Spouse Visa £38,700: The Increase That Did Not Happen
£38,700 was announced in December 2023 as the figure the family income requirement would eventually reach. It never became part of the Immigration Rules. This guide records what was proposed, what actually took effect, and what GOV.UK says today.
- Section
- Spouse & Partner Visa
- Reading time
- 8 min
- Last checked
- 2 September 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- The requirement is £29,000 a year. £38,700 never took effect.
- The £34,500 and £38,700 stages were never written into the Immigration Rules.
- The question went to the Migration Advisory Committee, which reported on 10 June 2025. No government response has been published.
- £38,700 was the Skilled Worker salary threshold at the time; that threshold is now £41,700.
- With no other income, savings of £88,500 cover the £29,000 requirement.
£38,700 is not, and never has been, the family income requirement. The requirement is £29,000 a year for applications made on or after 11 April 2024. The later stages of the announced increase — £34,500, then £38,700 — were never written into the Immigration Rules, and no date or plan for them is published.
Where the Figure Comes From
In December 2023 the government announced that the income requirement for a family visa would rise in stages from £18,600 to £38,700. £38,700 was the general salary threshold for the Skilled Worker visa at the time, and the stated aim was to line the two figures up.
One stage happened. The requirement rose to £29,000 for applications made on or after 11 April 2024. The later stages — £34,500, and then £38,700 — were announced in April 2024 but were never written into the Immigration Rules, so they never took effect.
The question was then referred to the Migration Advisory Committee, the independent body that advises the government on immigration. It published its review of the family visa financial requirements on 10 June 2025. The government has not published a response to it.
The Skilled Worker threshold that £38,700 was meant to match has since moved on: it rose to £41,700 on 22 July 2025.
What GOV.UK Says Today
The GOV.UK page on family visa financial requirements gives one figure for new applications and says nothing about a future increase:
- £29,000 a year for applications made on or after 11 April 2024.
- £18,600 a year for someone who first applied as a partner before 11 April 2024 and is extending that visa, plus £3,800 for a first child and £2,400 for each further child, up to a maximum of £29,000. See our transitional arrangements guide.
- No minimum income figure where the sponsoring partner receives one of the listed disability or carer benefits. An adequate maintenance test applies instead.
There is no published date, and no published plan, for any further increase. A page that says an increase has been "delayed" is describing a timetable that does not exist.
The Savings Arithmetic, Then and Now
Cash savings can replace or top up income. The formula is £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall, held for the 6 months before the application. The £16,000 is set aside first and does not count towards the requirement.
Against the requirement that actually applies, £29,000, the savings figures are:
- No income: (£29,000 x 2.5) + £16,000 = £88,500
- Income of £20,000: (£9,000 x 2.5) + £16,000 = £38,500
- Income of £25,000: (£4,000 x 2.5) + £16,000 = £26,000
For comparison, had the requirement reached £38,700, the same formula would have produced £112,750 with no other income, and £40,250 for someone earning £29,000. Those figures describe a rule that was never made.
Our combining income and savings guide works through the formula in full.
Why the Figure Was Contested
The income requirement has been through the courts before. In 2017 the Supreme Court upheld the £18,600 requirement but held that the Home Office must consider the best interests of children and apply the rules with flexibility in exceptional cases.
The move to £38,700 would have more than doubled the original figure, and the arguments made against it at the time were about family separation and the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Those arguments are part of the record of why the figure was referred to the Migration Advisory Committee rather than implemented.
If the Requirement Cannot Be Met
Where the financial requirement is not met, GOV.UK sets out two situations in which an application can still be made: where there is a child in the UK who is a British or Irish citizen, or who has lived in the UK for 7 years and for whom it would be unreasonable to leave; and where refusing entry or requiring departure would breach human rights. GOV.UK adds that in those cases the earliest point at which someone can apply to settle is after 10 years in the UK. Our 10-year route guide covers how that route works.
Where to Check
The requirement in force on the day of an application is the one that counts. The GOV.UK financial requirements page carries the current figure, and the statements of changes to the Immigration Rules are where a change would appear before it took effect.
Related guides:
Questions and answers
Is the £38,700 income requirement for spouse visas in effect?
No, and it never has been. GOV.UK gives the requirement as £29,000 a year for applications made on or after 11 April 2024. The £38,700 figure was announced in December 2023 as the final stage of a staged increase, and that stage was never written into the Immigration Rules.
Will the requirement rise to £38,700 later?
There is no published plan and no date. The staged rises to £34,500 and then £38,700 were announced in April 2024 and then referred to the Migration Advisory Committee, the independent body that advises the government on immigration. It published its review of the family financial requirements on 10 June 2025. The government has not published a response, and GOV.UK gives one figure: £29,000.
How much in savings would £38,700 have meant?
Under the savings formula, a requirement of £38,700 with no other income would have meant £112,750 in cash savings: £16,000 plus 2.5 times £38,700. The figure that applies now is £88,500, which is £16,000 plus 2.5 times £29,000.
Why was £38,700 chosen?
It was the general salary threshold for the Skilled Worker visa at the time, and the stated aim was to line the two figures up. The Skilled Worker threshold rose to £41,700 on 22 July 2025, so the two no longer match.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.