What the £29,000 Rule Actually Means

If you are searching for the UK spouse visa income requirement 2026, here is the straight answer first: for a new partner visa application, the UK-based sponsor must show a gross annual income of £29,000. That number is the minimum income requirement — the MIR — set out in Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules, and it is the single most common reason spouse visa applications get refused. Not the relationship evidence, not the English test: the money.

Let me unpack what that figure really demands, because every word of it matters. Gross means before tax and National Insurance are taken off — if your payslip says £29,000 a year but you take home less, that is fine; the Home Office looks at the gross line. Annual means it is measured at the point you apply, not averaged over your whole career. And the sponsor means the British citizen or person settled in the UK who is sponsoring the application — not the applicant. This trips up a lot of couples: if you are applying for entry clearance from outside the UK, your own earnings abroad, however impressive, count for nothing. Only the UK sponsor’s income (or qualifying savings) can satisfy the UK partner visa financial requirement.

There is one more thing worth saying plainly. The financial requirement is assessed against strict evidential categories in Appendix FM-SE, and caseworkers apply them mechanically. Earning £29,000 in the real world and proving £29,000 to the Home Office’s exact documentary standard are two different achievements. Most refusals on financial grounds are not “you earn too little” refusals — they are “your evidence did not meet the specified standard” refusals. Keep that distinction in mind as you read on, because it shapes every strategy below.

From £18,600 to £29,000: How the Rule Changed

To understand where the UK spouse visa minimum income stands today, you need the backstory, because the rule changed dramatically — and almost changed again.

From 2012 until April 2024, the threshold sat at £18,600 — a figure that had not moved in twelve years. On 11 April 2024, the government raised it to £29,000 in one jump, as part of a wider package of migration measures. Applications made on or after that date fall under the new figure. The same announcement outlined further planned rises — to £34,500 and eventually £38,700 — which would have more than doubled the original threshold.

Those further rises never happened. The new government paused them and asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the financial requirement properly, weighing the impact on families against the policy aims. The MAC published its review in June 2025, and as of October 2026 the government has not announced any further change. So the position is: £29,000, unchanged since April 2024, with any future movement waiting on the review outcome. That is why every responsible source — this page included — tells you to verify the current figure on GOV.UK before you apply. A single policy announcement could move it.

One group sits outside the new figure: the transitional applicants. If you first successfully applied as a partner before 11 April 2024 and have stayed continuously on the same partner route since, the old £18,600 threshold (plus the child additions that applied at the time) normally continues to apply to your extensions and settlement application. A break in your leave resets you to the new £29,000 figure. If you are extending in 2026 and are not sure which side of the line you fall on, check the date of your very first grant of partner leave — that date decides it.

Which Income Sources Count (The Categories That Matter)

The Home Office does not simply look at your bank balance and nod. Your income must fit into one of the specified categories in Appendix FM-SE, and each category has its own evidence rules. Picking the wrong category — or mixing evidence from two — is a classic route to refusal. Here is what each one covers:

A few practical points that catch people out. Category A vs B is about how long you have been with your current employer at the application date — six months or more with the same employer is A; anything less, or variable hours and overtime that make up a big chunk of pay, pushes you into B, where the Home Office looks back over twelve months. If you recently changed jobs for a big salary bump, you may still be in B territory even though the new salary alone would pass.

Self-employment (F/G) is the trickiest category in practice. You cannot use your current year’s projected earnings — only the last full financial year counts, evidenced through your Self Assessment. A brilliant first six months of freelancing means nothing to the Home Office until it is wrapped into a completed tax year. Company directors taking a salary-plus-dividends mix fall here too, and the dividend paperwork must be exact.

And the exception worth knowing: if the sponsor receives certain disability-related benefits — Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Carer’s Allowance and similar — the £29,000 threshold does not apply at all. Instead you face the adequate maintenance test: your net income after housing costs must reach Income Support levels. It is a lower bar, but it is a different test with its own evidence rules — do not assume it, check whether you qualify.

