Bringing Hearts Together: All About the UK Spouse Visa
Table of contents:
What is a UK Spouse visa?
Is it easy to bring your spouse to the UK?
UK Spouse Visa Requirements
UK Spouse Visa Fee / Cost
Processing time for a UK Spouse Visa
Ways to speed up your UK spouse visa application
The success rate of spouse visa UK
Why would a UK spouse visa be refused?
How do I appeal a spouse visa refusal in the UK?
Read the detailed updated Guide on UK Spouse Visa
What is a UK Spouse visa?
A UK Spouse Visa, also known as a UK Marriage Visa, allows non-UK nationals to join their partner in the UK.
Know More: What is a UK Spouse Visa explained by The SmartMove2UK
Is it easy to bring your spouse to the UK?
According to the Home Office, 1 in 4 UK Spouse Visa applications are refused. However, there are other ways to bring your spouse to the UK:
· UK Dependent visa
If you have a valid UK visa, you can bring your spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner to join you in the UK.
· Fiancé Visa
Your partner can enter the UK for up to 6 months and marry or register a civil partnership.
Interested Reading: Why settle for long-distance when you can bring your partner to the UK?
UK Spouse visa requirements
To qualify for a UK Spouse visa, you must meet the following requirements:
· Age: You and your spouse must be at least 18 years old.
· Relationship: You must have met each other and be legally married.
· Income: Your UK sponsor must earn over £18,600 a year. You can use savings of over £16,000 towards proving the minimum income requirement. If you have savings of £62,500, you don't need to show evidence of minimum income.
· Housing: You must have adequate housing provisions.
· Money: You must have enough money to support yourselves (and any dependents) without claiming public funds.
· English language: You need a valid UKVI IELTS score or a certificate of equivalency (ENIC).
The Specifics Explained: Qualify for a UK Spouse visa
Other requirements include:
Provide extensive documents which show your relationship is genuine and subsisting.
Intention to live together permanently.
UK Spouse Visa Fee / Cost
In 2023, the application fee for a UK spouse visa is £1,048 if the application is submitted within the country, and £1,538 if it is submitted outside of it.
The annual Immigration Healthcare Surcharge of £624 and the £19.20 biometric fee are additional expenses.
Should you wish to get a decision by the end of the following working day, the super-priority service charge is £1,000.
Trending & Useful Guide: UK Spouse Visa Cost 2023
The standard processing time for a UK spouse visa is:
Inside the UK: 6-8 weeks
Outside the UK: 3 months
However, processing times can vary depending on:
The country where the application is submitted from
The documents provided
How you can satisfy the requirements
Processing times have recently been affected by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. For example, partner visa applications from outside the UK are currently taking up to 24 weeks to process.
You can speed up the processing time by opting for the 'Priority Service'. The fee for priority processing service is £573 in addition to the visa application fee.
UK Spouse visa processing time explained by The SmartMove2UK
Here are some ways to speed up your UK spouse visa application:
· Priority service
Pay £573 to get your visa processed within five working days.
If you're applying from outside the UK, it can take up to 30 days.
· Super priority service
Pay £1,000 to get a decision within 24 hours.
There is a limit on how many people can use this service.
· Submit more supporting documentation
For example, you can submit proof of your partner's ILR or British Citizenship.
· Contact your MP
They can find out more about the delay and might be able to help speed up your application.
· Contact the Home Office
If there are compelling or compassionate circumstances, you can request that your application be treated as a priority. However, there are no guarantees that the Home Office will do so.
What is the success rate of a spouse visa UK?
The UK spouse visa success rate for the year ending March 2021 was 86.88%. The refusal rate was 12.69%.
The success rate for UK spouse visas in 2019 was 79.78%. The refusal rate was 19.66%.
The Home Office doesn't publish UK spouse visa appeal success rates.
However, general estimates indicate a success rate of around 35-50%.
Why would a UK spouse visa be refused?
A UK spouse visa can be refused for several reasons, including:
Financial requirements: Not meeting the minimum income requirements of £18,600 per year or savings of £62,500
Relationship evidence: Not providing enough evidence to prove the genuineness of your relationship
English language requirements: Not meeting the English language requirement
Application errors: Making a mistake on the application form or using the wrong form
Immigration status: Issues with the UK sponsor's immigration status
Convictions: Not disclosing past convictions
Appealing the decision: Appealing the decision
Home Office: 1 in 5 UK Spouse Visa Applications Refused Every Year
Other reasons for refusal include:
Incorrect organization of documents
Applying for the wrong type of visa
Ineligibility for the visa
Not providing enough documents or evidence to prove you meet the requirements
Immigration officials believe your marriage is not genuine or subsisting
The notice of refusal will specify the reason for rejection.
Top 3: UK Spouse Visa Refusal Reasons and how to avoid them
How do I appeal a spouse visa refusal in the UK?
To appeal a UK spouse visa refusal, you can:
Complete an appeal form
Submit the appeal form within 14 or 28 days of receiving your decision letter
If your appeal is refused, you can challenge the decision by the way of Judicial Review (JR)
You can only appeal to the tribunal if you have the legal right to appeal. 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 appeal process may take between 6 and 12 months.
Guide: What to do next if your UK Spouse visa is refused?
Read the detailed updated Guide on UK Spouse Visa
If you would like to confirm your eligibility for a UK spouse Visa or have had a UK Spouse Visa refused, you can read detailed information here regarding the same or contact our UK Spouse visa Specialist.
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Why does it take hours to write the appeal? What's in the appeal? What's the "asylum agency", are they lawyers as well?
The "asylum agency" are the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF for short), it's the German Federal department for (among other things) vetting asylum claims. There are a lot of lawyers (as in, Juristen = people with a law degree) working there, but it's a normal administration job.
