How to combine income sources for UK Partner visa?

 

Here we cover the rules on combining various income sources when meeting the Financial Requirement for a UK Spouse, Partner and a Fiancee visa. There are rules on everything, so there are rules on that. For example, savings can be combined with the current employment (known as Category A) but not with the past employment (Category B). Self-employment can be combined with everything except savings. Property income can be combined with everything unless self-employment is involved. 

Popular example #1: employment and savings.

The current Financial Requirement for new applicants is £29,000. If one has a salary of £20,000, they could add savings. But it’s not £9,000 and not even £16,000, as the Government website appears to suggest (it doesn’t, it confusingly says “over £16,000, but not how much exactly). The shortfall of £9,000 can be made up with savings of £9,000x2.5+£16,000=£38,500. In this example, the current employment must have lasted for 6 months for the same employer, plus the balance of savings also maintained for 6 months. 

Example #2: new job, plus current job, plus savings. 

Tricky one! The current job needs a salary of £29,000, but let’s say the applicant/sponsor earns £20,000. They can add savings of £38,500, as above, savings being held for 6 months. However, the current job started less than 6 months ago, so we need to add a total employment income earned during the last 12 months. Let’s say the previous job was also on £20,000, so the actual earnings during the last 12 months would be only £20,000. We are still short of £9,000 and it cannot be combined with savings. This visa application will be refused.  

Example #3: pension and savings. 

Popular with British expats retuning to the UK with their non-British spouses. Or with Brits by decent, who acquired a British passport through their parents. A pension can be from any country, so we could have an American pension of £15,000. The shortfall of £14,000 can be made up by savings of £14,000x2.5+£16,000=£51,000. Pension has to only start within last 28 days, but savings still have to have been maintained for 6 months. 

Example #4: self-employment and rental income. 

A self-employed person, as a sole trader (without Ltd company), has to use profit from their last tax return. On the date of writing this post in August 2024, it would be UK tax year ending 5 April 2024. Let’s say the profit declared was £20,000. The shortfall of £9,000 can be made up with the rental income of £9,000 during the same period, ie during the last tax year. The rent amount isn’t what goes on the tax return but the gross rent from the tenancy agreement. Savings wouldn’t be allowed at all. The value of the property is irrelevant altogether. 

Example #5: Director of Ltd company plus employment for someone else. 

Let’s imagine the British partner is a director of a small Ltd company business in the UK. The foreign parter has a “normal” job for someone else. The company director has to go by the salary and dividends during the last financial year of the company. They cannot just claim “I receive my director’s salary, so it’s employment”, it would end up in a visa refusal. So, let’s say the salary was £12,000 during the company’s financial year July 2023 - June 2024. Dividends were £8,000, total £20,000. The shortfall of £9,000 can be made up from actual earnings from the other partner’s employment during the same period, ie the company’s financial year. Both “jobs” have to be ongoing on the date of visa application. 

Example #6: pension and rental income. 

A couple has a pension of £15,000, they can make up the difference of £14,000 with rental income. The pension has to only start within last 28 days, so can be recent. But the rental income will be calculated during the last 12 months. If the gross rent amounted to £14,000 during the 12 months before applying, it would be OK. Rent can be for a shorter period of time if there were enough money, such as £14,000 received just during last 6 months. 

 

Example #7: foreign dividends plus UK job.

Let’s imagine a British partner has a UK job with a salary of £20,000, having worked for this employer for the pas 6 months. The foreign partner receives income from a family business in their country, so they would need dividends of £9,000 during the last 12 months. In this scenario, it has to be dividends on the shares the partner actually owns in the family business. It cannot be just family sending him/her money because the third party support isn’t allowed. 

You can book online consultation with a lawyer here. Over WhatsApp, Zoom or email. We currently have a discounted fee £100 for advice over email. Alternatively, a video call over Zoom or WhatsApp costs £150 if you prefer to talk to a lawyer. The consultation fee counts towards our future services with a visa application, so the final fee is the same, just split into 2 stages. 

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