What are the conditions for permanent residence in the UK for a spouse visa? The 180-day red line does not apply
Last week, a reader sent a message in the middle of the night, saying that her spouse's visa was still seven months away from completing five years, but in the past six months, she had returned to China for nearly five months because of her father's illness. "Does the permanent residence become invalid?"
She calculated it carefully: 180 days. She regarded this number as a life-and-death line and was so nervous that she could not sleep.
But here is a widely misunderstood fact - the spouse visa (Spouse/Partner visa) takes Appendix FM, and the 180-day absolute red line does not apply to this path. What she has been worrying about for half a year is not what she should worry about at all.
There are indeed several real changes on the road to converting a spouse visa to permanent residence in 2026. Today I will explain clearly at once what has changed, what has not changed, and what is just a rumor.
1. Is the permanent residence period for a spouse visa still 5 years? At what stage has the "Earned Settlement" reform reached?
Let’s talk about what most people ask first. On November 20, 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs released "A Fairer Pathway to Settlement" and officially launched the "Earned Settlement" consultation. The core proposal is to extend the standard permanent residence period from 5 years to 10 years. The consultation closed on 12 February 2026, with more than 200,000 responses received – a number that speaks for itself about how many people have been touched.
For spouse visa holders, the key lies in a table in the consultation document: Spouses, parents, and children of British citizens will have 5 years directly reduced from the base period, which is equivalent to returning to 5 years. Moreover, the Ministry of the Interior clearly stated that this item "is not within the scope of this consultation."
Translated into adult language: If your sponsor is a British citizen, the government has no intention of moving on the 5-year permanent residence path from the beginning.
But two points must be made clear. First, as of today (August 2026), the reform is still at the proposal stage, the details have not yet been submitted to Parliament, and the timetable stated by the Home Secretary is "this autumn". Second, in the case where the spouse is a settled person (that is, holding ILR instead of British nationality) , the public documents are not as clear as the former. This matter will not be finalized until the formal provisions are implemented.
So the judgment at this stage is: don’t panic, but don’t delay either. If you have five years on hand that are about to expire, you should pay them in as early as possible.
2. Why spouse visa permanent residence is not subject to the 180-day exit restriction?
Skilled Worker and Global Talent are under Appendix Continuous Residence. You cannot leave the country for more than 180 days in any 12-month rolling window, and you may be rejected if you exceed one day. This rule is so famous that many people think it governs all permanent residence.
Spouse visas are different. For SET(M) applications under Appendix FM, the rules do not set a specific upper limit of days of overseas travel. There is a consensus in immigration legal circles on this point.
But "no hard number of days" does not mean "exit the country at will". The visa officer changed the evaluation logic: He wants to see whether your departure mode meets the core requirements of "genuine and subsisting" and "both parties intend to live together permanently in the UK".
🔍 Let’s give two comparisons. Mrs. A returned to China for five months due to her father's serious illness. During this period, she had hospital records, air tickets, and almost daily phone calls and transfer records with her husband. She continued to live together after returning to the UK - the possibility of passing is very high. Mr. B spends seven or eight months abroad every year. He has no stable address in the UK, no joint bills, and the couple has been separated in two places for a long time. Even if he only leaves the country for 170 days in a certain year, he is still at risk of being questioned.
Therefore, instead of counting the days, applicants for a spouse visa should complete the chain of evidence of cohabitation in the past five years: joint bills, leases or mortgages in both names, GP registered address, joint accounts, Council Tax. These will save you more than a number of days.
If your exit situation is special and you are not sure whether to proactively explain it in your application, you can spend £5 on justiscript.com to have a licensed British lawyer give you a written reply to this question within 24 hours, in both Chinese and English - much more reliable than reading conflicting posts on the forum yourself.
3. English and income requirements for spouse visa permanent residence, calculated as follows in 2026
English requirements: spouse path is step-by-step - first entry A1, extension A2 after 2.5 years, application for permanent residence B1. This structure remains unchanged in 2026. What has changed is the future: According to the immigration rule amendment (HC 1691) submitted on March 5, 2026, , starting from March 26, 2027, the English threshold for most permanent residence pathways (including family pathways) will be raised from B1 to B2 (speaking and listening). Applications submitted before this date will still be reviewed as B1.
what does that mean? If your five years are stuck in the first half of 2027, and is submitted early or submitted late, the exam difficulty will be completely different. B1 to B2 is not a matter of memorizing a few more words. Many people need to prepare for three to six months.
In addition, Life in the UK Test is still a mandatory requirement. If you answer 18 of the 24 questions correctly and pass, the results will be valid for life. It is recommended to take the exam as early as possible and not leave it until the last month.
financial requirements: The minimum income threshold (MIR) will be £29,000 per year from 11 April 2024 and will remain at this level in 2026. The original planned staged increase to £38,700 has been suspended pending the conclusion of a review by the MAC (Migration Advisory Committee). In its 2025 report, the MAC considered £29,000 to be high by international standards and suggested a range of approximately £23,000–£25,000, but the government has yet to formally respond.
In other words, this number may be adjusted downward by in the future, but is unlikely to jump upward by . This is good news for families whose income is stuck on the edge, but before the new regulations are implemented, everything should be prepared at £29,000.
4. How much is the spouse visa permanent residence application fee in 2026?
In accordance with the Fees Amendment Regulations 2026, the application fee for Settlement (ILR) has been increased from £3,029 to £3,226 and is billed separately for each applicant. If you apply with two children, the main application fee will be close to 10,000 pounds.
Expedited service (Priority/Super Priority) is charged separately, and Life in the UK Test, English test, and translation and notarization are also additional expenses. ⚠️ Fees are adjusted frequently, please be sure to refer to the price list published on the GOV.UK official website on that day before taking action.
The core list of materials for SET(M) is roughly: passport and all old visa records, Life in the UK qualification certificate, B1 English certificate, guarantor’s income certificate (salary, bank statements, employer letter), five-year cohabitation evidence, and marriage certificate.
5. Three things you should do now to apply for permanent residence with a spouse visa
① Calculate the exact date of five years. The five years of the spouse path are calculated from the effective date of entry or permission when you first obtained your spouse visa, and renewal in the middle cannot be interrupted. If you submit within a few days, your application will be rejected directly and the money will not be refunded. If you are not sure, use 永居计算器 APP to calculate the day accurately, which is safer than counting the calendar by yourself.
② The exam will be held in advance. Especially friends who will only be five years old after March 26, 2027, you should plan for B2 now.
③ Complete the evidence of cohabitation. will keep at least one set of joint documents every six months for five years. This is the area where faults are most likely to be found in the spouse’s path, and where it’s easiest to remedy them in advance.
Back to the reader at the beginning. She compiled her father’s hospitalization medical records, round-trip air tickets, and transfer records with her husband in the past six months into a timeline and attached it to the application, and obtained permanent residence two months later. She later said: What was really difficult was not the five months, but the half year when I didn’t know what the rules were.
📌 This article is for reference only. Please consult a licensed attorney for specific questions. The policy is subject to the latest announcement of GOV.UK.
[Data source] GOV.UK "Earned settlement" consultation document (November 2025) | GOV.UK Immigration Rules Appendix FM | legislation.gov.uk "The Immigration, Nationality and Passports (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2026" | Statement of Changes HC 1691 (March 5, 2026)
💬 I would like to ask everyone: , during the five years of your spouse visa, how long was the longest time you traveled abroad? Were you worried that it would affect your permanent residence? Let’s talk about your situation in the comment area, so that people behind you can avoid detours.
If you find it useful, bookmark this article, and when it is almost five years old and you need to check the conditions, you will pull it out and check it again.
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