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If you have been in the UK on a Spouse Visa or Marriage Visa, you can seek a Spouse Visa extension once your original visa expires. The duration of the original Spouse Visa is 30 months. If you are eligible and successfully receive an extension, you are allowed to stay in the UK for another 30 months.
However, you must meet a wide set of requirements when seeking an extension to your Partner Visa. The Spouse Visa solicitors at the London-based Adam Bernard’s law office can help you with meeting these requirements and filing an application.
The requirements for an extension to your Spouse Visa are like those that govern the standard Spouse Visa. Our visa extension lawyers can explain these requirements to you in detail.
In general, these requirements ask you to prove your relationship to the UK partner or spouse, your ability to meet your financial needs during your stay in the UK, and your commitment to follow British rules and laws.
You can break down the requirements for a visa extension into four broad categories:
You can consult our experienced Spouse Visa solicitors to get step-by-step help and guidance in meeting each set of requirements.
The first condition to be eligible for an extension to your Marriage Visa is that you must be in an ongoing, meaningful relationship with your UK spouse or partner.
If you married to your spouse or in a civil partnership, a marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate will be required as a proof. If the relationship between you and your spouse or partner is not legally formalised, you must provide other evidence that shows that an ongoing relationship exists.
A part of this is to prove that you and your spouse have been living together during your stay in the UK. You can provide evidence such as correspondence addressed to both of you, bank statements, utility bills, or council tax bills to prove cohabitation.
You must also show that you intend to continue living with your partner or spouse once you are granted a visa extension. If you are not sure how to meet this requirement, our visa extension lawyers can guide you.
Financial requirements are an important of a Spouse Visa application. They also carry significant important when you are seeking a visa extension. It is best to get the help of visa extension lawyers when understanding and fulfilling these requirements.
You and your partner must have a combined income of at least £18,600 for you to meet the financial requirements. You can meet this requirement by using cash savings if they are £16,000 or above, income from employment or self-employment means of your partner and yourself, as well as any bereavement benefits or maternity allowances.
If you also have a child who qualifies as a dependant, the combined income requirement threshold is increased to £22,400. For more than one child, the threshold increased by another £2,400 for each subsequent child.
A child qualifies as a dependant if he or she is aged under 18, has a non-EEA country of origin, and is financially dependent on your or your spouse.
Our Spouse Visa extension solicitors can help you compute the total financial commitment you must be able to meet when applying for the visa.
Most applicants seeking an extension to their Spouse Visa must meet the financial requirements noted above. However, some applicants can qualify as an exemption. Whether or not you can qualify for an exemption depends on the status of your UK spouse, also known as the sponsor. You qualify for an exemption if your spouse receives any of the following:
If you are not sure whether you qualify for an exemption, you can consult our Spouse Visa extension solicitors for detailed help.
You must also demonstrate ‘Good Character’ to be eligible for a Spouse Visa extension. The Home Office considers the following two elements when determining if you meet the requirement:
Our visa extension lawyers can work with you to determine if anything exists on record that can create a problem in meeting the ‘Good Character’ requirement.
When applying for an extension to your Partner Visa, you are typically required to show that you meet the A2 level of English language proficiency in listening and speaking. You can take any approved language test, such as IELTS, to meet this requirement.
You must take the test at a designated centre. In some cases, an applicant is exempt from taking the test if:
