Overseas Income and the Spouse Visa Financial Requirement

Initial Application vs Extension

The rules differ depending on whether you are applying from abroad (entry clearance) or from within the UK (extension). You will also need to meet the English language requirement and pay the Immigration Health Surcharge:

• Entry clearance from abroad. Paragraph E-ECP.3.2 counts the sponsoring partner's employment and self-employment income only, and includes their overseas income only where they are returning to the UK with the applicant. Pension income, other specified income and savings of both the applicant and the partner count.
• Extension from within the UK. Paragraph E-LTRP.3.2 is wider. It counts the partner's employment and self-employment income, and the applicant's too unless they are working illegally. Paragraph A1(cc) of Appendix FM-SE adds that income of an applicant or sponsor working in the UK can include income from work undertaken overseas, provided paragraph E-LTRP.1.10 of Appendix FM is met. See the financial requirement.

One general rule cuts across both. Paragraph A1(bb) of Appendix FM-SE says prospective employment income is not taken into account — with an express exception for a partner returning to employment or self-employment in the UK under paragraph E-ECP.3.2(a) or E-ECC.2.2(a). That exception is what makes the returning-sponsor route work.

Sponsor Working Overseas And Returning

Rowan previously listed three ways a sponsor's overseas income could count, including being posted abroad by a UK company and working remotely for a UK employer. Neither of those is the test in the guidance. The test is that the sponsor is returning to the UK with the applicant to work, and it comes with two requirements.

1. Six months at the level relied on. The sponsor must be in employment at the date of application and have been with the same employer for at least 6 months, paid throughout that period at a gross annual salary or income that equals or exceeds the level relied on in the application. Where the employment is non-salaried, the figure is calculated as the annual equivalent of the average gross monthly income over the 6 months.
2. A confirmed UK job offer starting within 3 months of return. The offer must have a gross annual starting salary — or, for non-salaried work, a gross annual income based on the rate of pay and the standard or core hours — sufficient to meet the financial requirement, alone or combined with non-employment income, cash savings or pension income.

A sponsor who is self-employed overseas and returning to salaried or non-salaried employment in the UK meets the first requirement through their self-employment income and the second in the same way as anyone else. A sponsor returning to continue self-employment in the UK has to supply one of a named list of documents with a start date within 3 months of return: an application to the appropriate authority for a licence to trade, details of the purchase or rental of business premises, a signed employment contract or contract for the provision of services, or a signed partnership or franchise agreement.

Two Groups Treated As UK-Resident Instead

The guidance names two situations where a sponsor working outside the UK is not treated as an overseas sponsor returning:

• A serving member of HM Armed Forces posted overseas is treated as resident in the UK for assessing employment income. The guidance says this is to ensure that, in line with the military covenant, they are not disadvantaged by their service.
• A seafarer resident in the UK who spends most of their time working at sea and qualifies for the HM Revenue and Customs Seafarers Earnings Deduction — evidenced, for example, by a letter from their accountant or from HM Revenue and Customs.

The guidance also confirms that maternity, paternity and adoption pay paid overseas to a sponsor returning to the UK with the applicant to work can be counted. See our Spouse visa guide for the full application process.

Overseas Rental Income

Rental income from a property abroad can count as Category C non-employment income, evidenced under paragraph 10 of Appendix FM-SE. The guidance confirms that income from a property rented out for only part of the year — a holiday let, for example — can be counted.

Two published restrictions are worth knowing:

• Where the couple are already resident in the UK at the date of application, rental income from a UK property that will become their main residence if the application is granted cannot be counted.
• Where the couple are returning from overseas, rental income from a UK property that will become their main residence can be combined with the sponsor's overseas employment income — but not with the income from the sponsor's UK job offer, because once they are here the home is no longer a source of income.

Note also paragraph A1(i) of Appendix FM-SE: profit from the sale of a business, property, investment, bond, stocks, shares or other asset is not accepted as income at all. The funds are treated as cash savings instead.

Overseas Pension Income

Pension income from overseas can count. See our pension income guide for details. You need evidence of the pension (pension statement or letter) and bank statements showing regular payments.

Overseas Savings

Savings held in overseas bank accounts can count towards the savings threshold (Category D). You need:

• Bank statements showing that at least the level relied on has been held throughout the 6 months before the date of application, in an account in the name of the person or of the person and their partner jointly
• A declaration by the account holder or holders of the source or sources of the savings
• The figure required is £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall against £29,000 at the first application and the extension — £88,500 with no qualifying income. At settlement the multiplier is disregarded, so it is £16,000 plus the shortfall
• Statements not in English or Welsh need the original plus a compliant translation

Paragraph FIN 2.1 of Appendix Finance matters most for overseas accounts. Funds are not considered where the decision maker cannot make satisfactory verification checks, where the financial institution is not regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country it operates in, or where the institution does not use electronic record keeping. Our visa fees guide covers the separate costs of applying.

Currency Conversion

Appendix Finance sets the rate. Paragraph FIN 1.1 uses the spot exchange rate appearing on www.oanda.com for the date of the application. Paragraph FIN 1.2 names two currencies that do not appear there — Syrian pounds and the Mongolian tugrik — and directs that they be converted at the monthly Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office consular exchange rate for the date of application. Paragraph FIN 1.3 adds Iranian rials to that list.

Paragraph A1(g) of Appendix FM-SE handles multiple currencies: each is converted into pounds separately before being added together, and then added to any UK income or savings.

Because the rate is fixed at the date of application, the currency risk falls on the applicant. Our guide to using an adviser covers when a case warrants one.

Next Steps

The question the rules ask is not whether income comes from overseas, but whose income it is and what is happening next. Employment income from abroad counts only for a sponsoring partner returning to the UK with the applicant, and only alongside a confirmed UK job offer starting within 3 months. Savings and pension income of either partner count wherever they are held, subject to the account rules in Appendix Finance. Any document not in English or Welsh needs the original plus a compliant translation, and everything is converted at the rate for the date of application. Our guide to adviser costs covers getting advice on an individual case.

For the official rules, see the GOV.UK Appendix FM guidance and the GOV.UK proof of income page.

Questions and answers