The current fee for a FLR M application is £1,258. This is ONLY refundable if the applicant has not attended their biometric appointment. Otherwise, the fee is non-refundable. In most cases, this can be paid online. It can also be paid at the visa centre on the biometric appointment date.

No, the fee is non-refundable if the application is refused.

As well as the visa fees, there is also the Immigration Health Surcharge (I.H.S) fee, which is a mandatory fee. This enables the Applicant to access the NHS. The current fee is £1,035 for every year of the visa. As the visa is valid for 30 months, the total fee is £2,587.50. This fee is only payable online, and only after the application form has been submitted.

If the Applicant is a national or a resident of a country that is not exempt from meeting the English language test requirement, then another fee to bear in mind is for the Applicant to pass a Home Office-approved Secure English Language Test (SELT) or obtain a letter from UK NARIC in order to meet the English language test requirement. The fee for which can cost from £150.

On average, the UKVI can take between 2-3 months to make a decision on a Spouse Visa application. Complex cases (such as those that have been previously refused, or those with adverse immigration history in the UK),  may take longer. The actual time it takes depends on a case by case basis.

Applicants can also opt to pay an additional fee to the UKVI for their application to be expedited as quickly as 1 working day. This is called the Priority Visa Service (PVS) and is an additional fee of £1,000. This is payable online.

The PVS is an additional service available for those who would like to receive a decision sooner than 2-3 months. You can fast track your application to get a decision as quickly as within 1 working day, if the PVS is paid.

My average turnaround time is 8-12 weeks. This is usually if the Applicant and the Sponsor have all their documents ready. (See question below on what supporting documents are required).

If time is of the essence, and clients would like to have their application and supporting documents submitted within a week, or within less than 2 weeks, I can also accommodate this, although I will charge an additional fee on top of my usual fees. The additional fees will be communicated with you from the outset and agreed upon by all of us before any work is commenced.

There are many documents involved for the FLR M application. Once I am instructed, I tailor-make a list of documents for each of my clients. Not all cases are the same and everyone's circumstances are different, which means that the type of documents you submit to the UKVI will depend on your circumstances. It is not a case of "one-size, fits all."

As with all applications made to the UKVI, the QUALITY of the documents trumps the QUANTITY of the documents submitted. In almost all cases for spouse visa applications, the Applicant and/or the Sponsor are not interviewed, and even when they are, this is usually part of the UKVI's decision-making process. 

Therefore, the onus is ALWAYS on the Applicants and their Sponsors to submit their relevant documents to the UKVI as part of the application process. The UKVI will base their decision on these documents. 

It is also important to bear in mind that the UKVI do not chase up the Applicants and the Sponsors for their documents. It is only in certain circumstances that they will do so, for instance, to ask for a bank statement if this is part of a sequence of bank statements. For example, the Sponsor submitted bank statements for January until December 2018, but the bank statement for July 2018 is missing. In this case, the UKVI MAY ask for the July 2018 bank statement.

However, in my experience, the UKVI do NOT ask for documents and they are not legally bound to do so, either.

This is why the supporting documents are vital to the Applicant's application. Your future life in the UK effectively depends on these.

I also offer a documents-checking service where I will review your documents and advice you on these before you submit them to the UKVI. If you also want your application reviewed before you submit it, I can also check this (in addtion to the supporting documents). This service is available for those who do not wish to instruct a solicitor for a full-service (handle the entire application process on their behalf). This offers peace of mind knowing that you have done your utmost to ensure that your application has a high chance of succeeding, so this service can (and has proved to) be priceless.

My aim is to do everything possible to avoid the refusal of any application. I am invested in all of my clients' cases and endeavour to ensure that the Applicant receives a positive decision from their first attempt.

That being said, I do not work for the UKVI and cannot influence their decision. There will be some instances where the UKVI will refuse the application. When this occurs, the Applicant is usually given the right of appeal.

The Applicant has 28 days from the date of the decision to submit the Notice of Appeal form to the Immigration Asylum Chambers (IAC), which will then be placed at the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) in the UK. The appeal can either be an oral hearing, or a paper hearing. I always advise on having an oral hearing as this gives the Sponsor, and/or their legal representatives (if the Sponsor is unable to attend), the opportunity to present their case effectively to an Immigration Judge. A paper hearing does not provide such an opportunity because the IJ's decision will be based solely on the documents presented to them by the UKVI and the Applicant and Sponsor.

The disadvantage of appealing is that it can take up to a year before a hearing (oral or paper) is listed by the FTT. In between that, the UKVI should review their decision, however, this is not always a guarantee, and in some cases, the UKVI will simply wait for the appeal to proceed, even if their prospects of success is low. 

Another disadvantage is the costs involved especially if you would like a legal representative to advise and assist you with your appeal. The costs can start from £2,500 and upwards, depending on the complexity of each case.

Many Applicants are deterred by the time and costs involved in appealing, and so choose instead to submit a fresh application, which they can do whenever they are ready to proceed.

Nevertheless, in some instances, it may be advisable to appeal against the decision. This will, as always, depend on the reasons for the refusal of the application.

The financial requirement is only one of the requirements for a Spouse Visa, but is also one of the most important ones to meet. Most of the rejected Spouse Visa applications were refused by the UKVI because the Financial Requirement was not met.

There are many categories within the Financial Requirement itself, which can make it complex. In essence, if the Applicant or Sponsor is working, they must show that they are earning at least £18,600 or £29,000 gross per annum (depending on whether the applicant's first leave as a partner was granted before or after 11 April 2024). This is called the minimum income threshold. The threshold is increased if there are also dependent children applying at the same time (i.e. children aged under 18, and who are not British nationals/EU Nationals, or do not have Indefinite Leave to Remain/Enter in the UK).

In some instances, the UKVI will accept other types of income (for instance non-employment income such as rental income), to add with the Applicant and/or Sponsor's salary from their employment. This area requires  detailed advice and will depend on your circumstances.

Yes, and this will depend on the applicant and/or Sponsor's individual circumstances. For instance, if they have a cash savings and/or they are in receipt of certain welfare benefits.

This requires detailed advice and will depend on your circumstances.

Yes.  If you marry/become civil partners with a British national or settled person, you would be eligible to switch from your current visa and apply for leave to remain as a spouse of a person present and settled in the UK (FLR M). 

If your marriage breaks down while you have leave to enter/remain in the UK as a spouse, i.e. during the 5-year period, your leave may be curtailed (shortened) by the Home Office, and you will receive a notification from the Home Office confirming this. This usually happens if the applicant's Sponsor informs the Home Office that the marriage has broken down.

For example, if your current leave does not expire until December 2024, but your relationship breaks down and you separate from your spouse in July 2024, and the Home Office is made aware of the breakdown of your marriage, the Home Office can shorten the validity of the visa from December 2024, to August or September 2024, i.e. at least 60 days.

Even if this does not happen, when you are eligible to apply for an extension or ILR, you may not be eligible to do so since you are no longer with your spouse/Sponsor.

There are exceptions to this, and this will include if the marriage breaks down because of domestic violence, for instance. In such cases, it would be advisable for the applicant to obtain legal advice as to what, if any, you can do to regularise your stay in the UK.

You will first need to obtain your final divorce certificate (or Decree Absolute if you are both domiciled in the UK) before your new partner can apply to join you in the UK. This is a requirement under the Relationship Requirement rule. It states that any previous relationships (of the Applicant and the Sponsor) must have permanently broken down before an application for a Partner visa is submitted.

Once this is obtained, you can then get married/become civil partners and she would be eligible to apply to switch to FLR M from her exisitng visa category.