Withdrawing and Reapplying for a Spouse Visa: UK Guide
What the published rules say about cancelling a UK spouse visa application: when it can be done, what is refunded, what happens to permission to stay, and the point at which the money stops coming back.
- Section
- Spouse & Partner Visa
- Reading time
- 9 min
- Last checked
- 22 March 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
- A withdrawal request can be made at any time before a decision, under paragraph 34H of the Immigration Rules.
- The application fee is refunded if fingerprints and a photograph have not yet been given, and not usually once they have.
- The immigration health surcharge is refunded in full on any cancellation before a decision — automatically.
- The Home Office is not obliged to accept a withdrawal and may decide the application instead.
- Cancelling can end permission to stay for someone inside the UK relying on section 3C.
Paragraph 34H of the Immigration Rules allows a withdrawal request at any time before a decision. GOV.UK now handles this through an online cancellation service. The application fee is refunded if fingerprints and a photograph have not yet been given, and not usually afterwards; the immigration health surcharge is refunded in full whenever the cancellation comes before a decision. A person inside the UK may lose their permission to stay.
What The Rules Allow
Paragraph 34H of the Immigration Rules permits a request to withdraw an application for entry clearance, permission to enter, or permission to stay, at any time before a decision is made on it. The Home Office caseworker guidance sets out two ways to make that request: a written request by email or post, or GOV.UK's online cancellation service.
Two limits are worth knowing before anything else. The first is timing: GOV.UK states that an application can only be cancelled while a decision is still pending. The second is that a withdrawal request is a request. The guidance says there is no requirement to agree to it, and that a caseworker may decide the application instead — most commonly where deception is suspected, for example where fraudulent documents have knowingly been submitted.
GOV.UK also flags two situations where cancelling may not be what is wanted at all. Where the aim is only to get a passport and other documents back, there is a separate service for that. And where the aim is to apply for a different visa from inside the UK, there is a separate route for varying an application rather than cancelling it. Once a cancellation has been received by UK Visas and Immigration, it cannot be stopped.
The situations people usually have in mind are a gap in the evidence for the financial requirement, a change in circumstances since applying, or information submitted in error. What the rules say about each of those is the same: the request can be made until a decision is issued.
How to Withdraw
GOV.UK now runs this through an online service, and which route to take depends on how identity was to be proved on the original application — by appointment, or through the UK Immigration: ID Check app. GOV.UK adds that the appointment route should be followed even where an applicant was later told no appointment was needed.
If An Appointment Was Required
For an application made inside the UK, cancel through the GOV.UK cancellation service.
For an application made outside the UK, sign in to the application account using the link from the sign-up email, and cancel under "Section 6: further actions". Any appointments already booked at a visa application centre also have to be cancelled separately.
If The ID Check App Was Used
Sign in to the UK Visas and Immigration account using the link from the sign-up email, go to the dashboard, and select "Withdraw this application".
EU Settlement Scheme Applications
These are cancelled online through their own service, separate from the routes above.
The caseworker guidance also preserves the older method: a written request by email or post. It records that the date of withdrawal is the date the request is received by the Home Office, and that an ambiguous request must be confirmed with the applicant before it is acted on. Contact routes are on the GOV.UK contact page for UK Visas and Immigration.
What Is Refunded
Rowan previously stated that the application fee is never refunded. That was wrong, and the correction is worth reading carefully, because timing decides it.
Application Fee
Where an appointment was required, GOV.UK states that the fee is refunded if fingerprints and a photograph have not yet been given, and will not usually be refunded once they have. That single appointment is the line.
Where the ID Check app was used, the fee is refunded if "confirm and upload" has not been selected in the app — either to upload evidence or to confirm there is nothing to upload — or if the application is withdrawn before the deadline given for uploading evidence.
Nothing has to be asked for. GOV.UK states that the refund is paid automatically to the card or account used, within 4 weeks of cancelling.
Immigration Health Surcharge
Simpler, and more generous. The immigration health surcharge is refunded in full where an application is cancelled before a decision has been made — regardless of whether fingerprints have been given. It is paid automatically, within 6 weeks. See our guide to health surcharge refunds.
Priority Service Fee
This one is not automatic. GOV.UK states that a refund of the priority service fee has to be asked for.
Two Things That Delay Or Block A Refund
GOV.UK asks that a change of bank account be reported to UK Visas and Immigration, and warns not to send new bank details unless asked for them — the contact page can be used to check that a request is genuine. It also states that where an applicant has asked their bank to reverse the payment, a chargeback, the refund takes longer, and that if the bank cancelled the payment there will be no refund at all.
