Family visa income threshold: where the £29,000 review stands

What the threshold is now

The minimum income requirement for partners applying under Appendix FM rose to £29,000 on 11 April 2024. Two further rises, to £34,500 and then £38,700, were announced at the same time but were never brought in. The Migration Advisory Committee was asked to look at the level again and reported a range of roughly £23,000 to £25,000 as an alternative basis. At the date of this post the figure in the Immigration Rules is still £29,000, and no replacement has been laid before Parliament.

Why we are writing about it

Most of the questions we get about the threshold are really questions about evidence. Whether the number ends up at £23,000 or stays at £29,000, the same Turkish paperwork has to be readable by a caseworker: payslips, an employer's letter, bank statements, and, where income or savings sit in Türkiye, a tapu senedi or an SGK hizmet dökümü. Appendix FM-SE paragraph 1(j) sets out what a translation of any of these must carry — confirmation that it is accurate, the date, the translator's full name and signature, and contact details. For leave to remain and settlement it adds a fifth item: details of the translator or translation company's credentials.

Check before you rely on this

A change would arrive as a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules and could take effect within weeks. Read the figure on GOV.UK on the day you apply, not the day you start collecting documents. Our page on the spouse and partner visa follows the evidence rules, and the spouse visa documents guide lists the Turkish documents in the order the Home Office reads them.