Successful Sponsor Licence Application
Efficient and helpful. Amer and his Team are quick to respond to queries, even over the weekends and at night. Sponsor Licence granted after only 4 weeks. Thanks.
Daniel Johnson
Bring Your Spouse To The UK
Our immigration solicitors can help you to join your partner in the UK if you are a non-UK national. No case is too complex for our team when assisting clients to apply for the UK spouse visa.
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If you are a national of a country other than the UK, and your spouse is a British citizen or a UK settled person, you might wish to spend time with them in the UK. Our spouse visa UK solicitors can help you obtain the visa enabling you to accompany your spouse in the UK for more than six months.
UK immigration law can be extremely complicated and challenging to navigate. Prospective applicants for the spouse visa for the UK are therefore likely to appreciate the knowledge and experience of our central London lawyers, who will be able to assist them in their efforts to secure this visa at the first attempt.
Our team at Cranbrook Legal has helped a wide range of non-UK national spouses to join their UK partner. We can offer various spouse visa packages, and can handle even the most demanding and specialised cases.
You will stand a much better chance of being successful with your UK spouse visa application if you receive professional help to fulfil the Home Office’s requirements. Our SRA-regulated UK spouse visa lawyers can hold your hand through every stage of the application process for this visa, answering all your questions and handling your case with the utmost care, dignity and integrity.
Book your consultation now with our immigration specialists to discuss how we can help you secure the best possible outcome.
Recent Spouse Visa Success Stories
If you wish to apply for a visa as a spouse for the UK, and you are applying from outside the UK, the fee for this is £1,523; for those applying while in the UK, the fee is £1,033.
In the event that you wish to add a dependant to your application, the fee will – again – be £1,523 for each person added if you are applying while outside the UK, and £1,033 for each person if you are applying from within the UK.
There are certain circumstances in which you might not be able to pay the fee for a UK spouse visa application. If any of the below are true and prevent you from paying the charge, you have the option of filling in UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)’s online fee waiver request form:
There are also certain other spouse visa UK financial requirements that you will need to meet in relation to your income; more details about this are provided further down this page.
Cranbrook Legal is an award-winning UK immigration law firm, with more than 25 years’ experience in the UK immigration sector. Our wide-ranging and in-depth expertise and track record leaves us well-placed to guide and assist you through the UK spouse visa application process.
Our progressive and dynamic UK spouse visa solicitors are committed to delivering a first-class service to those who wish to obtain this visa so that they can accompany their spouse in the UK.
We are capable and experienced in helping couples in an extremely wide range of circumstances when it comes to this visa category. We are highly knowledgeable about the Home Office’s requirements, and will communicate with you throughout the process to maximise your likelihood of a successful application.
Furthermore, we operate on the basis of a fixed fee, agreed with you at the outset of your case. This will give you crucial financial certainty, with no need to worry about hidden charges or costs. To find out more about our service, please call 0208 215 0053.
The UK spouse visa – also sometimes referred to as the marriage visa –is a visa route that enables non-UK nationals to join their partner in the UK.
A subcategory of the UK family visa, the spousal visa is the visa type that would allow you to spend more than six months living with your spouse in the UK. If you intend to visit your spouse in the UK for less than six months, you might instead seek out a Standard Visitor visa or Marriage Visitor visa; our experts in UK immigration law can advise you on your options.
Securing this UK visa as a spouse would give you the right to stay in the UK for two years and nine months. For those applying for the equivalent visa as a fiancé, fiancée, or proposed civil partner, this stay is limited to six months. After this period has passed, you will be required to apply for a visa extension in order to stay for longer.
If you are successful in extending this visa, or switching to this visa from another visa category in the UK, you will be permitted to stay in the UK for two years and six months.
In order to apply for a UK family visa as a spouse, both you and your partner must be at least 18 years old. In addition, your partner is required to either:
It is also crucial that you and your partner intend to live together permanently in the UK, following your successful UK spouse visa application.
If your partner has settled status, you may have the option of applying to the free EU Settlement Scheme or for a family permit.
Those interested in applying for the UK spousal visa or partner visa will need to prove that one of the below is true:
Please consult our dedicated pages for the UK fiancé visa and civil partner visa if any of these routes may represent a better match to your circumstances and requirements.
If you wish to apply for a visa as a spouse in the UK, you must also prove that you:
In the event that you fail to satisfy the above requirements, it might still be possible for you to submit a visa application or have your permission to stay extended if:
For an in-depth conversation about the complete range of spouse visa requirements and how we can help you fulfil them, please make an enquiry today to our immigration specialists.
Why Customers Love Us ?
Successful Sponsor Licence Application
Efficient and helpful. Amer and his Team are quick to respond to queries, even over the weekends and at night. Sponsor Licence granted after only 4 weeks. Thanks.
