How to Apply for a UK Marriage Visa

Four months. That’s how long a friend of mine waited for a UK spouse visa decision — only to get refused because his payslips showed his net salary, not gross. Nobody told him that distinction matters. The Home Office sent back a two-page refusal letter, the £2,064 fee was gone, and he had to start from scratch.

That kind of thing is avoidable. Completely. The UK granted 42,251 partner visas in the year ending June 2025 (GOV.UK Immigration System Statistics, 2025), with a 92.38% approval rate on completed applications. So the system isn’t designed to fail you — but it will punish sloppy paperwork without a second thought.

This guide covers both the fiancé and spouse visa routes, step by step. Not the watered-down version. The actual process, with the numbers and gotchas included.

Quick facts before you read on:
• Approval rate: 92.38% for resolved applications, year ending March 2026 (ES Consultancy / Home Office data)
• Income floor: £29,000/year gross — up from £18,600 since April 2024 (House of Commons Library, Dec 2025)
• Total cost before you even land: roughly £5,188 to £5,688 depending on processing speed
• Wait time: 12 weeks from outside the UK; 8 weeks if applying in-country

Fiancé Visa or Spouse Visa — Which One Are You Applying For?

This is the first decision you need to make, and it shapes everything that follows.

If you’re not yet married, you want the fiancé visa (officially called the Prospective Spouse Visa). It gives your partner up to 6 months inside the UK to get the wedding done. After that, they have to switch to a spouse visa — you cannot extend the fiancé visa, and you can’t leave and re-enter on it once married. The switch happens in-country, period.

If you’re already married or in a civil partnership, you’re going straight for the spouse visa. That gets your partner 2 years and 9 months of leave to remain, then a 2.5-year extension, then eventually Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) after 5 years total.

The eligibility rules — income, relationship evidence, English language — are nearly identical for both. So everything below applies to you whichever route you’re taking, unless I say otherwise.

One thing most guides don’t mention: the 6-month fiancé visa window starts the day your partner enters the UK — not the day the visa is issued. If the visa takes 10 weeks to come through and they wait another month before travelling, they’ve already eaten into that window. Plan the wedding date around the entry date, not the approval date.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

Run through this list before you open the application. Missing any of these will stall or kill the application — better to know now than after you’ve paid.

• A UK sponsor — British citizen or someone with settled status (ILR/permanent residence) who’s actually living here
• Proof the sponsor earns £29,000+ gross per year, or has at least £88,500 in savings
• Relationship evidence that shows a genuine, ongoing relationship — photos across different years, chat history, call logs, joint documents, marriage certificate if applicable
• English language proof — an approved SELT test at A1 level, a degree taught in English, or a passport from an exempt country (USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, and a few others)
• Accommodation proof — a UK address that can house both of you without relying on public funds
• A valid passport for the applicant with enough validity to cover the visa period

Time-wise: the online form takes 3–6 hours if your documents are organised. The decision takes around 12 weeks from outside the UK. This isn’t a process you rush into the night before you need it.

Step 1: Sort Out the Money First

This is where most applications collapse. Not because people are lying — but because they don’t know the rules around what counts.

Since April 2024, the sponsor needs to earn at least £29,000 gross per year (House of Commons Library, December 2025). That replaced the old £18,600 figure — a jump of over £10,000 that knocked a lot of couples out of eligibility overnight. The Migration Advisory Committee took a look at it in mid-2025 and said the right number is probably somewhere between £21,000–£28,000. The government ignored that. £29,000 is still the floor.

Here’s what counts toward that number — and what doesn’t:

1. Employment salary — gross only, not take-home. Six months of payslips plus an employer letter. This is the bit my friend got wrong.
2. Self-employment profit — the lower of your last two years’ net profit, backed up by HMRC SA302 forms
3. Other income — rental, dividends, pension all count, but each type has its own evidence requirements
4. Savings — if the salary isn’t there, £88,500 in savings can fill the gap (or a mix of savings and income using a formula)
5. The applicant’s overseas income — doesn’t count at all, unless they’re already working legally in the UK

Before anything else: pull the last 6 payslips, multiply the gross monthly figure by 12, and see where you land. If it’s under £29,000, figure out your savings position before spending a penny on fees.

Step 2: Build Your Document Bundle

Nearly 30% of refused partner visa applications in 2024–2025 were rejected because of the financial requirement (GOV.UK, 2025). The second biggest reason? Thin relationship evidence. These two categories are where the work is.

