Applying for a Spouse Visa After a Visit Visa: Guide

The General Rule

The requirement is in Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules, at E-LTRP.2.1: an applicant for leave to remain as a partner must not be in the UK as a visitor, or with permission granted for 6 months or less. Two kinds of short permission are excepted: permission as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner, and permission granted pending the outcome of family court or divorce proceedings.

GOV.UK says the same in plain terms: you will usually need to leave the UK to apply for a family visa if you have permission to be in the UK as a visitor, or your visa is for 6 months or less.

This is a requirement of the route rather than a matter of discretion. It cannot be met by paying a different fee or by marrying in the UK.

The Standard Visitor visa page sets out what a visitor may do. To marry or register a civil partnership in the UK, or to give notice of one, GOV.UK says you must apply for a Marriage Visitor visa instead, and that visa cannot be extended or switched.

Limited Exceptions

GOV.UK names two forms of short permission that can switch:

• A 6-month visa as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner. This is a family visa in its own right, not a visit visa, and it does not permit work or study
• Permission granted pending the outcome of family court or divorce proceedings

A Marriage Visitor visa is not one of them. It allows a marriage or civil partnership to take place in the UK within 6 months of arrival, and GOV.UK is explicit that you cannot extend it or switch to another visa.

Separately, paragraph GEN.3.2 of Appendix FM requires a decision maker who is refusing an application to consider whether there are exceptional circumstances that would make refusal a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, because it would produce unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child or another family member. Where that applies, permission is granted under a different paragraph, on the 10-year route to settlement rather than the 5-year route. The best interests of any child under 18 must be treated as a primary consideration.

Rowan cannot tell you whether that paragraph reaches your circumstances. Advice on an individual case must come from someone regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority or by a legal regulator such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Published Process

The steps set out on GOV.UK are:

• Leave the UK before your visit permission expires
• Apply online for the family visa as a partner from outside the UK. The fee is £2,064 for each person
• Pay the healthcare surcharge. For a first grant of 2 years and 9 months this is £3,105 for an adult and £2,328 for a child, because the surcharge is charged in whole years and 2 years 9 months is rounded up to 3
• Attend an appointment to give your fingerprints and a photograph. Take your passport; you usually get it back the same day
• Wait for the decision

The service standard is a decision within 12 weeks for an application made outside the UK. The priority service costs £500 for each person, and for a family visa applied for from outside the UK GOV.UK says it usually takes up to 30 working days — not the 5 working days that applies to most other routes. The super priority service, at £1,000, is offered on family applications made from inside the UK, which does not apply here.

If you cannot pay the fee, GOV.UK publishes a fee waiver for people who have no place to live and cannot afford one, cannot afford essential living costs such as food or heating, or have a very low income where paying would harm a child's wellbeing.

What Counts as Relationship Evidence

Appendix FM requires that the relationship is genuine and subsisting, that you have met in person, and that you intend to live together permanently in the UK. GOV.UK asks for evidence that:

• Comes from the government, a bank, a landlord, a utility provider or a medical professional
• Confirms your relationship — that you live together, share expenses, or are married or in a civil partnership
• Is less than 4 years old

The examples GOV.UK gives are a marriage or civil partnership certificate; a tenancy agreement, utility bills or Council Tax bills showing the same address or shared bills; a bank statement from a joint account or showing the same address; and a letter from a doctor or dentist confirming the same address. Where none of those exist, it names a one-off bill such as vet's fees or home repairs, letters confirming you are both on the electoral register at the same address, and student finance paperwork showing the same address.

If you cannot live together because of work, study or cultural reasons, GOV.UK asks for evidence of an ongoing commitment: that you communicate regularly, support each other financially, care for any children you have together, and spend time together as a couple.

See our guide on relationship evidence.

Risks of Getting It Wrong

Overstaying

Staying beyond the expiry of your permission is overstaying, which Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules treats as a breach of immigration law. An application for entry clearance must be refused if it is made within the mandatory refusal period, which runs from the date you left the UK:

• 12 months — you left voluntarily, at your own expense
• 2 years — you left voluntarily at public expense, within 6 months of being given notice of liability for removal
• 5 years — you left voluntarily at public expense more than 6 months after that notice
• 10 years — you were removed from the UK at public expense
• 10 years — you used deception in an application

A period of overstaying is disregarded where you left the UK voluntarily, not at public expense, and the overstaying was for 30 days or less (for overstaying that began on or after 6 April 2017). Overstaying is also disregarded where the application was made within 14 days of the previous permission expiring and the decision maker accepts there was a good reason, beyond the control of the applicant or their representative, why it could not be made in time.

Applying From Inside the UK Anyway

An application for leave to remain as a partner made by someone who is in the UK as a visitor does not meet E-LTRP.2.1, so it does not meet the requirements of the route. The fee is charged for considering the application and is not returned because the application did not succeed.

Deception

Part Suitability allows an application to be refused where the applicant made false representations, provided false documents or false information, or did not disclose relevant facts. Where deception was used in a previous application, a later application for entry clearance must be refused for 10 years.

The Dates That Matter

Two published periods set the shape of the timing:

• Your visit permission. A Standard Visitor visa allows a stay of up to 6 months. The date on the permission is the date by which you must leave
• The decision. A family visa applied for from outside the UK usually gets a decision within 12 weeks. Paying £500 for the priority service usually brings it to within 30 working days for a family application

Before the application there are steps with their own timetables that GOV.UK does not put a figure on: taking an approved English test at level A1, or getting an Ecctis assessment of a degree taught in English, and assembling the financial evidence. Cash savings, if you use them, must have been held for 6 months. See processing times.

Next Steps

The rule on this page is a single one: an applicant for leave to remain as a partner must not be in the UK as a visitor. Everything else follows from it — the application is made from outside the UK, the service standard is 12 weeks, and the evidence GOV.UK asks for is the same either way.

Related guides:

• Spouse Visa UK: Complete Guide
• Applying from Outside the UK
• Relationship Evidence
• Spouse Visa Costs 2026
• English Language Tests

Questions and answers