Civil Partner Visa Solicitors

To gain permission to live in the UK under a civil partner visa you will need to satisfy the following requirements.

1. The the sponsor) must be

• a British Citizen in the UK;
• hold EU pre-settled status; or
• in the UK with refugee leave or humanitarian protection.

2. the parties to the relationship must be aged 18 and not be related within the prohibited degrees of a relationship.

3. The civil partners must have met in person.

4. Show an intention to live permanently as civil partners and the relationship must be in existence.

5. The civil partnership must be valid, i.e. recognised by UK law.

6. Any previous relationship of the applicant or their partner must have broken down.

7. The applicant must meet a specific financial requirement (see below).

8. The couple must be able to accommodate themselves and any dependants adequately without additional recourse to public funds.

9. The applicant must demonstrate a minimum competence in the English language.

This can be done either by being a citizen of a specified country, holding a degree level qualification that was taught in English, or by passing an approved English language test to level A1.

The complexities of the civil partner visa financial requirement are notorious.

We set out below a summary of the main rules, but recommend that you seek legal advice 

Applicants must show that they meet certain minimum income or savings thresholds to qualify for the visa.

The annual income thresholds for applicants is now £29,000 p.a. with no additional amount for children.

Applications pre 11 April 2024

Applicant with no children: £18,600

First child: an additional £3,800 and £2,400 per additional child but does not apply to British children or those settled here.

Applications post 11 April 2024

The annual income thresholds for applicants after 11 April 2024 are:

Applicant: £29,000

There are no additional increments for children.

Acceptable income

The sources of income which are acceptable are:

- employment or self employment of either party; 

- certain permitted sources other than employment, such as rent from property;

- state or private pensions of the applicant or sponsor; or maternity allowances or bereavement benefits received in the UK; and

- from 6 April 2014, ongoing insurance payments, e.g. such as one might receive from an income protection policy.

Savings can be used and is £62,500 for those who applied pre 11 April 2024 and £88,500 for those who applied thereafter.

Savings must be held in an account in your or your partner’s name for 6 months prior to the date of application. 

Applicants will be exempt from the financial requirements for example where the civil partner receives a specified disability related benefit or carer’s allowance. However, the couple must still show that they can maintain and accommodate themselves and any dependents without recourse to public funds.

Immigration Health Surcharge

Applicants for a UK civil partner visa must pay a 'National Health Service (NHS) surcharge' of £1,035 per year in advance for each whole or part year of the visa which is a mandatory requirement and will allow them to access the NHS whilst in the UK.

From outside the UK

An applicant needs to complete an electronic application form, supply supporting documentation which may be specified ones and attend a visa application centre to provide their biometrics.

Nationals of some countries may need to attend tuberculosis testing (TB)

It can take between 12-24 weeks to process a civil partner visa through standard processing, but you subject to availability you can pay to have it processed within 25 working days.

For those in the UK

The application is similar but no TB testing is required. 

The standard processing time is 28 weeks but you can pay extra to have it processed within 24 hours.

Outside the UK

£1846 standard service with a processing time of 12-24 weeks.

£500 priority settlement service, processing within 25 working days.

Not all application centres  offer the ‘Priority Settlement Service'.

Inside the UK

Standard service application £1048

Super priority additional fee £1000

To qualify for indefinite leave to remain (permanent residence) through a UK civil partner visa, an applicant must:

- have completed 5 years continuous lawful residence with a UK civil partner visa;

- the relationship with their civil partner must be subsisting and both parties must intend to live together permanently;

- continue to meet the financial and accommodation requirements;

- not have any unspent criminal convictions (including motoring offences);

- civil judgements;

- have passed the Life in the UK Test; and

- demonstrate a higher level of competence in the English language at level B1.

The lawyers at RLegal can of course discuss your case in confidence.

Our aim to ensure you are in a position to apply for the Civil Partnership visa. Should you decide to instruct us to assist we will provide legal advice so you understand the law applicable and process. We will of course submit the application form and supporting documents and of course book a slot for your attendance to provide biometrics.

We have been assisting individuals with Civil Partnership and similar type of applications for decades. RLegal was established in 2002 and the partners were representing clients for a decade before so the team have considerable experience. The firm is of course recommended by the Legal 500.

Selecting a solicitor or legal representative to assist of course optional.