Spouse visa extension and ILR solicitors

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We prepare spouse visa extension (FLR M) and indefinite leave to remain applications at a fixed fee from £1,000 plus VAT, with a solicitor checking the income, English and residence requirements before you apply. A spouse or partner visa is the first step on a five-year route. After 30 months you apply to extend for a further 30 months; after five years on the route you apply for indefinite leave to remain. Each application repeats the core requirements, so the evidence you keep during the visa decides how easy the next stage is.

Timing

Apply for the extension in the 28 days before your current visa expires, and in any case before it expires. Your permission continues on the same terms while the Home Office decides. Applying late, even by a day, breaks continuous leave and can put you back to the start of the route.

The extension (FLR(M))

Relationship still genuine and continuing: evidence of living together across the 30 months, with six or more joint or individually addressed items spread over the period.
Financial requirement met again. If your first application was made on or after 11 April 2024, £29,000; if you were on the route before that date, £18,600 plus the child amounts.
English at level A2.
Accommodation adequate.
Fee £1,407 plus £2,587.50 health surcharge (2026 figures). Standard processing up to 8 weeks; super priority available.

Indefinite leave to remain (SET(M))

Five years on the partner route, counted from the grant of the first spouse or partner visa (not the fiancé visa).
Relationship evidence over the full period.
Financial requirement met a third time; at this stage the savings formula is £16,000 plus the shortfall itself, with no multiplier.
English at level B1 and a pass in the Life in the UK test.
No fixed limit on time outside the UK. The 180-day rule in Appendix Continuous Residence does not apply to the five-year partner route (it does apply to the ten-year route). Long or frequent absences can still lead the Home Office to ask whether you intend to live together in the UK, so keep a record of trips and the reasons for them. British citizenship has its own absence limits, which matter later.
Fee £3,226 (2026), no health surcharge. Standard processing up to 6 months; priority services available.

Once settled you can work and live in the UK without time limit and apply for British citizenship after a further 12 months (immediately if you are married to a British citizen and have held settlement, subject to residence).

The ten-year route

If at any stage you cannot meet the financial or English requirement, the Home Office may grant leave on the ten-year route instead, where settlement comes after ten years. Switching back to the five-year route is possible once you meet the requirements again. We advise on which route to apply under when the finances are borderline.

Questions people ask

Can I extend if my relationship has ended?

Not as a partner. If the relationship ended because of domestic abuse you can apply for settlement under the domestic violence rules; if your partner has died, under the bereaved partner rules. Otherwise you need another route. Take advice quickly, because your current leave can be curtailed.

My income dropped below the threshold. Can I still extend?

The alternatives are the savings route, a second income source, adequate maintenance where a listed benefit is received, or an application on the ten-year route where refusal would breach your family life. We assess which applies.

Do I need the Life in the UK test for the extension?

No, only for settlement, along with English B1.