ILR Spouse Visa: Settling After 5 Years as a Partner
See when your five years finish and when you can apply by entering the day your first partner visa started.
Put in the date and you will see the day you can apply.
An ILR spouse visa allows you to settle in the UK for good after five continuous years on a partner family visa. Settlement, the everyday name for indefinite leave to remain, allows you to live and work in the UK with no further visa. Your form may be submitted at any point in the last 28 days before the five years are complete. Each person who applies pays £3,226 for the application.
For a Spouse, Unmarried Partner, or Fiancé Visa, How Many Years Are Needed?
The standard route to settlement requires a family visa held with one partner for five years in a row in the UK. The count begins on the first day you held permission as a partner.
Time in the UK as a proposed civil partner or on a fiancé visa does not count toward your five years. Only after you are granted a spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner visa does time start counting toward your five years.
Financial Requirement for a Spouse Visa in 2026
The annual income that you and your partner must prove on the five-year route depends on the date of your first partner visa application. Your combined yearly income must reach at least £29,000 if your first application came on or after 11 April 2024.
When your first partner application was made before 11 April 2024, the financial rules generally ask for at least £18,600 a year. For your first child, add a further £3,800 to that amount.
| Partner Route and First Application Date | Yearly Income Needed |
|---|---|
| Five-year route, on or after 11 April 2024 | At least £29,000 combined |
| Five-year route, before 11 April 2024 | Generally at least £18,600, with a further £3,800 for the first child |
| 10-year partner route | No financial requirement |
Spouse Visa UK Requirements for English
When you apply to settle, you have to show your speaking and listening ability in English. If your application is dated before 26 March 2027, you need B1 for speaking and listening. At that level, you can manage an everyday chat about topics you know well.
If your application date falls on or after 26 March 2027, the grade you need goes up to B2. You can follow detailed discussions and speak with greater ease at the B2 upper-intermediate level.
Sharing a Home on a UK Family Visa
The 180-day absence rule that restricts travel on work visas does not apply to the five-year partner route. During your five years, there is no set limit on days spent outside the UK.
What you must show instead is that you and your partner have lived together in the UK since your most recent visa was granted.
Rules for the UK Spouse Visa 10 Year Route
The 10-year partner route requires 10 continuous years in the UK, including at least one year with permission based on your relationship. You may also count periods on other settlement routes, and you do not have to meet any financial requirement.
The 10-year partner route, unlike the five-year route, is subject to the 180-day absence limit. Trips abroad to support family overseas, study, or work do not count toward the limit as long as your family life stayed in the UK.
Is there any change coming to ILR for those married to a British citizen?
Plans for earned settlement from the government would alter the waiting time before some visa holders can qualify for settlement.
Partners of British citizens would still have a five-year qualifying period under the published consultation plans.