Spouse visa financial requirement: the £29,000 rule explained

The financial requirement is the rule most likely to decide a partner visa application. In short: most new applicants must show the sponsor has a gross income of £29,000 a year, or savings that make up the difference, proved in the exact form the rules specify.

The £29,000 rule

Since 11 April 2024, anyone making a first application on the partner route must show a minimum gross annual income of £29,000. Unlike the old rule there are no extra amounts for children: the figure is £29,000 whether or not children are included. The government planned further rises, paused them, and asked the Migration Advisory Committee to review the level. The MAC reported in June 2025 recommending a lower range; at the date of this page the threshold remains £29,000 and no change has been brought into the rules. We update this page when that changes.

Who keeps the £18,600 threshold

If you applied for, or were granted, a fiancé or partner visa before 11 April 2024 and are applying to extend or settle on the same route, you stay on the old rule: £18,600, plus £3,800 for the first non-British child and £2,400 for each further child, and the old savings formula based on those figures.

What income counts

• Salaried or non-salaried employment of the sponsor: six months with the same employer at the required level, or twelve months of earnings adding up to it where the job is newer or has changed (Category A and B).
• Non-employment income such as rent, dividends or interest (Category C).
• Cash savings above £16,000, held for six months (Category D).
• Pension income (Category E).
• Self-employment or directorship of a specified limited company, using the last full financial year or an average of the last two (Category F and G).

The applicant's own income counts only if they are in the UK with permission to work. Overseas income of the sponsor counts only where the sponsor is returning to the UK with you and has a job offer starting within three months that meets the threshold.

Savings

The formula is £16,000 plus two and a half times the shortfall. No income at all: £16,000 plus 2.5 x £29,000, which is £88,500. A sponsor earning £24,000: the gap is £5,000, so £16,000 plus £12,500, which is £28,500 in savings alongside the income. Savings must be in cash, in the names of either or both of you, held for six months, and their source explained. At the settlement stage the multiplier drops away: £16,000 plus the shortfall itself. Our savings route guide goes through the evidence.

Adequate maintenance instead

If the sponsor receives Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance or certain other benefits, the £29,000 rule is replaced by an adequate maintenance test: income after housing costs at least equal to what a family of your size would receive on income support. Lower, but it needs careful arithmetic.

Proving it

The rules in Appendix FM-SE specify the documents to the letter: payslips and bank statements covering the same six months, with the salary visible going in; an employer letter with specified contents; for the self-employed, tax returns, accounts and business bank statements for the right year. A missing or mismatched document is a refusal, regardless of the real income. This is where most refusals we see originate.

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