UK spouse visa cash savings: £88,500 and the 6 month rule

01 / The calculation

£88,500 is a calculation, not a universal deposit requirement.

For an initial or extension application under the usual £29,000 threshold, the calculation is £16,000 plus 2.5 times the annual income shortfall. With no qualifying income, that produces £16,000 + (2.5 × £29,000) = £88,500. Where permitted income already meets the threshold, this calculation does not create an additional £16,000 savings requirement.

If £24,000 of annual income can properly be counted and combined with savings, the shortfall is £5,000. The required savings are therefore £28,500. It would be wrong simply to add £5,000 of savings to the income figure. The first £16,000 does not contribute to the income requirement, and the remaining capital is spread over the prescribed 2.5 year period.

Appendix FM, E-ECP.3.1 and E-LTRP.3.1, supplies the framework. The Home Office minimum income requirement guidance sets out the calculation and worked examples. Identify the application stage and the permitted income category before treating any online figure as the answer.

02 / The correct threshold

Transitional protection and settlement change the answer.

Applicants within the pre 11 April 2024 transitional arrangements may remain subject to the earlier £18,600 base threshold, with relevant child additions and the applicable cap. Eligibility depends on the earlier application, grant and continuing partner relationship. An old visa date alone is not a sufficient analysis. Where £18,600 is the applicable requirement without child additions, savings alone for an initial or further permission calculation would be £62,500.

At settlement, the calculation is different: the whole qualifying amount above £16,000 can contribute, without division by 2.5. For example, an applicant with an applicable £18,600 threshold and no income relied upon would need £34,600 in qualifying savings. This is an illustration of the current financial calculation, not a conclusion that the person qualifies for settlement.

Where specified benefits bring the application within adequate maintenance, a separate assessment applies. Nor should the Appendix FM calculation be imported into an Armed Forces or work dependant application. Establishing which test applies can be more important than increasing the balance.

03 / The holding period

The closing balance is not the 6 month evidence.

Under Appendix FM-SE, paragraph 11, the bank statements must show at least the amount relied upon throughout the 6 months before application, subject to the specific paragraph 11A provisions. A balance restored shortly before applying does not erase an earlier shortfall.

If a savings-only case needs £88,500 but the qualifying balance fell to £84,000 during the relevant period, a later £10,000 top up does not establish 6 months at the required level. The response is to examine the actual chronology, any other permitted funds or income, and the application date. It is not to submit only the latest statement.

Where money moves between qualifying personal accounts, preserve both sides of the transfer. The same funds must not be counted twice, and the records should establish uninterrupted ownership and access. A schedule showing each account, currency, relevant minimum balance and transfer reference is a useful preparation document; it is not a substitute for the specified bank evidence.

04 / The account

The funds must be yours to use in the required form.

The applicant, their partner or the couple jointly may hold the savings. They need not all belong to the British or settled partner. Paragraph 11A(a) permits a qualifying regulated bank or savings account where the funds are immediately accessible, even if withdrawal attracts a penalty. An account restricted until a future maturity date needs careful examination of its actual access terms.

A company bank balance is not automatically the shareholder’s personal savings. A parent’s account is not the applicant’s account. A discretionary trust interest is not the same as funds owned and controlled by the applicant. Each may involve real wealth, but the legal ownership and financial category must be established before a figure is included.

The Home Office guidance recognises that some investment accounts, including a stocks and shares ISA, can satisfy the savings requirements where all the relevant conditions are met. It also identifies ordinary brokerage arrangements that generally do not. The account label should prompt an examination of regulation, statements, cash value, control and immediate withdrawal rights; it should not decide the case by itself.

05 / Property proceeds

Selling a property need not start a new 6 month wait.

Paragraph 11A(d) deals specifically with a dwelling, other building or land sold during the 6 months before application. The relevant property or share must have been owned by the applicant, their partner or both at the start of that period and when it was sold. Only their share of the proceeds counts where a third party was a co-owner.

The qualifying cash is the net sale proceeds after the secured mortgage or loan, sale taxes and professional fees have been paid. The evidence must establish those deductions and the deposit into the qualifying account. The rule reduces the cash holding period by the time between the start of the relevant 6 months and that deposit.

