Switching from a fiancé visa to a spouse visa (FLR(M))

A fiancé visa gives you six months in the UK to marry. Once you are married, you apply from inside the UK for permission to stay as a spouse. The Home Office form for this is the FLR(M) application (further leave to remain as a partner). It has to be made before the fiancé visa runs out, and until it is granted you still cannot work.

When to apply

Apply after the wedding and before your fiancé visa expires. The date on your visa or eVisa is the deadline, not six months from arrival. Applying even a day late means you are an overstayer and lose the right to switch inside the UK, so leave a margin for gathering documents: we aim to submit at least three to four weeks before the expiry date.

If the wedding cannot go ahead in time, for example because of illness or a delay at the register office, you can still apply, but you must show a good reason and evidence that the marriage will take place within the next six months. That is an extension of the fiancé visa, not the switch, and it needs careful evidence.

What you must show

The FLR(M) application uses the same requirements as the spouse visa, checked again at the date you apply:

• The marriage or civil partnership. The UK marriage certificate.
• A genuine relationship. You are living together in the UK and intend to carry on doing so. Evidence from your months together here helps: joint post, a tenancy in both names, bills.
• The financial requirement. The sponsor's income of £29,000, or savings, or adequate maintenance if they receive a listed benefit. If the fiancé visa was granted before 11 April 2024, the £18,600 threshold still applies. You cannot count the applicant's earnings, as they have not been allowed to work. Our income and savings checker works out the figures.
• Accommodation. The home you now live in. See the accommodation requirement.
• English language. The A1 test you passed for the fiancé visa normally covers this application. The A2 test comes at the next extension, 30 months later. See the English language requirement.

The full list is in our document checklist.

Fees and how long it takes

• Application fee: £1,407.
• Immigration health surcharge: £2,587.50 for the 30 months of the new permission.
• Super priority: £1,000 extra, for a decision usually by the end of the next working day, where offered.

Without priority, an in-country partner application is usually decided within 8 weeks of your identity being confirmed, if you meet the financial and English requirements. Applications that rely on exceptional circumstances take much longer.

While the application is pending

If you applied in time, your fiancé permission continues on the same terms until the decision. That means the work ban continues too: you cannot start a job until the spouse permission is granted. You should not travel outside the UK while it is pending, as leaving withdraws the application.

What you get

Permission as a spouse for 2 years and 6 months, with the right to work and study. After that you extend for another 30 months, and after five years on spouse permission you can apply for settlement. The six months on the fiancé visa do not count towards the five years.

Questions people ask