Financial Shortfall on a Spouse Visa: What to Do

Understanding the Income Threshold

The spouse visa financial requirement sets a minimum income the sponsor has to show. There are two figures, and one date divides them.

• £29,000 for a first application made on or after 11 April 2024. There is no addition for children on this tier.
• £18,600 for someone extending who first applied before 11 April 2024, plus £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for each further child.

The threshold has not moved since April 2024. See our threshold timeline.

Appendix FM sets out more than one way of meeting the requirement, and a shortfall in salary is not necessarily a shortfall against the rule. The sections below are the published routes, not tactics.

Option 1: Use Savings

Cash savings can bridge the gap between your actual income and the threshold. The formula for calculating how much savings you need is set out in Appendix FM-SE of the Immigration Rules:

For a visa or an extension: £16,000 + (2.5 × the annual shortfall)

The 2.5 multiplier matches the 2.5 years of permission granted at each stage of the five-year partner route. The £16,000 sits below it as a fixed floor.

At settlement: £16,000 + the annual shortfall

The settlement rule says to disregard the words “2.5 times”. So the same shortfall needs less in savings at the settlement stage than at the extension stage. A £5,000 shortfall needs £28,500 for a visa or extension and £21,000 at settlement.

Key rules about savings:

• Bank statements must show at least the amount relied on held in the account for the 6 months before the date of application. Money received during that period from a source that can be evidenced, such as a property sale or a gift, is dealt with by a declaration of the source rather than by waiting a further six months.
• Savings can be held by the applicant, the sponsor, or jointly.
• Savings must be in a bank account accessible in the UK or an institution regulated by the appropriate national authority.

For more on using savings, see our savings for spouse visa guide.

Option 2: Combine Income Sources

You are not limited to a single source of income. The following can be combined:

• Employment income: Salary from the sponsor's job. See Category A and Category B guides.
• Self-employment income: Profits from the sponsor's business or freelance work. See our self-employed guide.
• Non-employment income: Rental income, dividends, interest, and pensions. See our Category C guide.
• The applicant's own income: This counts only where the applicant is already in the UK with permission to work. It cannot be used on an application for entry clearance from outside the UK, which is the point people most often get wrong. See our combining income guide.

Option 3: Category B Income

If the sponsor has not been in their current job for 6 months (which is needed for Category A), Category B allows them to demonstrate that they earned the required amount over the previous 12 months and are currently employed and earning at or above the threshold.

This is useful if the sponsor recently changed jobs, received a pay rise, or started a new higher-paying role. See our Category B guide for full details.

Option 4: Director Salary and Dividends

If the sponsor is a company director who pays themselves a low salary supplemented by dividends, this is a common scenario that can make meeting the threshold more complex. The rules for how dividends are treated depend on whether they are classified as employment income or non-employment income.

See our director salary and dividends guide for how the rules treat each type of income.

Option 5: The Benefits Exemption

This is not a way of reaching the threshold. It removes it. GOV.UK says you do not need to meet a minimum income requirement if your partner receives one of a list of benefits, which includes Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Carer’s Allowance.

Where the exemption applies, the application is assessed on adequate maintenance instead: whether the family can be supported without recourse to public funds. There is no fixed figure to hit. GOV.UK publishes the full list of qualifying benefits on its proof of income page.

Option 6: Exceptional Circumstances (Article 8)

If you cannot meet the financial requirement through any of the standard routes, you may be able to argue that refusing the visa would breach your rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to private and family life).

This is not a separate visa category but a consideration the Home Office must apply when making a decision. Under Appendix FM exceptional circumstances, factors that may be considered include:

• Children who are British citizens or have lived in the UK for 7 years.
• Insurmountable obstacles to family life continuing outside the UK.
• The sponsor cannot reasonably relocate due to disability, caring responsibilities, or other factors.
• Reliable financial support from third parties that can be evidenced.

This is a fact-specific assessment rather than a checklist, and it is the part of the family rules where the outcome depends least on documents and most on argument. Only a person regulated to give immigration advice can assess a particular case. Our DIY vs solicitor guide explains how to check that someone is regulated to do that.

Three Rules Worth Knowing Before You Start

• False documents are a ground of refusal in their own right. Deception is a mandatory ground of refusal under the suitability rules, and it can also lead to a re-entry ban and to prosecution. The Home Office verifies documents with employers, banks and HMRC.
• Prospective employment is narrow. A job offer is only usable in the specific situations Appendix FM allows, such as a returning UK sponsor with a confirmed offer. It is not a general substitute for income already earned.
• The savings clock runs to the date of application. The 6-month holding period is counted back from the day the application is made, so the date the application is submitted changes what the bank statements need to show.

Our financial category guide sets out which category covers which kind of income, and the cost breakdown covers the fees, which are separate from the income requirement.

Questions and answers