Two people can both describe themselves as having a spouse visa, receive permission lasting around two and a half years, and have different routes to settlement. The difference may only become obvious when they prepare their next application.
Start with the Home Office decision letter. Establish the route granted, why it was granted and which periods of residence can count towards settlement. GOV.UK specifically directs applicants to their latest approval letter if they are unsure of their route.
Our spouse visa service covers the wider partner application process. Here, the focus is understanding the permission you already hold and deciding whether a change needs assessing.
Identify the legal basis of your current grant
Find the complete decision letter or approval email, including its attachments. Look for an express reference to the five-year or ten-year route, the Immigration Rules used and the reasons given for the decision.
Read that information alongside your immigration history. Note the application date, grant date, permission expiry and the basis of each earlier grant. The date you married, the date you first arrived and the date qualifying partner permission began may be different.
Do not infer the settlement route from the expiry date alone. Home Office guidance describes grants of similar duration on the five-year and ten-year partner routes. The length of permission therefore does not settle the question.
Nor should you rely solely on the form you remember completing or an informal description such as “family visa”. The important question is what the Home Office actually granted.
If the decision does not clearly explain that, obtain the full record and ask for the basis to be checked. If you expected a different route, raise the discrepancy promptly. Preserve the original application and decision so an adviser can compare what was requested, what was evidenced and what was decided.
The aim is a reliable starting point for planning, not an estimate based on the number of renewals you have completed.
Understand why the five-year and ten-year routes differ
The five-year partner route requires the relevant suitability and eligibility requirements to be met. The ten-year route can apply where specified exceptions or exceptional circumstances justify permission, despite requirements for the five-year route not being met. Home Office guidance distinguishes these bases, including EX.1 and the exceptional-circumstances provisions in Appendix FM.
A ten-year grant is not an automatic alternative whenever income falls short. The relevant legal basis must be established. Equally, the route label should not be treated as a judgement about how committed a couple are to their relationship.
Consider these hypothetical grants. The table summarises the Rules; it does not reproduce actual decision letters or describe clients.
| Point to compare | Hypothetical grant A | Hypothetical grant B |
|---|---|---|
| Basis of permission | Partner permission under D-LTRP.1.1 | Partner permission under D-LTRP.1.2, relying on EX.1 |
| Route identified | Five-year partner route | Ten-year partner route |
| Period granted | 30 months | 30 months |
| Planning question | When will the required qualifying residence be completed? | Which residence can count, and would a later route change help? |
These provisions show why similar expiry dates can conceal different settlement plans.
The approval also needs to be read for its conditions. Keep the route, permission expiry and conditions recorded separately. Being on a route to settlement is not the same as already holding indefinite leave to remain.
Check what changes when your circumstances improve
Someone on the ten-year route may later become eligible to apply for the five-year route. Home Office guidance expressly recognises this possibility where the relevant requirements are subsequently met. A higher income or another favourable change does not itself convert an existing grant.
Begin with the reason for the earlier decision. If the issue was financial, what has changed in the income source, amount, evidence period or available savings? If another requirement was not met, has that issue also been resolved?
The financial assessment must use the requirement applicable to the proposed application. Different arrangements can apply depending on the immigration history and whether the sponsor receives specified disability or carer’s benefits. In eligible benefit cases, adequate maintenance is assessed instead of the minimum income threshold. Receiving a qualifying benefit does not automatically put a couple on the ten-year route.
Check the evidence behind the change before choosing a submission date. A new employment contract is useful information, but it does not answer every question about the income evidence required for an application.
Our further leave to remain service addresses applications to continue or change permission in the UK. For route planning, the immediate task is to establish whether the proposed application is supportable and what a successful grant would change.
Establish which periods count towards settlement
This is where a route change needs careful calculation.
For the five-year partner settlement route, Appendix FM specifies qualifying permission under the relevant five-year provisions. Time on the ten-year partner route cannot simply be added to that five-year period. Permission as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner is excluded, and the Rules also address continuity with the same partner.
The ten-year family settlement provisions are different. Appendix Settlement Family Life allows specified combinations of family and private-life permission to count. Under SETF 3.2, certain time on other routes leading to settlement can also count, provided the additional conditions are met, including no illegal entry and at least one year with the relevant partner or parent permission.
This means earlier qualifying residence may remain relevant even after a move to the five-year partner route. It does not mean every year spent in the UK counts towards every settlement route.
Home Office settlement guidance gives Skilled Worker permission as an example of time that can count under the additional provision. It also explains that periods of overstaying which are disregarded for continuity are not themselves added to the qualifying period.
There is a further distinction: ten-year family settlement and ten-year Long Residence are separate routes. Appendix Long Residence has its own rules about qualifying lawful residence and excluded periods. A history involving several visa categories may need assessment under more than one route.
Ask for the calculation to identify the legal basis for each period included, rather than simply adding up the years since arrival.
Would changing routes actually bring settlement closer?
“Five years” sounds quicker than “ten years”, but the answer depends on how much qualifying time has already been completed.
As an illustration, suppose someone has completed eight years that qualify towards ten-year family settlement and could now obtain their first grant on the five-year partner route. Starting that five-year period would not necessarily give them the earliest settlement opportunity. Their existing history still needs to be assessed against the ten-year provisions.
That is a planning comparison, not a prediction that the person will qualify in two years. Continuing permission, residence, relationship and the other settlement requirements must still be considered.
Ask for both possible timelines to be explained, including the assumptions behind them. Consider application costs, evidence readiness and any changes expected before the next application. A route change should have a clear purpose beyond obtaining a label that sounds more favourable.
The indefinite leave to remain service addresses the wider settlement assessment. Here, the essential question is whether the proposed change improves the plan when the full history is taken into account.
Build a route history before choosing your next application
Prepare a chronology covering every grant, its legal basis, its dates and the application that preceded it. Add periods abroad, any gaps, changes of partner and any occasion when permission changed between family, private-life or work routes.
Keep the supporting records with that chronology. Useful material includes decision letters, submitted forms, application acknowledgements, earlier immigration documents and evidence explaining any apparent gap. Record uncertainty openly instead of filling it with an assumed date or route.
Do not treat “ten years in the UK” as a complete settlement assessment. The ten-year family rules require continuous residence, and settlement involves other requirements as well. The Home Office guidance addresses suitability, the relationship and language and knowledge requirements separately from the residence calculation.
Where the history includes an adverse finding, a disputed grant or complex gaps, establish what specialist assessment is needed. The appropriate next step should follow from the records and the applicable rules.
At Knightsbridge, our approach is to establish the permission held, test the proposed route against the evidence and explain what remains unresolved before recommending an application.
To discuss your position, request a Case Assessment. Provide your latest decision and earlier grants, and tell us whether you are preparing to extend, considering a route change or approaching a possible settlement date.
