On the 10-year family visa route, you can apply for a partner even if your income is below the £29,000 financial threshold, in exceptional circumstances. The partner’s visa will be granted for the same 10 years, not five as usual, and will remain tied to your status.
Who this route suits
The 10-year family visa route applies to people in various situations. For example, parents granted a visa on the basis of custody of a child (usually for 2.5 years) may switch to the 10-year route after divorce. Others are directed onto this path after an asylum refusal — the visa is granted on human rights grounds for 2.5 years, then extended.
Most examples involve this exact status: someone on the 10-year route who has neither indefinite leave to remain (ILR) nor a British passport, and whose income doesn’t meet the required threshold.
The standard partner route: £29,000
When a sponsor has indefinite leave to remain or a British passport, the rules are straightforward. If their annual income is at least £29,000, they can apply for a partner, spouse, fiancé(e), or unmarried partner from outside the country. The financial threshold is the same for all marriages and partnerships through the family visa route.
At this income level, the partner is granted a five-year visa. After five years of living together in the UK, with continued income of £29,000 or more, the partner can apply for settlement.
When there’s no income but exceptional circumstances exist
If your income is below £29,000 but you have exceptional circumstances, the application can still be approved. Exceptional circumstances include grounds under Section 55 (the child’s best interests come first), human rights, or health and family-life factors that the Home Office considers significant.
In this case, you can apply for a fee waiver. If the Home Office agrees that you are genuinely in financial hardship, it will waive the fee itself and consider your partner application. This doesn’t mean automatic approval — it simply allows the exceptional circumstances to be assessed without the income requirement.
How the partner visa differs for those on the 10-year route
When a partner’s application is approved, the rules depend on your status. If you’re on the 10-year route and your application was approved based on exceptional circumstances, your partner will also receive a 10-year visa rather than a five-year one. This is known as the “Partner non-standard 2 clause” route.
The difference is that the partner follows your route. There’s no path to settlement after five years — instead, four visa extensions are required, just as you must go through. The first visa is for 2.5 years, and the partner can arrive and work, study, or be self-employed. But they can only apply for settlement once they themselves reach 10 years in the country on this same route.
Switching to the standard route after arrival
Once the partner arrives and starts working, they can build up the income needed to switch routes. If the partner is employed, six months of stable income of £29,000 a year or more is required. If self-employed, 12 months of the same income level is needed.
After that, the partner can apply to switch routes to a five-year visa instead of a ten-year one. The standard rule then applies, and after five years of living together, the path to settlement opens on the usual terms.
Applying for a partner from abroad while you’re already in the UK
The same principles apply if you’re on the 10-year route inside the country and want to bring a partner. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve already spent in the UK — two, three, four years. If you don’t have indefinite leave to remain or a British passport, your income is below £29,000, but you have exceptional circumstances, your partner can apply.
Exceptional circumstances can relate to either you or your partner: human rights, health, family ties, children in the family, or the interdependence of your lives. Each application is assessed individually, and there are no guarantees, but strong supporting grounds improve the chances of approval.
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