Employment income from working abroad, What are the financial requirements for UK spouse and partner visas?

If you are a British citizen, or have Indefinite Leave to Remain, and want to bring your spouse to the UK, you will need to prove to the Home Office that you/your spouse have enough financial resources to support your life here.

A complex set of rules has been created to measure whether the financial requirements have been met.

There are multiple ways you can meet the requirements, including through your employment income, other types of income (e.g. property rental), or through savings.

If you are hoping to meet the financial requirement through employment income, there are different rules that apply, depending whether your income is from overseas employment or if you are employed in the UK, and how long you have been employed.

We have published a series of blogs to give sponsors and their spouses an introduction to how they can meet the requirements, but this can be a very confusing issue. If you would like a full assessment of whether you meet the requirements, and how your spouse can demonstrate this in their application, Gherson would be happy to assist.

This blog focuses on how you may be able to meet the requirement if you are currently employed overseas and intending to return to the UK with your spouse.

What requirements do you need to meet?

If you are the sponsoring spouse of a non-UK (or Irish) national, you can potentially meet the financial requirement through employment income if you are currently employed overseas, but only if you also have a job offer in the UK.

You must show that both your current salary overseas and your future salary in the UK will meet the financial requirements.

If you have been employed overseas by the same company for at least 6 months, you can also meet the financial requirement by combining your salary with non-employment income, cash savings or pensions income to meet the relevant threshold.

The key criteria you must meet are:

Your employment overseas

You must be employed at the date of your spouse’s visa application.

Your salary must also have been above the relevant threshold of £18,600 p.a. The threshold will be higher if there are any dependant children who will be included in the application.

Or, if you need to combine your salary income with other categories of income or savings, you must have been employed overseas with the same company for at least 6 months.

Job offer in the UK

You must also have a confirmed offer of salaried or non-salaried employment in the UK starting within 3 months of your return.

Your salary in this role must also meet the relevant threshold of £18,600 p.a. (or higher if there are dependant children included in the application.)

In our next blog we will address the situation if you have not been in employment with the same employer (in the UK or overseas) for less than 6 months.

How Gherson can assist

Gherson has extensive experience in all aspects of UK immigration law. If you have any queries relating to the blogs published or are interested in talking to us about your specific circumstances, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice, send us an e-mail, or alternatively, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to stay-up-to-date.

The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please do not hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.

©Gherson 2022

View all news & Insights