Daniel Johnson
Care Home Sponsor Licence Application!
We used Cranbrook Legal for the processing of a Sponsor Licence Application. We are a Health Care provider and have faced huge difficulties in recruiting for our Care Homes. Amer and his team were quick to identify the documents needed for our specific case and they were able to prepare a really strong application. I have no doubt that the really good Cover Letter convinced the Home Office to approve our Application. Thanks again, superb work!
Sophie Barton
ILR Application
Thanks to Amer and team for all help given to me my indefinite visa and British citizenship : so many solicitor tell me that British Nationality is impossible for me but Amer looked at my file and took care and fight with Home Office and in the end they give up and give me British Nationality .thank you for Amer and Cranbrook team
Hossan Ali
A key part of the spouse visa UK requirements is the provision of a wide range of documentation, as will be crucial to your efforts to present the strongest possible case for this visa.
The Home Office will expect you to provide the following details and evidence:
If you are submitting your UK spouse visa application from outside the UK, you will need to have a blank page in your passport on which to put the visa.
It will also be necessary when applying for the spouse visa for the UK to give proof of your finances, in addition to proving your knowledge of the English language. There are also further documents that you may need to supply to the Home Office, depending on your circumstances.
Proving your relationship is just one of the important spouse visa requirements. The evidence that you provide of this should:
The below documents are examples of items that you might use for this:
If you lack evidence that satisfies these criteria, there is alternative evidence you can supply to the Home Office. Examples of such evidence include:
For more tailored advice and information in relation to the documents you could supply to strengthen your case for this visa, please make an enquiry today to our spouse visa solicitors.
Your marriage will be recognised in the UK if both of the following are the case:
With regard to the UK law requirement, individuals wishing to get married in England or Wales must be at least 16 years old, and if they are under 18, they need permission from their parents or guardians to enter into a marriage. They must also not be closely related to the person to whom they intend to get married.
A key component of the UK spouse visa application process is proving to the Home Office that your relationship is genuine. As detailed above, there are various documents that you can provide as part of your application to show this, including – but not limited to – a marriage certificate.
Why Choose Us For Your Spouse Visa UK?
As an applicant for the spousal visa for the UK, you will be expected by the Home Office to have a combined income with your partner of no less than £18,600 a year.
The below examples can all count as income for those applying for a visa as a spouse in the UK:
Applicants for the spouse UK visa who are using income from self-employment or employment are expected to prove that they or their partner received that income for six months or more.
Proof of your income will need to be submitted as part of your UK spouse visa application. If you or your spouse are employed, you could include:
The Home Office will expect such an employer’s letter to confirm:
You will be told the exact documents you need to provide for this purpose when you apply online for your spouse visa for the UK. For more specific advice and guidance – including if the income you and your partner have is more complicated, or if you wish to combine different sources of income – please do not hesitate to book a consultation with our UK spouse visa solicitors.
It will usually be necessary for you and your spouse to satisfy the minimum income requirement if you wish to settle in five years as a partner – otherwise, it might be possible for you to settle in the UK in 10 years.
If you are applying from outside the UK for a spouse visa, you can usually expect to receive a decision on this within 12 weeks. For those applying from within the UK, meanwhile, the wait for a decision is typically up to about eight weeks from the date of application, presuming they use the standard service.
It might be possible for those applying within the UK to pay an additional £800 for the super priority service, so that they can receive a quicker decision. If you use this service, you can normally expect a decision to be made:
There are certain more complex circumstances in which your application might take longer to be processed – for example, if you:
Presuming your UK spouse visa application is successful, this will be confirmed in a Home Office decision letter. It will then take up to a further 10 working days for your biometric residence permit to arrive.
Those who are approved for a spousal visa after providing their biometric information at a visa application centre will receive a sticker – also referred to as a ‘vignette’ – that will go in their passport.
This vignette will show the visa that the successful applicant has been granted, as well as the period of time for which the visa is valid (start and end dates), and the visa conditions – in other words, what the visa holder can and cannot do during their time in the UK. For more information, please call 0208 215 0053.
In the event that your application for the UK spousal visa is refused, you will normally be entitled to appeal against the decision if you think it was unfair. The letter of refusal will inform you whether you have the right to appeal.
If you are eligible to appeal the Home Office’s decision, you will be able to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) on human rights grounds.
Alternatively, you might be best advised to simply submit a new UK spouse visa application, especially if you lack concrete grounds to appeal the refusal of your previous application.
If you have been refused for this visa and would like to talk through your options with highly capable and knowledgeable spouse visa lawyers, please make an enquiry to our team today.
