, you apply for British citizenship. Once citizenship is granted, a British passport is issued.

What is required to extend a spouse’s visa and obtain a residence permit

For a foreign spouse to be able to extend the visa and apply for a permanent residence permit, the couple will have to prove after 2.5 and 5 years that they remain married, live together and jointly earn the necessary funds or have the required amount of savings.

When an indefinite residence permit is postponed for ten years

If for any reason you do not fulfil the necessary requirements in terms of income, living conditions, etc., the period of obtaining a residence permit can be extended to 10 years. If the situation has changed and all the requirements are met, you can go back to the 5-year path – if necessary, we will advise our clients in detail on how to do this.

Imperial & Legal lawyers will take care of bureaucratic formalities on their own. Our specialists will help you decide on the type of family visa to England, prepare documents taking into account all the subtleties of the migration law of the country and provide the necessary legal support in obtaining permanent residence and citizenship of Great Britain.

FAQ about English family visas

What is the fundamental difference between a wedding visitor visa and a fiancée/fiancé visa for the UK?

A wedding visitor visa can be obtained not only by the future spouses of British citizens and permanent residents, but also by a foreign bride and groom who just wish to marry in some picturesque place in the United Kingdom.

The Fiancé/Fiancée Visa, as the name suggests, is issued to those foreign nationals travelling to the UK to register a marriage or partnership with a British national or permanent resident card holder.

If an overseas bride or groom has come to England on a wedding visitor visa, she will have to leave the country after 6 months as she can only apply for a spousal visa abroad. Those foreigners who have come to Britain on a bride or groom visa can apply for a spousal visa locally without leaving the Kingdom.

What financial requirements apply to UK spouse and child UK visa applicants?

From April 2024, the amount of minimum combined family income required to qualify for a UK visa is independent of the number of children and is £29,000.

Previously, slightly different rules applied, whereby a couple’s minimum combined income had to increase with each child. These rules continue to apply to those who were granted a visa before April 2024 and are now applying for an extension.

Under the old rules, the minimum combined income for a couple was £18,600. In addition to this, you and your English spouse/partner had to show that you had an additional annual income, calculated as follows:

£3,800 – per child;
£2,400 for the second and each subsequent child.

For example, for a family consisting of an English husband, a foreign wife and 2 minor children who are not British, the joint income required for a spousal visa was £18,600 + £3,800 + £2,400 = £24,800.

You also don’t need to show additional income to the statutory minimum if your children:

have British or Irish citizenship;
have been granted permanent residence in Britain;
were granted provisional settler status under the EU Settlement Scheme, a special programme that allowed people from the European Economic Area and Switzerland to confirm their right to reside in the UK.

What information and documents do an applicant for a spouse visa to the UK need to provide?

British immigration officials need the following information:

Your full name.
Your date of birth.
Your current passport that has a blank page for a new visa, or an appropriate travel document.
Copies of the photo page as well as the visa stamped pages of your previous passports.
A copy of your biometric residency card if you are already in the UK under another immigration category.
Details of your previous visa applications.
Information about your criminal convictions, if any.
Social Security card number, if you have one.
Names, dates of birth and nationality of your parents if you are applying in your home country at one of the visa centres.
Negative TB test results (for residents of some countries).
Information about your English spouse or partner and children, if any.
Evidence of your family’s financial solvency.

All documents not in English must be provided with a certified translation. If you have difficulties in preparing the information required for a spousal visa and correctly filling in the official online forms, please contact our competent specialists for help!

please contact our competent specialists for help! What are the language requirements for UK spousal visa holders if they wish to extend their immigration status?

The UK immigration authorities assume that you have improved your language skills during your stay in the UK, so when renewing your visa, you will need to show that you can speak English at a higher A2 level.

A2, or basic level, means that you can already communicate successfully with other British people and talk about everyday topics. However, this level is not yet high enough for you to do skilled work involving professional communication or to make English-speaking friends.

There are even higher language requirements when applying for permanent resident status (ILR). In this case you will need to show that you have a B1 level of English.

What is a British prenuptial agreement?

By the term ‘prenuptial agreement’, British subjects usually mean not only the agreement that is made between spouses after marriage, but also pre-nuptial and cohabitation agreements.

As the name suggests, a prenuptial agreement is made between a bride and groom before their relationship is officially registered. Although, from a formal point of view, pre-nuptial agreements should not have the force of a full contract, in English courts such documents are often taken into account when deciding on the division of property after divorce. The key conditions that make a pre-nuptial agreement enforceable are that it is voluntary and that the parties understand the full implications of signing it. As there is case law in the British Isles, similar assessment criteria can be applied in court when the terms of a full prenuptial agreement are also challenged.

A cohabitation agreement is concluded between couples who do not plan to officially register their union in any way. Such documents regulate not only the division of property in the event of the end of the relationship, but also the conditions of cohabitation.

#Spouse visa

#UK immigration