Yes. If you have been granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR), you are a settled person who can be the UK partner in a family-visa application. Your partner must still qualify for their own permission: your ILR does not give them ILR automatically. First check their current visa and how you settled. An existing work-route dependant may have a different path from a new family-visa applicant. The official partner and spouse visa guidance sets out the family-route starting point.
Choose the partner's route before choosing a form
If your partner is applying to join you, the family-visa route is one starting point. That is often the relevant starting point when the partner has no existing dependant permission. It is not the only route to examine in every post-ILR household.
If your partner already holds permission as your Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker or T2 dependant, your grant of ILR does not by itself require them to switch to a family visa. Eligible dependants can continue to seek permission or later settlement under the relevant work-route rules. The Home Office guidance on work-route dependants also covers specified workers who settled on an eligible route and sets route-specific limits. Check the route named in your old grant, your partner's latest decision, and the relationship and occupation conditions before choosing a form. A first-time dependant application after you have settled needs its own eligibility check; it is not guaranteed simply because you once held a work visa.
If your settlement is under the EU Settlement Scheme, check whether your partner can use that scheme before paying for a family visa. If your partner is already on a family visa, the immediate task may be an extension or their own settlement application rather than a fresh entry application. These distinctions can change the evidence and the time counted toward ILR.
What must an ILR sponsor and partner show?
For the family partner route, both people must be at least 18 and intend to live together permanently in the UK. A recognised marriage or civil partnership can establish the type of relationship, but the application still has to show that the relationship is genuine and continuing. An unmarried partner can qualify under the applicable relationship provisions; living apart for work, study or cultural reasons does not automatically rule out a durable relationship, provided it can be evidenced.
Keep evidence of the sponsor's ILR grant or current online status with the partner's identity and immigration history. Then arrange relationship records around the questions the form actually asks: how the relationship developed, where you have lived, any periods apart, and how you have kept in contact or supported each other. A certificate or photograph can be useful, but neither substitutes for the financial, English-language and other applicable requirements. The applicant's route and circumstances decide which evidence matters.
Check the income rule that applies to this application
The usual minimum income requirement for a partner family visa is £29,000 a year. The current GOV.UK financial-requirement page also describes different rules where the UK partner receives certain disability or carer benefits, and for eligible extensions where the first partner application was made before 11 April 2024. That earlier-application exception must not be assumed for a new partner application just because the sponsor has held ILR for years.
Identify the income category before collecting documents. Employment, self-employment, pensions, non-work income and eligible cash savings have different evidence rules; which income can be counted also depends on the application circumstances. If you rely on employment, reconcile payslips with the deposits shown on bank statements and the employer's letter. If you rely on another category, use its specified evidence rather than a generic stack of statements. Do not treat a bank balance, an offer letter or an online calculator result as proof that every financial condition is met.
Build an application file that answers the form
The official family-visa evidence guide asks for identity and immigration history, proof of the UK partner's status, relationship information and the relevant financial evidence. Documents not in English or Welsh may need a certified translation. The online application will tell you how to provide documents and may request more depending on the case.
A useful file has four labelled groups:
- Route and status: the sponsor's ILR evidence, the applicant's current permission if any, and previous grant or decision notices that explain the route choice.
- Relationship: the marriage or civil-partnership record where relevant, dated address or shared-finance records, and evidence explaining significant periods apart.
- Finances: documents for the actual income or savings category claimed, with figures and dates matching the form.
- Identity and other conditions: passports or valid travel identity documents, English evidence where required, translations and any case-specific records requested online.
Before submitting, compare names, dates, addresses and income figures across the form and the documents. Explain a real gap with contemporaneous evidence rather than leaving the decision-maker to infer why records differ. This is an organisational check, not a substitute for the current Immigration Rules or regulated advice on a complex case.
Your partner's ILR has its own clock
A family-visa grant gives the partner limited permission, not the sponsor's settled status. On the ordinary five-year partner family route, the partner's own settlement eligibility depends on qualifying residence on that route and the other requirements at the time of application. GOV.UK says time on another visa, or as a fiancé or proposed civil partner, cannot simply be added to that five-year family-route period. If a switch from work-dependant permission is being considered, compare the possible settlement paths before applying.
Once the initial route is clear, the site's spouse and partner ILR timeline guide helps map the later qualifying period, relationship and financial checks. It is a planning tool for a partner's eventual ILR application; it cannot determine whether today's family or work-dependant application will succeed.
What could change the route decision?
The critical facts may change between planning and submission: a partner's existing leave may near expiry, the sponsor's old work route may have dependant restrictions, or the income category may change. Recheck the current official route requirements and the exact form before paying. If the work-dependant and family routes both seem plausible, or previous permission could affect a later settlement date, seek regulated immigration advice on those specific facts. ILR makes the sponsor settled; it does not remove the partner's separate route, evidence or timing questions.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sponsor my partner while my ILR application is still pending?
A pending ILR application is not the same as a grant of settled status. The family partner guidance lists a partner who has settled in the UK, including a person with ILR, among eligible UK partners. Until you receive the decision, identify the permission you actually hold and whether it supports a different dependant application. Do not describe yourself as an ILR sponsor on a form before the grant. If timing is tight, check the applicable route and current permission before making an application.
Does my partner get ILR as soon as I do?
No. Your grant settles your own immigration position; it does not automatically settle your partner. They need permission or settlement under the route that applies to them. A person already holding work-route dependant permission may be able to continue on that route, while a family-visa partner normally starts with limited permission and later checks their own qualifying period and requirements. Keep the partner's grant notices separate from yours, because the two timelines can differ even in one household.
Can an unmarried partner apply after I get ILR?
Potentially. The family partner route is not limited to married couples. The official guidance recognises certain unmarried relationships, including a durable relationship of at least two years where the couple could not live together for work, study or cultural reasons. The application still needs credible evidence of a genuine, continuing relationship and an intention to live together permanently in the UK. Check the exact relationship route before gathering documents; a marriage certificate is neither available nor required for every qualifying couple.
Does every ILR sponsor need to earn £29,000?
No single figure fits every application. The usual family partner minimum income requirement is £29,000 a year, but GOV.UK sets out different rules for specified disability or carer benefits and some extensions linked to an earlier partner application. A possible work-route dependant application follows its own rules. The evidence category matters as much as the headline figure: income, savings and their permitted combination are assessed under specified conditions. Check the current official guidance for your actual route before relying on a salary estimate.
Must my existing Skilled Worker dependant switch to a spouse visa?
Not automatically. GOV.UK says eligible Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker and T2 dependants can continue to extend their dependant permission after the main applicant obtains ILR. Their later settlement is assessed against their own dependant-route history and requirements. Before switching, compare the partner's current grant, the route on which you settled, and the relevant dependant rules. A change to the family route can alter which earlier residence counts toward that route's eventual ILR application, so avoid choosing a form by its familiar name alone.
Will my partner's previous visa time count toward family-route ILR?
Do not assume it will. GOV.UK describes the ordinary five-year partner family route as requiring qualifying residence on that route and says time on another visa or as a fiancé is not included in that period. A partner who has work-route dependant permission may have a separate settlement path, so the comparison should happen before a switch. Map each grant and its route, then check the rules for the proposed settlement application. Where histories cross routes, obtain case-specific regulated advice.