Basically in the German asylum system you first fill out an "Asylantrag" (asylum claim). In this you say where you come from and why you think you should be entitled to protection in Germany (both actual asylum - which refers to people who are personally persecuted - as well as subsidiary protection, which applies to people fleeing from general humanitarian disasters such as war).
Then the BAMF checks your asylum claim. Here is a very good English-language longform article by the Atlantic detailing how the BAMF works and what methods they use. Then they make a decision (Bescheid), which either accepts or rejects the claim (appealing it means you refuse to accept their ruling and try to overturn it).
There's TONS of problems with this. Even legitimate refugees often don't tell the truth or do so in a way that is contradictory bc we're talking about usually super traumatized ppl getting like half an hour to tell the absolute worst and often most intimate parts of their lives to a total stranger and THEN these total strangers judge whether they believe that or not.
And they can be super and I mean SUPER unfair about this. For example for the guy whose appeal I wrote today (let's call him F.), he was asked to describe his situation and he said he knew three other gay guys in his city, that they were the only people who knew about his sexuality and that they all were still closeted and still in Iraq. He gives detailed descriptions their meet-ups, their conversations, generally how they lived (it's literally all in the hearing transcript). The interviewer asked for their names. F. said their first names. The interviewer asked for their full names. F. said he doesn't know them.
In the Bescheid, it says among other things "F. was unable to give details including basic information such as names about the people who supposedly were members of the social group of people who shared his oppression. True accounts of persecution are often characterised by the fact that they are very detailed. His claim is therefore not substantiated."
We're talking about an 18-year old gay kid who just fled a country where he legitimately feared for his life because of his sexuality and who basically had to keep this part of himself secret his whole life, in a conversation with a complete stranger in a position of authority. Of course the fact that he didn't give the full names of his closest friends who still lived in that country in that situation must mean he's lying.
It also says it's contradictory and therefore unbelievable that the father would inform another family member about his son's sexuality because the fact that this would bring dishonor to the family means the father would have kept it a secret. (The "conversation" was the father convincing other male family members to join in and kill him - something which happens regularly in the country if you read up on literally any source dealing with LGBT Iraqis - often even clerics get involved to issue fatwas against them).
All in all, even if he was gay, he should have considered living anonymously in a different part of Iraq rather than come to Germany.
And what takes hours is to dig up reputable and up-to-date sources detailing the status of gay men in Iraq (Here is a heartbreaking report by Human Rights Watch btw), especially concerning the different regions of Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan for example is considered more liberal when it comes to religion, so religious minorities from Iraq just get told to move to Iraqi Kurdistan instead. However, this does NOT apply to sexuality).
Then you try to pad that with other German court decisions abt gay men in Iraq (unfortunately it's mostly lower administrative court decisions, which don't hold much weight - but the VAST majority of them accept gay men from Iraq as legitimate refugees. There's also an ECJ ruling that says gay refugees can not be expected to hide their sexuality in their country of origin, as that would not be expected of straight refugees either and therefore would be discrimination, that's why his chances are quite good bc the Bescheid literally expected that of him) The LSVD has a REALLY great compilation for all sort of different countries of origin.
And then you have to take apart the whole bullshit Bescheid, point out the logical flaws, add other stuff the refugee told you and try to come with proofs for that etc.
It takes A LOT of work.
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Unlocking Success: How to Avoid the Top 3 UK Spouse Visa Refusal Reasons
Refusals can bring you down! Especially when it is a UK Spouse Visa Refusal. The thought of continuing to be away from your partner when your UK visa application to join them is refused can be disheartening. Particularly when you find that it was totally avoidable and taking some measures in advance could have saved the day.
Generally, when a UK Spouse Visa Application is refused, the notice includes the reasons for refusal, however this may not always be self-explanatory.
👉🏻 The Top 3 Spouse Visa Refusal Reasons
Not providing the supporting/required documentation
According to the UK immigration rules, you are required to provide specific documents mentioned in the application as well as any other supporting documents like a bank statement, proof of identity, etc.
Some basic but mandatory documentation requirements are
Marriage certificate
Evidence that any previous relationship has ended
National Insurance, Aadhaar Card number
Details of accommodation arranged in the UK
Bank statements of the applicant or the sponsor (partner who is in the UK) that prove you can meet the minimum financial requirement
Sponsor’s (partner who is in the UK) British passport or documents proving Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)
These are some important requirements, among many. If you fail to provide any form of evidence, your application is likely to be refused.
Non-disclosure of criminal records
The UK Immigration rules state that – “Immigration applications are required to disclose all offences and consequent penalties both in the UK and overseas, in addition to other relevant information about their conduct, character and associates. Application forms make clear to applicants where they must disclose this information and that failure to declare it may lead to refusal of the application”
It can be tempting to conceal details of any civil or criminal cases, cautions or judgements as one doesn’t want to prejudice their application. However, the applicant must declare all convictions, police cautions on your application no matter how trivial
Not providing adequate evidence for the relationship
Immigration officers are trained to find any spots or signs of fraudulent activities or sham marriages. Hence, you need to ensure your application does not signal any reason for suspicion. To provide as much information as you can about your relationship.
Conclusion: UK Spouse Visa Refusal Reasons
Is your UK Spouse Visa Application Refused? Don’t worry, you can get it right this time.
If you think you meet the requirements of a UK spouse visa and are considering applying for the same or have had your UK spouse visa application refused – it would be worth getting advice and assistance from UK visa experts who have a proven track record of managing cases (no matter how complex) successfully.
You can also opt for UK Spouse Visa Appeal if you wish to opt for it.
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