Spouse Visa Time: 8 Weeks In UK, 12 Outside

The published times

Applying from outside the UK — GOV.UK service standards

• Partner or spouse: 12 weeks
• Parent: 12 weeks
• Child: 12 weeks
• Adult coming to be cared for by a relative: 12 weeks

Applying from inside the UK — GOV.UK service standards

• Partner or spouse, meeting the minimum income and English language requirements: 8 weeks
• Partner or spouse on the basis of private life, where those requirements do not apply: 12 months, and GOV.UK notes there is no service standard for it
• Parent: 12 months, again with no service standard
• Child: 8 weeks
• Adult coming to be cared for by a relative: 8 weeks

Settlement is measured differently. GOV.UK says you will usually get a decision on an indefinite leave to remain application within 6 months of giving your fingerprints and photograph.

GOV.UK adds that these times "are based on the current volume of visa applications", that they follow the UK working week of Monday to Friday and include UK public holidays but not public holidays in other countries, and that they are "measured against agreed customer service standards".

When the clock starts and stops

This is worth getting right, because it is not the day you pay or the day you press submit. GOV.UK says UK Visas and Immigration starts processing once you either:

• verify your identity and submit your documents and application through the "UK Immigration: ID Check" app — you are told whether you can use it; or
• attend your appointment to give your fingerprints and a photograph — at a visa application centre outside the UK, or at a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service centre or a Service and Support Centre inside it.

It ends when you get the letter or email telling you a decision has been made. If you attended a visa application centre outside the UK and left your passport there, GOV.UK says you "should not return to the VAC until you have been contacted".

Staying in the UK while you wait

GOV.UK's guidance on applications inside the UK puts it in one sentence: "You can stay in the UK until you've been given a decision, as long as you applied before your last visa expired."

The condition in that sentence is the whole of it. An application made before current permission runs out keeps you lawfully in the UK on the same conditions while it is decided. An application made after it has run out does not.

The seven reasons GOV.UK gives for a longer wait

Both processing-times pages publish the same list. An application may take longer if, for example:

• the information in the application is not accurate, or requires further consideration;
• you need to provide further evidence, for example evidence of funds;
• your supporting documents need to be verified;
• you need to attend an interview;
• further information is required on your personal circumstances — GOV.UK's example is a criminal conviction;
• UKVI is experiencing increased visa demand; or
• there is an unexpected technical outage affecting visa systems.

And the commitment attached to that list: "You will be contacted within the current processing times if your application will take longer."

Chasing an application

GOV.UK draws a sharp line here, and it saves wasted effort.

"You do not need to contact UKVI to track your application if you've already made a visa application and it is still within the current processing times. We will not be able to provide information on the status of your application."

And then:

"If your application has taken longer than the current processing times and you haven't been contacted by UKVI about your visa application, you should contact UKVI."

So the published sequence is: wait until the standard has passed, check whether UKVI has contacted you, then use the contact channels. There is no published escalation route beyond that, and GOV.UK does not publish figures for how often applications run past the standard.

Paying for a faster decision

Two services exist, and the partner route is treated as an exception in both directions.

• From outside the UK. The priority service is £500. GOV.UK says it "usually takes up to 30 working days for Family visa applications from outside the UK" where you are applying as a partner or spouse, parent, child, or adult coming to be cared for by a relative — not the 5 working days that applies to most other routes.
• From inside the UK. GOV.UK's table of eligible applications marks the Family visa as not eligible for a decision within 5 working days, and eligible for a decision by the end of the next working day only where you prove your identity at an appointment in person. That is the super priority service, at £1,000.

Our priority service guide works through the table and the refund rules.

One related point on money: GOV.UK says you will only get a refund of the application fee "if we have not started to process your application". It also notes that you are not required to book any travel before you apply, or before a decision is made.

What is being checked in that time

The wait covers the same assessment whichever service you pay for. The caseworker considers whether the relationship is genuine and subsisting, whether the financial requirement is met from the permitted sources with the specified evidence, whether the English language and accommodation requirements are met, and the suitability grounds in the Rules.

Where that assessment is not settled on the papers, the published list above is what happens next: a request for further evidence, verification of documents, or an interview. Our documents checklist covers what has to be in the application at the outset.

Related entries

• Paying for a faster decision
• Extension processing times
• Settlement processing times
• Citizenship processing times
• Reading the decision letter

Questions and answers