What Our Customers Say About Us
Very good experience, despite never even meeting or seeing the lawyers (phone/zoom/email). They were very meticulous in checking all our documents were complete, and my VISA
Auri
The British spousal visa process is a horrendous ordeal full of incomplete and misleading information, traps and pitfalls designed to make only the smartest (or richest)
Tom Dennehy
Was super impressed with Cranbrook Legal. They were efficient and friendly, and most importantly really explained the process properly and simply. We secured our sponsor licence
Annabel Fox
Thank you so much to Mr. Muhammad Ali and also thanks to Cranbrook Legal team for making my visa application stress free and easy. Their clear
Sagoon Thapa
I cannot thank Cranbrook Legal enough for their exceptional service in helping me secure my Skilled Worker visa for the UK. From the initial consultation to
Hazhar Shekha
Broadly speaking, a marriage that may or may not have taken place in the UK will be recognised in the UK if the correct process was followed for this marriage in the country where it took place, and if it would be permitted under UK law.
The situation with religious marriages is more complicated. For instance, in the case of religious marriages that have the potential to become polygamous marriages (allowing the male partner to have more than one wife), it will not usually be possible to apply for a spouse visa for more than one wife.
A religious marriage is not normally considered to be legally valid in England and Wales unless it takes place in a registered building. Nonetheless, there is a range of documents that applicants for a partner or spouse visa for the UK can provide to the Home Office, to help show that their relationship is genuine – and a marriage certificate is just one of these.
If you are considered a self-employed person under the Immigration Rules, you will need to provide the Home Office with evidence that you meet the spouse visa UK financial requirements.
You can rely on self-employment when applying for a visa as a spouse in the UK, as any of the following:
As an applicant for the spousal visa through any of these routes, the Home Office will expect you to provide:
It is also necessary to supply evidence to the Home Office that your self-employment is ongoing at the time of your application. In addition, you must provide one of the below:
You may be seeking a UK visa as a spouse who is also a director or employee of a specified limited UK company. For the purposes of applying for this visa, a specified limited company is a UK registered company in which:
If you are a director or employee of a specified limited company in accordance with the above definition, you will be expected to provide what may prove to be a significant volume of evidence that you satisfy the financial requirements for this visa.
This evidence will need to cover the company’s last full financial year, and should include, among other documents:
Furthermore, the Home Office will require you to provide evidence that you actually received income, in the form of:
Our spouse visa UK lawyers can assist you with the gathering and analysis of these documents for your application, to help ensure the evidence you provide is consistent and complete, in addition to meeting the Home Office’s requirements.
As aforementioned, applicants for the spouse visa for the UK are required to have a combined income with their partner of a minimum of £18,600 a year, including if they wish to settle in the UK (a status also known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’) within five years.
You will be expected to prove that you have additional money if you have children who:
It might not be necessary for you to prove you have extra money if your children are citizens of the European Union (EU), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, and they do not have pre-settled status or are not permanently settled in the UK.
If you do need to prove you have additional money as part of your UK spouse visa application, you will be required to earn an additional:
This is also referred to as the ‘minimum income requirement’. It may be possible for you to use your savings rather than income. The manner by which you got the income will determine how you prove you have this money when applying for a UK spousal visa.
It may be necessary for you to pay the Immigration HealthSurcharge (IHS) as part of your application for the spouse UK visa, including for any children who are joining you in the UK as your dependants.
If you do need to pay the surcharge, you can do this as part of your application online, or when you book an appointment. You will then be able to start using the National Health Service (NHS) once you have paid the surcharge (or have confirmed you are exempt from paying it) and the Home Office has granted you a spousal visa for the UK.
There are certain individuals who will not need to pay the surcharge but will still be able to use the NHS. The following, for instance, will still need to obtain an IHS reference number, but will not be required to pay:
The amount that you can expect to pay as part of a UK spouse visa application is as follows:
For more information and guidance about the healthcare surcharge if you are interested in joining your partner in the UK, please contact our UK spouse visa lawyers today.
You will need to take a tuberculosis (TB) test if you are resident in any of the Home Office’s listed countries in relation to this, and you intend to come to the UK for more than six months. This includes when you are applying for a UK visa as a spouse, with the results of this test needing to be provided to the Home Office.
If this is one of the spouse visa UK requirements for you, it will be necessary to take the test at a clinic that has been approved by the Home Office. The test will involve you being given a chest x-ray; in the event of the result of the x-ray being unclear, you may also be asked to provide a sputum sample, which is phlegm coughed up from your lungs.
If the test shows that you do not have TB, you will be presented with a certificate that will remain valid for six months from the date of your x-ray, and this certificate will need to be included with your UK spouse visa application.
You will not need to undergo a TB test if any of the following is the case:
For more detailed advice and guidance in relation to the full range of spouse visa requirements that will apply to you –including in relation to any tuberculosis testing that may be expected by the Home Office – please contact our capable and experienced immigration lawyers. You can call us on 0208 215 0053.
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