Spouse Visa Extension Guide: How to Extend Your Stay

When to Apply

A first grant made from outside the UK is 2 years and 9 months. The extension is applied for from inside the UK before that permission expires.

GOV.UK says you can extend at any time before your current permission to stay expires. There is no rule that lets you apply a set number of days early, and none that requires you to wait until close to the expiry date.

There is a 28-day rule, and it is about the grant rather than the timing. GOV.UK states it as: if you are extending to stay with the same family member, you will only get up to 28 days left on your current stay added to your new visa. So applying early does not lose you the whole of the unused time, but it does lose you anything beyond 28 days of it.

If you apply before your permission expires, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 continues that permission, and its conditions, while the application is decided. If your permission expires and you have not applied, you are an overstayer. Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules disregards a period of overstaying 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.

Requirements for Extension

The extension requirements mirror the initial application with some differences:

• Relationship: You must still be in a genuine and subsisting marriage or civil partnership with your sponsor
• Income: The minimum income requirement. This is £29,000 a year, unless you first applied as a partner (or as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner) before 11 April 2024 and are extending with the same partner. In that case the transitional figure is £18,600, plus £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for each further child, capped at £29,000. The £29,000 figure itself does not rise for children. At this stage both your partner's and your own UK income count.
• English: If you passed level A1 for your first visa, you need at least level A2 in speaking and listening to stay beyond 2.5 years. If you passed A2, B1, B2, C1 or C2 you can use that result again, as long as the certificate has not been withdrawn by the test provider. If you were exempt first time, GOV.UK says you need to pass a test at level A1. B1 comes at settlement. Appendix KoLL, which sets the settlement requirement for this route, raises it to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027.
• Accommodation: Adequate accommodation. Appendix FM says accommodation is not adequate if it is, or will be, overcrowded, or if it contravenes public health regulations
• Suitability: Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules sets out the grounds on which an application must or may be refused, including criminality and deception

If your partner receives certain disability or carer's benefits — GOV.UK lists Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Adult Disability Payment and others — there is no minimum income requirement. Instead you must show you can house and support yourselves without relying on public funds.

Full details are on the GOV.UK family visa pages.

Income Evidence at Extension

Appendix FM lists the applicant's own income from specified employment or self-employment among the sources that count on an extension, unless they are working illegally. That source is not available on a first application made from outside the UK.

The evidence categories are set by Appendix FM-SE:

• Category A: employment with the same employer for at least 6 months — payslips, an employer letter and corresponding bank statements, for each earner
• Category B: employment held for less than 6 months, or variable income — a 12-month record is used
• Self-employment: tax returns, accounts and bank statements
• Cash savings: £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall between your income and the amount required, held for 6 months. With no income at all against a £29,000 requirement that is £88,500. At settlement the Rules drop the words "2.5 times", so the same case needs £16,000 plus the shortfall, £45,000

See the sponsor income guide for the full breakdown of how income is assessed.

Relationship Evidence

You need to demonstrate that your relationship has continued to be genuine and subsisting since your last application. Evidence should cover the period between your initial visa grant and the extension application:

GOV.UK asks for evidence that comes from the government, a bank, a landlord, a utility provider or a medical professional, that confirms the relationship, and that is less than 4 years old. The examples it gives are:

• A marriage certificate 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 one showing the same address
• A letter from your doctor or dentist confirming the same address

Where none of those exist, GOV.UK 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 have been apart for periods because of work, study or cultural reasons, it asks for evidence of an ongoing commitment: regular communication, financial support for each other, care for any children you have together, and time spent together as a couple.

See our relationship evidence guide.

The Application Process

• Complete the online application form on GOV.UK
• Pay the application fee of £1,407 for each person, and the healthcare surcharge, which for a 2 year 6 month grant is £2,587.50 for an adult and £1,940 for a child
• Upload supporting documents
• Attend an appointment to give your fingerprints and a photograph at a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services service point — see our biometrics guide
• Wait for the decision

A fee waiver is published for people who cannot pay: GOV.UK lists having no place to live and being unable to afford one, being unable to afford essential living costs such as food or heating, or having a very low income where paying the fee would harm a child's wellbeing.

If the application is granted you get an eVisa, a digital record of your status held in a UK Visas and Immigration account. Biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024.

Processing Times

GOV.UK gives two service standards for a partner application made inside the UK: usually 8 weeks if you meet the financial and English language requirements, and currently about 12 months if you do not.

On faster services, the £500 priority service that returns a decision in 5 working days is not offered on a family application made inside the UK. The super priority service, at £1,000 for each person, is offered from inside the UK and usually returns a decision by the end of the next working day after you prove your identity, or 2 working days if that was at a weekend or on a bank holiday. It is not available to an adult coming to be cared for by a relative. See the extension processing time guide.

After the Extension

A successful extension is granted for up to 2 years and 6 months, plus up to 28 days of unused permission carried over from your current stay. GOV.UK says you can extend more than once.

The earliest you can apply to settle is after 5 continuous years in the UK on a family visa as a partner. Time on any other visa, and time as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner, does not count toward those 5 years. If you did not meet the financial requirements, GOV.UK says the earliest you can settle is after 10 years. Settlement requires indefinite leave to remain, which needs English at B1 and the Life in the UK test. Appendix KoLL raises that English level to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027.

Next Steps

The two dates that govern this application are the expiry of your current permission, which is the deadline, and the date you apply, which fixes which financial and English rules are applied to you. Up to 28 days of unused permission is carried into the new grant.

Related guides:

• Spouse Visa UK: Complete Guide
• 5-Year Route
• Income Requirement
• Extension Processing Times
• Costs 2026

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