A new application means paying the fee and the health surcharge again. Our cost breakdown sets out the published figures.
What Happens To Permission To Stay
This is the part that matters most for someone already in the UK, and it is the part most often left out. GOV.UK warns simply that "you may lose your permission to stay here if you're in the UK". The caseworker guidance sets out three distinct outcomes:
- Valid application, original permission still running. The application is withdrawn and the existing permission continues.
- Valid application, original permission already expired and extended by section 3C. Permission ends on the date the application is withdrawn.
- Application not yet valid, original permission already expired. Permission is treated as having expired on the date the earlier grant came to an end — not on the date of withdrawal.
A separate rule catches travel. Where a person with a pending application for permission to stay leaves the common travel area before a decision, the guidance directs that the application be treated as withdrawn on the date they left — whether or not they told the Home Office, and including where it is discovered later through exit checks.
A withdrawal is not a decision, so it is not a refusal. GOV.UK does not publish anything about how a cancelled application is treated when a later one is assessed, and Rowan does not fill that gap with guesswork. Our guide on how visa refusals affect future applications covers what is published about refusals.
Reapplying After Withdrawal
The Immigration Rules impose no waiting period after a withdrawal. A new application is a new application, assessed against the rules in force on the date it is made.
Two published points bear on the timing of a fresh application. Paragraph A1(l) of Appendix FM-SE requires that evidence covering a period ending with the date of application must be dated no earlier than 28 days before that date, so financial evidence assembled for the first application goes out of date. And the income requirement applied is the one in force when the new application is made: £29,000 for a first application, or the transitional £18,600 figure with child uplifts where the first application predated 11 April 2024.
An adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority can advise on an individual case; our guide to using an adviser explains how to check registration. The published grounds are set out in our guide to refusal reasons.
Getting Documents Back Without Cancelling
GOV.UK draws a distinction here that saves people from cancelling unnecessarily. There is a separate service for asking for a passport and other documents to be returned while an application is pending, and GOV.UK says explicitly that cancelling may not be needed if that is all that is wanted.
The warning attached to it is that the application may have to be cancelled in order to get the documents back — so the two are connected, but they are not the same request, and starting with the documents request keeps the application alive where possible.
The family visa guidance is on GOV.UK.
Next Steps
Three published facts set the shape of this decision: a withdrawal request can be made only while a decision is pending; the application fee comes back only if fingerprints and a photograph have not yet been given; and permission to stay under section 3C ends on the date of withdrawal. The health surcharge comes back either way.
Related guides:
Questions and answers
Do I get a refund if I withdraw my spouse visa application?
It depends entirely on the stage the application has reached, and the dividing line is the appointment for fingerprints and a photograph. GOV.UK states that the application fee is refunded where those have not yet been given, and will not usually be refunded once they have. The immigration health surcharge is different: it is refunded in full whenever an application is cancelled before a decision. Neither refund has to be asked for — both are paid automatically to the card or account used. The priority service fee does have to be asked for.
Does withdrawing a spouse visa application count as a refusal?
A withdrawal is not a decision, so it is not a refusal. GOV.UK does not publish any statement about how a cancelled application is treated when a later application is assessed, and Rowan does not speculate about that. One thing the caseworker guidance does say is that the Home Office is not obliged to accept a withdrawal request: it can decide the application instead, and the guidance names suspected deception, such as knowingly submitted fraudulent documents, as the most common reason for doing so.
How do I withdraw my spouse visa application?
Paragraph 34H of the Immigration Rules allows a withdrawal request at any time before a decision is made, by written request by email or post, or through GOV.UK's online 'Cancel your visa, immigration or citizenship application' service. For an application made inside the UK, cancel online. For one made outside the UK, sign in to the application account using the link from the sign-up email and use 'Section 6: further actions', then cancel any visa application centre appointments. Where the ID Check app was used, sign in to the UK Visas and Immigration account and select 'Withdraw this application'.
What happens to permission to stay in the UK?
GOV.UK warns that a person in the UK may lose their permission to stay by cancelling. The caseworker guidance is more specific. Where a valid in-time application is withdrawn and the applicant still holds their original permission, that permission continues. Where the original permission had already expired and the applicant was relying on section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971, withdrawing a valid application ends that permission on the date of withdrawal. If the application was not yet valid at that point, the permission is treated as having expired on the date the earlier grant ended.
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.