Spouse Visa Refused: The Reasons and What Happens Next

Refusal Reason: Financial Requirement Not Met

The minimum income requirement for a UK Spouse visa (see the GOV.UK financial requirements page) is £29,000 a year in combined income for a first application made on or after 11 April 2024. It does not rise for children. Where the first application as a partner was made before that date and you are extending, the figure is £18,600 plus £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for each further one, capped at £29,000.

Income Below the Level Required

The level is set in the Immigration Rules, so it is not something a tribunal is asked to reconsider on grounds of fairness. The alternatives the rules themselves provide are cash savings — £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall, held for 6 months, under the cash savings route — and the exception where the sponsoring partner receives one of the disability or carer's benefits GOV.UK lists, in which case an adequate maintenance test applies instead of a figure.

A sponsor's employment income earned outside the UK counts only in the specific circumstances Appendix FM-SE sets out — broadly, where the sponsor is returning to the UK to take up employment starting within 3 months of their return. It is not a general allowance for overseas earnings.

GOV.UK also notes a consequence that outlasts the refusal: where the financial requirement is not met and permission is granted on another basis, the earliest you can apply to settle is after 10 years rather than 5.

Evidence That Does Not Match the Specified List

Appendix FM-SE names the documents exactly, and a refusal can follow where the evidence does not match, even though the income is there. The requirements that most often go unnoticed:

• Bank statements that do not cover the full specified period — 6 months under Category A, and covering the same period as the payslips.
• Payslips that are not formal ones issued by the employer showing the employer's name. Where they are not, paragraph 1(bb) requires a letter from the employer on headed paper, signed by a senior official, confirming the payslips are genuine.
• An employer letter missing one of the four things paragraph 2(b) requires: the employment and gross annual salary, the length of employment, the period over which the salary relied on has been paid, and the type of employment.
• Evidence dated too early. Where the appendix asks for evidence covering a period ending with the date of application, its most recent part must be dated no earlier than 28 days before you apply.

A missing or wrongly formatted document does not have to end the application. Appendix FM-SE paragraph D says that where a document from a sequence is missing, is in the wrong format, does not contain all the specified information, or was not sent at all, the caseworker may write and request it. Where the missing information can be verified from other documents sent, from the issuing organisation's website or from a regulator's website, the application may be granted anyway. And where there is a valid reason a document cannot be supplied, the caseworker has a discretion to waive the requirement. The Home Office's guidance is also that an application should not be refused for the absence of a document the rules do not specify.

Self-Employment

Two rules cause more trouble here than the paperwork does. The income counted is the gross taxable profits from the person's share of the business, not the net profit. And self-employment income cannot be combined with cash savings at all. Where the business does not have to produce audited accounts, an accountant's certificate is required alongside the unaudited accounts, from a member of one of the professional bodies the rule names. See our self-employment income guide.

Refusal Reason: Relationship Not Genuine

The Home Office must be satisfied that your relationship is "genuine and subsisting." A refusal on this ground means the caseworker was not convinced that your relationship is real.

Appendix FM sets several relationship conditions alongside genuineness, and any of them can be the ground: that you have met in person, that you are not within the prohibited degree of relationship, that any previous relationship of either of you has broken down permanently, and that you intend to live together permanently in the UK. One of the four ways of proving the relationship must also be made out: a marriage or civil partnership recognised in the UK, living together for at least 2 years, being a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner marrying within 6 months of arriving, or having been in a relationship for at least 2 years while unable to live together.

On evidence, GOV.UK is specific about what it wants, and general supporting material is not a substitute for it. Evidence should come from the government, a bank, a landlord, a utility provider or a medical professional; should confirm the relationship; and should be less than 4 years old. Where none of your evidence meets those criteria, GOV.UK names alternatives — a one-off bill such as vet's fees, letters confirming you are both on the voting register at the same address, or student finance paperwork. Where you cannot live together, it asks instead for evidence of an ongoing commitment: regular communication, financial support, care for children you have together, and time spent together as a couple. See our relationship evidence guide.

An appeal to the First-tier Tribunal is a hearing before a judge at which evidence not in the original application can be put in and both partners can give oral evidence. Rowan does not publish success rates or estimate prospects — the tribunal does not publish outcomes broken down by refusal ground for this route, and an assessment of an individual case is advice, which only a regulated adviser may give.

Refusal Reason: English Language Requirement

A first application on the partner route needs at least level A1 in speaking and listening on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. To stay beyond 2 years and 6 months the level is A2 if you passed A1 first time. Settlement is at B1, rising to B2 from 26 March 2027. It is not B2 for the visa itself.

The requirement can be met in three ways, and only three:

• a degree awarded by a UK institution and taught in English, where the certificate alone is enough;
• a degree taught in English but awarded outside the UK, which needs an Ecctis assessment giving a code confirming it is equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree or higher; or
• a Secure English Language Test with an approved provider. GOV.UK says the test must still be on the approved list of qualifications and the certificate must not have been withdrawn by the provider.

Nationals of a fixed list of countries do not have to prove English at all: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British overseas territories, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Malta, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the USA. English being an official language somewhere does not put that country on the list. There are also exemptions for applicants over 65, for a physical or mental condition preventing the requirement being met, and for people who have been on a family visa for 5 years and are extending as a partner or parent. See our English language tests guide.

Refusal Reason: Accommodation

Paragraph E-ECP.3.4 of Appendix FM requires evidence that there will be adequate accommodation, without recourse to public funds, for the family — including household members who are not part of the application — which the family own or occupy exclusively. The rule then names the two things that make accommodation inadequate: it is, or will be, overcrowded, or it contravenes public health regulations.