The £88,500 Savings Route Explained

Not everyone earns £29,000 a year, and the rules know it. Appendix FM lets you meet the financial requirement through cash savings — either instead of income, or combined with it. This is the route that saves applications for retirees, students’ partners, people between jobs, and anyone whose salary falls just short.

The headline figure: £88,500 in cash savings, held for at least six consecutive months before the application date, covers the full £29,000 requirement on its own. The number comes from the Immigration Rules formula — £16,000 (a base level that is disregarded) plus 2.5 times the minimum income requirement (£29,000 × 2.5 = £72,500). Add them together: £88,500.

Where it gets genuinely useful is the combination route. If your income covers part of the requirement, savings only need to bridge the gap: £16,000 + (2.5 × your shortfall). Earn £24,000? Your shortfall is £5,000, so you need £16,000 + £12,500 = £28,500 in savings — a far cry from £88,500. Earn £20,000? Shortfall £9,000, savings needed £38,500. This is the single most underused strategy in spouse visa applications, and it is exactly what the checker above calculates for you.

The savings rules are strict on the details, and the details are where applications fail:

• Six months, no exceptions (mostly). The funds must have been held continuously for six months before the application date. A large deposit landing in month five resets the clock.
• Cash and immediately accessible. The money must sit in a regulated bank or savings account in the applicant’s name, the sponsor’s name, or joint names — withdrawable on demand. Shares, bonds, trust funds and crypto do not count until converted to cash (and if you owned the investment for six months before selling, the six-month cash clock may not restart — but document the trail).
• Gifts are allowed; loans are not. A cash gift from family counts, but the gift itself must have been received at least six months before you apply. Borrowed money is explicitly excluded.
• Declare the source. You must state where the savings came from — previous earnings, a gift, a property sale — and it must be lawful. Property sale proceeds count only net of mortgages, loans, taxes and fees, and you must have owned the property at the start of the six-month period.

Planning the six-month window backwards from your intended application date is the smartest move you can make. If you are weighing the savings route against waiting for a pay rise, our Visa Approval Predictor can help you sense-check the overall strength of your application, and the Document Checklist Generator will make sure your bank statements and declarations meet the specified format.

Children and the Financial Requirement

Here is some genuinely good news, and it surprises a lot of families: for new applications made on or after 11 April 2024, there is no additional income requirement for children. The £29,000 threshold is flat. One child, three children, no children — the number is the same.

That was not always the case. Under the old £18,600 regime, each non-British child added to the threshold — £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for each additional one. Those child additions survive only for transitional applicants who first applied before 11 April 2024 and remain continuously on the same route. For everyone else, children do not move the financial needle at all.

Two caveats, because “no extra income needed” is not the same as “children do not matter”. First, each child applying with you still needs their own application, their own fee, and their own Immigration Health Surcharge — budget for that separately (our UK IHS Surcharge Estimator will give you the exact surcharge figure). Second, children affect the accommodation requirement: your housing must not be statutorily overcrowded with the whole family living there. A couple in a studio flat might pass the financial requirement and still fail on accommodation once two children are added. The checker above asks about children precisely so your result flags this — the money test is only one of several.

How the Checker Works

The checker applies the current Appendix FM logic directly — no estimates, no outdated figures from the £18,600 era that still litter old blog posts. Here is exactly what happens when you submit:

1. Your income is tested against £29,000. Enter your gross annual income in pounds. If it meets or beats the threshold, you get a pass — with a reminder of which evidential category your income source maps to.
2. Any shortfall is calculated to the pound. Earn £26,400 and the checker shows a £2,600 shortfall — the exact number your savings need to cover.
3. The combination formula runs automatically. For a shortfall, the checker applies £16,000 + (2.5 × shortfall) and tells you the precise savings figure that bridges the gap alongside your income.
4. The full savings route is always shown. £88,500 held for six months, regardless of your income — useful if your income is irregular or hard to evidence.
5. Source-specific evidence guidance appears. Employment, self-employment, savings and pension each trigger the right advice — Category A/B payslip rules, the last-full-financial-year rule for the self-employed, the six-month rule for savings.