Relationship evidence needs to show a real, ongoing life together. That means photos — not just a wedding shot, but candid pictures from different years, different locations, different occasions. WhatsApp export files, email threads, call logs going back at least 12 months. If you have joint finances, a shared tenancy, travel bookings made together — all of that goes in. A caseworker is specifically trained to spot a thin file. Don’t give them the chance.

Financial documents: 6 months of payslips (originals or certified copies), an employment contract or employer letter, 6 months of bank statements showing salary deposits. Self-employed? You’ll need your HMRC SA302 forms and tax year overviews for the last two years.

Accommodation: If renting, a tenancy agreement with at least 6 months still to run. If you own, land registry documents or a mortgage statement. The address needs to be big enough for both of you — overcrowding is a ground for refusal people don’t expect.

English language: Either an approved SELT (IELTS for UKVI, Trinity GESE, Pearson) at A1 level or above, a degree certificate with confirmation it was taught in English, or a passport from an exempt nationality. If you’re not exempt and you haven’t booked the test yet, do it now — popular SELT slots fill up weeks ahead.

ID documents: Current passport for the applicant, passport or BRP for the UK sponsor, birth certificates for both if you have them.

Scan everything at 300 dpi minimum. Not phone camera photos of documents — actual scans. Blurry uploads get flagged before a human even looks at the file.

Step 3: Submit the Application and Pay the Fees

The application is entirely online through GOV.UK. No paper forms. Here’s what you’re paying at checkout — and it adds up faster than most people expect.

The visa fee is £2,064 for an out-of-country application (Home Office, 2025). If you’re switching in-country, it’s around £1,048. Then comes the Immigration Health Surcharge — £1,035 per year, per person, paid upfront for the full visa period (DavidsonMorris, 2025). For a 33-month spouse visa, that’s £3,105 before you’ve even had a decision. Add £19.20 for biometrics. Total: roughly £5,188 on standard processing, or around £5,688 if you pay for priority.

None of it comes back if you’re refused. That’s not a scare tactic — it’s just worth knowing before you submit a file that isn’t ready.

The form itself: create a UKVI account at gov.uk, select “Apply for a visa to come to the UK” then “To join or accompany family,” fill in personal details and travel history, upload your documents (PDF or JPEG, max 6MB each), pay, and save your GWF reference number. You’ll need that number for every step after this.

Step 4: Attend Your Biometrics Appointment

After submitting, you’ll book an appointment at a Visa Application Centre — run by either TLScontact or VFS Global depending on your country. Bring your original passport (not a photocopy), the appointment confirmation, the IHS receipt, and any documents you didn’t upload digitally.

They take 10 fingerprints and a photo. The whole thing takes under an hour, usually. Your passport might be held at the centre until a decision lands — so don’t plan any international travel in the meantime.

On timing: standard processing runs 12 weeks from outside the UK (GOV.UK, 2025). Pay for priority and it comes down to around 30 working days. Super-priority (in-country switching only) gets you a decision within 24 hours for an extra £1,000. Worth it for some people, overkill for others.

One practical note: in high-demand countries — Nigeria, India, Pakistan — VAC appointment slots book up weeks in advance. Book yours the same day you submit the online form, not after you get a confirmation email.

Step 5: Enter the UK — and If You’re on a Fiancé Visa, Get Married Before the Clock Runs Out

Once the visa lands in your passport, travel planning begins. At the UK border, a Border Force officer stamps your entry. That stamp is when the 6-month fiancé visa window starts — not the visa issue date, not the booking date. The entry date.

From there, the fiancé route goes like this: give notice of marriage at a local register office (some have a 28-day waiting period after notice, so do this within the first couple of weeks), get married before 6 months is up, then submit the in-country switch to a spouse visa before the fiancé visa expires. Don’t wait until the last week. Biometrics appointments have delays too.

If you’re already on a spouse visa, you have 33 months. At the 30-month mark, apply for the 2.5-year extension. After 5 years total on the family route, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Step 6: Track the Application and Keep Your Phone On

You can watch the status through your UKVI online account using the GWF number. It moves through “received” to “being processed” to “decided.” Not exactly thrilling to watch, but check it every few days rather than refreshing hourly — it won’t change faster than that.

If a caseworker needs something extra, you’ll get an email. Respond fast — typically 10 working days is the limit. Miss that window and the application can be refused on that basis alone, even if everything else was fine.

And if your passport is sitting at the VAC: don’t book flights. Don’t arrange travel. Wait for it to come back.

For context on the numbers: partner visa grants dropped 27% between 2024 and 2025 — from 57,946 down to 42,251 (GOV.UK, 2025). That drop wasn’t refusals going up. It was applications going down after the income threshold jumped to £29,000. The 92.38% approval rate held steady. Which tells you something: the people who do apply and do it properly almost always get through.