Those are the tests. The rules do not require you to own the property, and they do not set a minimum size in square metres. Appendix FM-SE separately asks caseworkers to look at the monthly housing and Council Tax costs of the accommodation you live in or will live in.

Refusal Reason: Suitability

Alongside the eligibility requirements, Appendix FM has a suitability part. It covers criminal convictions, deception in an application, previous breaches of immigration law such as overstaying, and unpaid NHS or litigation debts. Some grounds require refusal and others give the caseworker a discretion; where a ground bites, it can do so however well the financial and relationship requirements are met.

The Home Office's general grounds for refusal guidance sets out how each ground is applied, including which lead to a period during which a further application will be refused and how long that period is in each case. Those periods differ by ground and by how the person left the UK, so the guidance is worth reading rather than summarising.

GOV.UK asks every applicant for details of any previous immigration applications and any criminal convictions. Deception in an application is itself a suitability ground.

The Three Routes After a Refusal

Which routes are open is not a matter of choice. The decision letter says which you have. GOV.UK puts it as: "You can only appeal to the tribunal if you have the legal right to appeal — you'll usually be told if you do in your decision letter", and "Your decision letter will usually tell you if you can apply for an administrative review and if you do not have the right to appeal." The two are alternatives. A partner application is normally treated as a human rights claim, and refusing a human rights claim is on GOV.UK's list of decisions that carry a right of appeal.

Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal

The appeal goes to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), which is independent of government. Evidence that was not in the original application can be put in, and there can be a hearing at which you and your representative attend and give evidence.

• Deadline: 14 days from receiving the decision letter if you are in the UK; 28 days if you are outside it. Where the letter says you must leave the UK before appealing, 28 days from the date you left. A late appeal must explain why, and the tribunal decides whether it can still hear it.
• Fee: £82 without a hearing, £144 with one. You may not have to pay if you get asylum support or legal aid, and there is a separate help-with-fees scheme for people with little or no savings, on certain benefits, or on a low income.
• Hearing: you can ask for one, and the tribunal can decide to hold one even if you do not. Hearings are in public unless you have a reason to ask otherwise.
• How to appeal: online, or by post or email. GOV.UK notes that online appeals are quicker, and that a solicitor or adviser must use the MyHMCTS service. The tribunal can be contacted on 0300 123 1711, Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm, but cannot give legal advice.

GOV.UK publishes no waiting time for a tribunal appeal, so this guide does not give one.

Administrative Review

An administrative review is a check by the Home Office of whether a caseworking error was made. It is available where the decision letter says so — GOV.UK frames it as what may be open "if you're not eligible for an administrative review" on the appeal side and vice versa, so it is generally the alternative to an appeal rather than a step before one.

• Fee: £80.
• Deadline: 14 days from getting the decision if you are in the UK, or 7 days if you were detained on the day you got it. 28 days if you applied and are outside the UK.
• How long: GOV.UK says it can currently take 12 months or more, and that the Home Office will contact you with an update if there is no decision within 6 months.
• It is withdrawn if you apply again. GOV.UK: the request is cancelled if you make any other immigration or visa application, and — in the UK — if you ask for your passport back to travel, or leave the UK. The fee is not refunded.
• A second review cannot be requested unless the first found new reasons for the refusal. The decision letter says whether it can.

A Fresh Application

There is no rule limiting how soon you can apply again or how many times. The fee and the healthcare surcharge are paid again in full each time: £2,064 from outside the UK or £1,407 inside, per person, with £3,105 of surcharge for an adult on a 2 year 9 month grant or £2,587.50 on a 2 year 6 month one. Note the interaction above: making a fresh application cancels any administrative review that is outstanding. See our general refusal guide.

GOV.UK also notes two routes that exist where the ordinary requirements cannot be met: where you have a child in the UK who is a British or Irish citizen or has lived here for 7 years and it would be unreasonable for them to leave, and where refusing you would breach human rights.

What the Refusal Letter Contains

The letter is the document everything else follows from. It states each requirement the decision-maker found was not met, and it states which route is open — a right of appeal, or a right to ask for an administrative review. Both are time-limited from the date you received it, so the date on the letter is the date the clock starts.

Where a decision is a grant rather than a refusal, GOV.UK notes that the decision letter also states whether you have a "standard endorsement", meaning all the requirements were met, or a "non-standard endorsement", meaning only some were but the visa was granted so you could join your family. It adds that the endorsement type may affect when you can apply for settlement.

Advice on an individual refusal — which route to take, and what a case is worth — is regulated work. You can find a regulated immigration adviser on GOV.UK. The regulator is the Immigration Advice Authority, which took over from the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner on 16 January 2025.

What the Rules Require, in One Place

Rather than a strategy, here is the published requirement behind each ground, so a refusal letter can be read against it:

• Money. £29,000 a year in combined income for a first application on or after 11 April 2024, not rising for children; or £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall in cash savings, held 6 months. Which evidence is specified depends on the category the income falls into — see our Category A and Category B guides, and the financial documents guide.
• Relationship. One of GOV.UK's four ways of proving it, plus evidence from a government body, bank, landlord, utility provider or medical professional, less than 4 years old. See our relationship evidence guide.
• English. At least A1 in speaking and listening for a first application, from an approved provider, or a qualifying degree, or an exemption.
• Accommodation. Adequate, without recourse to public funds, owned or occupied exclusively by the family, not overcrowded and not in breach of public health regulations.
• Declarations. GOV.UK asks for details of previous immigration applications and of any criminal convictions.

And the rule that is easiest to forget: under Appendix FM-SE paragraph D, a document that is missing, in the wrong format or incomplete can be requested, verified elsewhere or waived. The absence of a document the rules do not specify is not a ground of refusal at all.

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