If you select savings as your income source, the input field switches to your cash savings total and the checker tests it against £88,500 instead. The partner employment question adjusts the advice: for entry clearance from abroad, only the sponsor’s income counts, so a partner’s overseas job does not help the initial application — but it can matter at the extension stage inside the UK, where combined household income may be used.

Common Mistakes That Cause Refusals

Immigration advisers will tell you the same thing: most financial-requirement refusals are avoidable, and most come from a short list of errors. Work through this list before you apply, because each one has sunk real applications:

• Using net pay instead of gross. The threshold is gross. If your £29,000 salary nets you £23,500 after tax, you still meet it — but plenty of applicants talk themselves into a shortfall that does not exist, or submit net-pay evidence that confuses the calculation.
• Counting the applicant’s overseas income. For entry clearance, the applicant’s earnings abroad are irrelevant, no matter how high. Only the UK sponsor’s income or qualifying savings count.
• Payslips that do not match bank statements. Every payslip must be corroborated by a bank statement showing the matching deposit, and the employer letter must confirm the gross salary, role, start date and that the documents are genuine. One missing month in the sequence can be fatal.
• Self-employed applicants using the wrong year. Only the last full financial year counts — not the current year’s strong start, not an average of two years. If that completed year falls short, wait for the next one or use the savings combination.
• Savings dipped below the line. The balance must stay at or above the required level for the entire six months. A single day below it — even by £1, even if it recovers — breaks the requirement.
• Currency confusion. Income or savings in another currency must be converted at the closing spot exchange rate on the application date, and evidenced clearly. A “roughly equivalent” figure in the cover letter is not evidence.
• Assuming the transitional threshold applies. The £18,600 figure only protects those who first applied before 11 April 2024 and stayed continuously on the route. Everyone else is on £29,000 — double-check which camp you are in.

If any of these sound uncomfortably familiar, slow down and fix the evidence before you pay the application fee — it is non-refundable. A careful pass with the Document Checklist Generator costs nothing and catches most of these errors.

Strategic Tips to Meet the Threshold

Meeting the UK partner visa financial requirement is often a planning problem, not an earnings problem. These are the strategies that actually work:

• Bridge a small shortfall with savings, not time. A £2,000 shortfall needs only £21,000 in savings (£16,000 + £5,000) held for six months — often faster than waiting for a promotion. Run your numbers in the checker above.
• Time a job change carefully. Starting a higher-paid job is great, but if you have been with the new employer less than six months you fall into Category B, where twelve months of history are examined. Sometimes waiting two more months to qualify for Category A is the safer play.
• Count all permitted income. A second job, regular overtime and non-employment income like rental income can all count if properly evidenced. Many sponsors leave qualifying income off the application because they assume only the “main” salary matters.
• Start the savings clock early. If there is any chance you will need the savings route, move the money into the right account now. The six months cannot be backdated, and every month of delay is a month your family waits.
• Check the adequate maintenance route. If the sponsor receives PIP, DLA, Carer’s Allowance or similar specified benefits, the £29,000 threshold may not apply at all. This is a genuinely different — and lower — test.
• Budget the full application cost, not just the threshold. The visa fee, the Immigration Health Surcharge for 33 months, the English test, the TB certificate if required — the financial requirement is the headline, but the upfront cash outlay is several thousand pounds. Use the UK IHS Surcharge Estimator alongside this checker so the total does not ambush you.
• Get a professional eye on borderline cases. If you are within a few hundred pounds of the line, or your income spans categories, the cost of advice is trivial next to the cost of a refused application. Our Immigration Lawyer Cost Estimator shows what that advice typically costs before you commit.

However you get there, the principle is the same: prove the number to the Home Office’s exact standard, on the right date, with the right documents. Do that, and the financial requirement stops being the scary part of the application and becomes the straightforward part.