Pension Income and the Spouse Visa Financial Requirement

Category E, and Why the Letter Matters

The Home Office's minimum income requirement guidance sorts money into seven lettered categories. Pension is Category E, on its own. It is often described as non-employment income, which is Category C, and the difference is not cosmetic: Category C counts what was received in the 12 months before the application, while Category E has no such history requirement. See our guide to the financial categories.

The gross annual income from all of the following counts towards the financial requirement, whether received by the applicant or by their partner:

• UK State Pension. Both the Basic State Pension and the Additional or Second State Pension. GOV.UK publishes the full rate of the new State Pension as £241.30 a week — about £12,548 over 52 weeks. It publishes a weekly rate, not an annual one, and an individual amount depends on the National Insurance record.
• Occupational pension. From a former employer's scheme.
• Private pension. A personal pension, self-invested personal pension or stakeholder pension.
• HM Forces pension.
• Foreign state, occupational or private pension. See our overseas income guide.
• Certain armed forces and war payments. Appendix FM-SE says a War Disablement Pension, a War Widow's or Widower's Pension, and any other pension or equivalent payment for life under the War Pensions Scheme, the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the Armed Forces Attributable Benefits Scheme, may be treated as a pension — unless it is one of the payments paragraph 21 excludes. Those exclusions are Unemployability Allowance, Allowance for a Lowered Standard of Occupation and Invalidity Allowance under the War Pension Scheme. Payments under those three schemes that are not treated as a pension can still count, as Category C non-employment income.

Pension Credit is not a permitted source. Appendix FM-SE paragraph 21 lists it among the income-related benefits that cannot be counted.

The 28-Day Rule

Appendix FM-SE paragraph 20A is one sentence, and it is the most useful thing on this page:

When calculating the gross annual income from pension under paragraph 13, the gross annual amount of any pension received may be counted where the pension has become a source of income at least 28 days prior to the date of application.

So a pension that started paying a month before the application can be counted at its full annual rate. There is no 12-month history requirement, and no requirement to show a pattern of payments over a year. This is the one place in the financial requirement where a new source of money counts almost immediately.

Combining Pension With Other Sources

The full rate of the new State Pension is well below £29,000, so most applications relying on a pension combine it with something else. What the rules permit:

• More than one pension. State, occupational and private pensions are all Category E and simply add together.
• Pension and employment. Category E combines with Category A, and with part 1 of Category B. The gross pension received over the previous 12 months can also be used towards part 2 of Category B — which is worth knowing, because cash savings cannot. See our guide to the partner route.
• Pension and cash savings. Permitted. The savings formula is £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall that remains after the pension is counted, held for the 6 months before the application.
• Pension and non-employment income. Category C — rental, dividends, savings interest and the rest — combines with Category E.
• Pension and self-employment. Permitted under Category F or G, but the pension income has to fall inside the financial year being relied on, and cash savings cannot be added to that combination at all.

Evidence Requirements

Appendix FM-SE paragraph 10(e) specifies two documents, and only two:

• Official documentation confirming the entitlement and amount, from the Department for Work and Pensions (for the Basic State Pension and the Additional or Second State Pension), another government department or agency including the Veterans Agency, an overseas pension authority, or a pension company. Where money has been withdrawn from the pension account or fund, the documentation must reflect that.
• At least one personal bank statement, from the 12-month period before the application, showing the pension being paid into the person's account. One statement. Not twelve months of them.

A P60 or a self-assessment return showing pension income is not on the specified list for a pension, and an application should not be refused for the absence of a document the rules do not require. Where a specified document is missing, Appendix FM-SE paragraph D lets the caseworker request it, verify the information elsewhere, or waive the requirement where there is a valid reason it cannot be supplied.

Where evidence covers a period ending with the date of application, its most recently dated part must be dated no earlier than 28 days before you apply.

Overseas Pensions

A foreign state pension, and an occupational or private pension paid from abroad, both count under Category E on the same terms as a UK one. The differences are practical:

• The official documentation comes from the overseas pension authority or the pension company. Anything not in English or Welsh needs the original plus a full translation, dated, confirming it is accurate and giving the translator's name, signature and contact details — and, for an application made inside the UK, certification by a qualified translator with their credentials.
• The bank statement requirement is the same: at least one from the 12-month period, showing the payment arriving.
• Income in a foreign currency is converted to pounds using the closing spot exchange rate shown on OANDA on the date of application. Fluctuations before that date are disregarded, so the rate on the day is the rate that counts. Where there are several currencies, each is converted separately before being added together.

Drawdown, and Money Left in the Pot

The rules do not draw a line between an annuity and drawdown. What they say instead is that the documentation from the paying body must reflect any funds withdrawn from the pension account or fund, so that the ongoing income figure is the real one.

Money still sitting in a pension can go the other way, and be treated as cash savings rather than income. Appendix FM-SE paragraph 11A(a) says savings can include those held in a pension savings account that can be withdrawn immediately. Where an application relies on both — pension income, and savings liquidated from the pot behind it — the provider's evidence has to show the withdrawal, so the same money is not counted twice.

The rest of the requirements are unchanged whichever way the money arrives: the English language requirement, the fee, and the healthcare surcharge.

Where the Rules Are

The permitted sources and the category rules are in GOV.UK's financial requirements page, the specified evidence is in Appendix FM-SE at paragraphs 10(e) and 20A, and the Home Office's own minimum income requirement guidance sets out Category E and what it can be combined with.

Settlement comes after 5 years on the route — see settlement and then citizenship. At the settlement stage the cash savings multiplier drops away: the whole amount above £16,000 counts, so a shortfall needs £16,000 plus the shortfall rather than £16,000 plus 2.5 times it. Only a regulated adviser can advise on an individual case — see what that costs.

Questions and answers