Spouse Visa ILR Financial Requirements: Which Rules Apply?

Could you be preparing the right financial documents for the wrong spouse visa settlement threshold?

Nadia’s household was relying on her husband’s employment when he changed jobs. The new contract looked stronger, but it covered only three months.

The financial requirement for partner ILR depends on the applicable rules, your grant history and the income or savings you intend to use. Some applicants remain within transitional provisions. Others use the newer minimum income requirement. Certain specified disability or caring benefits lead to an adequate maintenance assessment instead.

This guide addresses ordinary five-year partner settlement applications. It concentrates on choosing the financial test and evidencing it. For the relationship, residence and wider application, read our five-year spouse visa ILR guide. A clear financial answer starts with the relevant category, rather than the largest figure in a bank account.

Establish the threshold from the application history

The ordinary minimum income requirement for newer partner applications is £29,000. Eligible applicants whose successful first relevant application was made before 11 April 2024 can fall within transitional provisions starting at £18,600, provided the detailed conditions, including continuing with the same partner, are met.

Check the original application and grant, not just the date of the most recent extension. A permission card may not show enough detail. If relying on the transitional position, keep a short note identifying the successful earlier application and the continuity of the partner route.

Our ILR application date guide explains how to reconstruct permission history. The financial assessment should use the same history. Do not select £18,600 simply because you have been married for several years, or £29,000 simply because it is the figure now quoted for new applications. Identify why the relevant provision applies to you.

Check whether children affect a transitional calculation

Under the older transitional framework, an additional amount can be required for relevant dependent children. The current provisions include £3,800 for the first relevant child and £2,400 for each further child, with the transitional income requirement capped at £29,000.

Not every child is included in that calculation. Nationality, settlement and other specified status can affect whether the additional requirement applies. Check the rules against the actual family rather than adding an amount for every child living at home.

Our child ILR or citizenship guide helps separate the children’s immigration decisions. British citizenship for a UK-born child may be relevant where a parent later settles. These status questions can also affect the financial calculation, but do not assume that a pending registration application makes a child British already. Use the status held at the relevant time.

Identify when adequate maintenance applies

Receipt by the sponsoring partner of a specified disability or caring benefit can mean that the minimum income threshold is replaced by an adequate maintenance and accommodation assessment. Personal Independence Payment and Carer’s Allowance are examples, but the exact current list should be checked.

Universal Credit alone is not the same as being within a specified-benefit exemption from the minimum income requirement. Avoid treating all benefits as interchangeable. Establish the award, recipient, relevant period and current entitlement from the appropriate records.

Adequate maintenance is a calculation with evidence requirements. It is not a statement that the family feels able to manage. The household income, relevant housing costs and comparison required by the guidance need to be addressed accurately. If the circumstances do not fit the ordinary financial rules and a human rights argument is needed, that requires appropriate separate advice rather than a routine settlement calculation.

Choose the permitted income category before collecting evidence

Choose the source and category before requesting records. This ordinary-case selector summarises common evidence periods; each source still needs its specified documents and any combination must be permitted.

The ILR documents guide helps organise the resulting pack. A company director within the specified limited-company rules should not assume that ordinary Category A payslips are sufficient. This is why the source needs identifying before the document request goes out.

Keep gross earnings and bank credits in their proper roles

Nadia’s household has an established transitional £18,600 threshold, based on the qualifying successful earlier application and continuing with the same partner. No child addition applies in this illustration. They rely solely on her husband’s permitted salaried employment for the current calculation.

He earned £17,000 a year for nine of the preceding twelve months and £23,000 a year for the final three months, with no gap or other earnings. On these simplified figures, actual gross receipts are £12,750 plus £5,750, totalling £18,500.

His current £23,000 salary exceeds £18,600, but the assumed Category B historical total does not. One new payslip cannot resolve the £100 historical shortfall. They need to assess a lawful later application date or another permitted source, while keeping current permission expiry in view. Waiting is only an option if the whole status and application timetable supports it.

The calculation uses gross earnings. Bank statements trace the corresponding net payments; deductions explain why those credits differ. The employer letter confirms employment, salary, duration and pay history. The supported decision today is that the new contract alone does not establish the requirement. The earlier grant history is evidence of the threshold, not proof that the present earnings test passes.

Use the settlement savings calculation

The savings formula commonly quoted for an initial partner visa is not the settlement formula. Under the relevant partner ILR provisions, the usual 2.5 multiplier for the income shortfall is removed. The £16,000 starting amount remains relevant, with the additional savings covering the applicable shortfall.

Using a fictional straightforward case, suppose the applicable income threshold is £18,600 and there is no income being relied on. The corresponding settlement savings figure is £34,600: £16,000 plus £18,600. If the applicable threshold is £29,000, the comparable figure is £45,000. These illustrations assume that savings alone are permitted and every ownership, source, holding and other condition is met.

Do not treat the illustration as approval of a particular account. Savings usually need the required holding period and evidence of control and source, with specific provisions for certain circumstances. Borrowed money, inaccessible assets and unsupported recent deposits should not simply be presented as qualifying cash savings.

Treat self-employment as its own evidence exercise

Self-employment and certain company-director income can involve the latest full financial year or an average over the relevant two years, under the permitted category. Tax records, accounts, business banking and evidence of continuing activity may be required.

Money transferred from a business account is not automatically the income figure used by the rules. Turnover, profit, dividends, salary and drawings describe different things. An accountant should understand the specific category and period before preparing documents.

Where employed and self-employed sources are combined, the timing and permitted combination need particular attention. Do not use whichever year or month produces the largest result. Write the category, period and calculation on one page, then test every supporting record against it. That exposes missing evidence earlier and prevents a convincing business story from substituting for the specified financial proof.

Make the evidence current for the submission date

Some specified financial evidence must be dated within the relevant period around the application, including the familiar 28-day requirement for certain documents. Other records establish a longer history. Check the exact rule for each document rather than applying one freshness rule to the whole pack.

If submission moves, refresh the documents that need it and recalculate where necessary. Also complete the route-specific absence review, ILR English evidence check and separate Life in the UK requirement. Meeting the financial test does not establish the other settlement requirements.

The published English changes for relevant applications from 26 March 2027 are particularly worth planning around if the financial evidence timetable moves an application into that period. A realistic plan keeps all requirements aligned with the actual submission date.

Get a financial conclusion you can explain

Before applying, you should be able to identify the applicable threshold or adequate maintenance test, the financial category, the period assessed and the documents supporting the calculation. Any significant discrepancy should have a factual explanation.

Knightsbridge’s ILR service assists with suitable ordinary partner settlement matters. Begin with a Case Assessment and provide the relevant grants, income details and available records. We can identify the appropriate service and explain what the next stage includes.

A useful assessment leaves you knowing why the financial requirement is met and what evidence establishes it. That is a stronger basis for submission than relying on a threshold without checking whether it belongs to your application.

Nadia’s preparation ends with the correct question: which permitted evidence can establish both parts of the test by a date when a valid application can be made? That is a specific financial assessment, rather than a request for six payslips without knowing why six is the right number.

Related reading: ILR fees and processing times; British citizenship after ILR.