Five Mistakes That Kill Applications

30% of refusals come down to the financial requirement alone (GOV.UK, 2025). The others are mostly avoidable too.

1. Submitting net salary instead of gross. UKVI wants gross figures. Your take-home pay after tax is not what they’re looking at. Even if your gross clearly exceeds £29,000, submitting net figures raises questions. Use gross on everything.

2. Applying right after a pay rise. If the sponsor just got promoted to £30,000 last month, that’s great — but UKVI wants to see the income is stable, not a recent jump. Six months of payslips at the qualifying level is safer. One or two months and they’ll question it.

3. Weak relationship evidence. Twenty photos from a single weekend trip don’t show a genuine ongoing relationship. Spread your evidence across time and place. Include the mundane stuff — a shared Netflix subscription, grocery orders to the same address, a year of WhatsApp messages. Caseworkers are looking for a life together, not a highlight reel.

4. Assuming your degree proves English. It does — but only if the institution sends a letter specifically confirming teaching was in English. A degree certificate alone isn’t enough. And if that letter takes 3 weeks to arrive, that’s 3 weeks your application is sitting incomplete. Sort this early.

5. Leaving the fiancé-to-spouse switch too late. The in-country switching application has to go in before the fiancé visa expires — not by the wedding date, not close to expiry. Allow at least 8 weeks between your biometrics appointment and the visa expiry date. VAC slots don’t always appear on demand.

What Approval Actually Looks Like

A decision email arrives. You log into UKVI. For out-of-country applications, there’s a vignette visa in your passport — valid for 30 days of travel into the UK. Once you arrive, you collect a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) from a designated UK Post Office, or access a digital eVisa through your UKVI account if your visa falls under the newer system.

Worth knowing: since 2024, the UK has been moving away from physical BRPs toward digital eVisas. If your visa expires after December 2024, check which format you’re getting — the collection process is different, and showing up at the Post Office expecting a card that isn’t there is a preventable headache.

For fiancé visa holders, approval means a 6-month entry stamp. After the wedding, the in-country switch to a spouse visa needs to happen within that window. Don’t sit on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the total cost of a UK marriage visa in 2026?

For an out-of-country application: £2,064 visa fee + £3,105 Immigration Health Surcharge (£1,035/year for 33 months) + £19.20 biometrics = roughly £5,188 on standard processing (Home Office, 2025). Priority service adds ~£500. None of it’s refundable on refusal, so get the application right before you pay.

How long does the UK spouse visa take?

Outside the UK: 12 weeks on standard processing (GOV.UK, 2025). Priority knocks it to around 30 working days for an extra ~£500. In-country switching takes about 8 weeks standard, or 24 hours with super-priority (£1,000 extra, in-country only). Those timelines run from biometrics appointment, not submission date.

What salary does the UK sponsor need to earn?

At least £29,000 gross per year since April 2024 — up from £18,600 (House of Commons Library, December 2025). Savings of £88,500 can substitute if the salary isn’t there. The applicant’s overseas income doesn’t count toward that figure unless they’re already working legally in the UK.

What happens after a refusal?

You get a refusal letter laying out the specific reasons. There’s no mandatory waiting period — you can reapply straight away, but you’ll pay all the fees again. The 92.38% approval rate (ES Consultancy / Home Office data, 2026) suggests most refusals are fixable with better documentation. Read the refusal letter carefully and address every point before reapplying.

Can the applicant work on a spouse or fiancé visa?

Spouse visa holders can work without restriction from day one of entry. Fiancé visa holders cannot work at all — the fiancé visa is strictly for entering the UK to get married. Work rights kick in only after the in-country switch to a spouse visa goes through.

Bottom Line

The UK marriage visa process isn’t complicated. It’s just unforgiving of gaps. With a 92.38% approval rate for prepared applicants, the odds are firmly in your favour — but only if the income is demonstrably there, the relationship evidence is thorough, and nothing gets submitted blurry, unsigned, or at the wrong figure.

Start with the payslips. Everything else follows from there.

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Sources

• GOV.UK, “Why do people come to the UK – Family (Year ending June 2025)”, link
• GOV.UK, “Family Visa Financial Requirements Review”, link
• GOV.UK, “Visa Processing Times – Applications Outside the UK”, link
• House of Commons Library, “Financial Minimum Income Requirement for Partner Visas”, December 2025, link
• ES Consultancy, “UK Visa Statistics 2025”, 2026, link
• DavidsonMorris, “Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) Fee UK”, 2025, link
• Mulgrave Law, “UK Spouse Visa Processing Times 2025”, link