Consider an apartment owned for several years and sold 2 months before the intended application. If the ownership, net proceeds and remaining savings requirements are established, it may be unnecessary to wait another 4 months merely because the money was recently deposited. By contrast, a parent selling their own property and gifting the proceeds to the couple does not give the couple the parent’s ownership history under this provision.

Prepare the title evidence, completion statement, mortgage redemption record, confirmation of sale taxes and fees, and the receiving bank statements. Overseas documents must explain the same sequence. The exception is confined to the specified property; it should not be assumed to cover a car, jewellery or every other valuable asset.

06 / Investments

The portfolio history matters before liquidation.

Paragraph 11A(c) provides a separate route for funds transferred from investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds into cash savings during the relevant 6 months. It requires ownership and control over the full period and regulated financial institution evidence of the investment, its earlier cash value and the conversion. It can include pension funds that did not qualify directly as immediately accessible savings.

The caseworker guidance requires the investment value at or before the beginning of the 6 month period to be at least equivalent to the savings relied upon. A recent market gain therefore needs scrutiny. A portfolio worth £70,000 at the relevant starting point is not automatically evidence of £88,500 of qualifying savings merely because it later sells for £90,000.

Before any sale, establish whether the institution can provide the historical valuation, ownership records and transaction trail. An adviser’s current valuation alone leaves the earlier period unexplained. Tax, pension access and investment consequences require their own advice; an immigration timetable should not dictate a disposal before those issues have been considered.

07 / Family support

A completed gift is different from a promise or a loan.

The Rules permit a qualifying cash gift from a family member or other third party, with the source declared and the required period of control established. The Home Office guidance states that the money cannot be borrowed. A promise to support the couple, a temporary balance supplied for the application or funds repayable after the decision should not be presented as ordinary Category D savings.

For a new gift, the ordinary 6 month history usually begins with the couple’s receipt and control of the money. The donor’s earlier bank statements may explain the source, but do not normally substitute for the couple’s own holding period. Equally, an expected inheritance is not the same as a legacy already paid.

A signed gift statement, transfer records and a clear explanation of the source can help establish the facts. Paragraph 11 requires the account holder’s source declaration. Supporting material should address any real uncertainty over repayment, ownership or control rather than conceal it behind the word “gift”. Exceptional circumstances involving other support are a separate legal assessment.

08 / Combining sources

Savings cannot repair every income shortfall.

Qualifying savings can potentially supplement permitted employment income, non-employment income or pension income. The categories have different evidential periods and calculation rules. Confirm that the income itself qualifies before using it to reduce the savings requirement.

Under Category B, savings may assist the current income assessment but cannot meet the separate requirement concerning actual income received during the previous 12 months. Paragraphs 13 and 15 of Appendix FM-SE must be read together. This distinction matters when a sponsor has recently changed jobs or returned from overseas.

Paragraph 13(f) prevents the relevant self-employment income from being combined with cash savings. Paragraph 13(j) extends the treatment to income from employment or shares in the specified type of UK limited company. A director should not assume that taking a salary makes the ordinary employment and savings combination available. Where savings independently satisfy the entire requirement, that is a different basis of application.

09 / The application

Build the evidence around the filing date.

The essential starting documents are the qualifying bank statements for the required period and the account holder’s declaration of source. Where an investment or property provision is relied upon, the additional evidence must establish each condition of that provision. Account regulation, withdrawal terms and the source of unusual credits may need supporting records.

Appendix FM-SE also governs the form of bank evidence, translations and recency. Where the evidence is tied to the period before application, its most recent part must ordinarily be dated no earlier than 28 days before applying. Do not plan the qualifying period around the later biometric appointment.

Foreign currency funds are not automatically excluded, but the prescribed conversion rules apply. Paragraph 1(f) refers to Appendix Finance FIN 1.1 to FIN 1.3, including the applicable conversion source and date. Check the sterling result at filing; a foreign balance which was sufficient during preliminary advice may leave no margin when exchange rates move.

The sensible review produces a single reconciliation: applicable threshold, counted income, required savings, eligible accounts, relevant dates and documents. Keep relocation spending separate in the planning exercise so that fees, deposits and other withdrawals do not inadvertently undermine the balance being relied upon. If the evidence does not yet work, identify that before submitting the application.

Practical questions.