Joining your British or settled partner in the UK? We complete your forms, certify-translate and organise your relationship and financial evidence, and book your VFS Bangkok appointment — so your application is accurate and submission-ready.
A UK Spouse / Partner visa lets the husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner of a British citizen — or of someone settled in the UK — live there together. It is a settlement route: after five years on it you can apply to stay for good.
This page is a complete, plain-language guide to the 2026 rules for a Thai applicant — the £29,000 income test and the cash-savings alternative, exactly which documents and translations you need, the real cost in baht, what the new digital visa (eVisa) means, and what we prepare for you.
We are a document-preparation, translation and VFS-booking service, not a law firm, so we explain the published rules — we do not give regulated advice or judge your chances.
A1 English test required at entry · TB certificate required (IOM Bangkok) · outcome is a digital eVisa, no passport sticker.
You can apply if you are legally married to, in a civil partnership with, or the unmarried partner of a British citizen or someone settled in the UK (for example with indefinite leave to remain). You must both be over 18, intend to live together permanently in the UK, and have a genuine and continuing relationship.
If you are an unmarried partner you normally need to show you have lived together in a relationship for at least 2 years. If you are not yet married, the Fiancé(e) visa is the right route — you marry within 6 months of arriving and then switch to the spouse route. Do not marry on a Standard Visitor visa: you cannot switch out of it inside the UK.
The UK sponsor (and in some cases you together) must show a gross income of at least £29,000 a year. Since 11 April 2024 this is a flat figure for new applicants: it does NOT increase if you have children (the old per-child amounts only apply to people who first applied before that date and are continuing with the same partner).
The reported rise to £38,700 was paused and is NOT in force in 2026 — £29,000 still applies — but figures can change, so we keep this page checked against gov.uk. If income alone is not enough, you can use cash savings, or combine income and savings. Use the checker below to compare your figure to the published threshold.
If you cannot meet £29,000 from income, you can rely on cash savings. The amount required follows a fixed formula: £16,000 + (2.5 × the yearly income shortfall).
With no qualifying income at all the shortfall is the whole £29,000, so you need £16,000 + (2.5 × £29,000) = £88,500. If you do have some income, you only have to make up the gap.
The savings must be your own or your partner's, held in a regulated account, fully accessible (not locked away), for at least 6 months in a row before you apply.
Say the UK sponsor earns £21,000 a year. The shortfall is £29,000 − £21,000 = £8,000. Savings needed = £16,000 + (2.5 × £8,000) = £36,000. At about ฿43.5 to £1 that is roughly ฿1.57 million held in the account for 6 months. (Savings-only with no income = £88,500 ≈ ฿3.85 million.) These baht figures are indicative — the exchange rate moves and your bank may apply a worse rate.
The rules sort income into lettered categories, and each needs its evidence in a specific format. The most common are:
What does NOT count: a UK job offer your sponsor has not yet started; the income from the job you (the Thai applicant) are leaving overseas; promised or future income that has not been received; and money you cannot evidence in the exact way the rules require.
Getting the category and the document format right is where most applications are won or lost.
Beyond the money, two things must be clearly shown. First, that your relationship is genuine and ongoing: that you have met in person, and that you keep in regular contact. Helpful evidence builds a timeline — photos together over time, chat and call logs, flight tickets and stamps from visits, money transfers, and (if married) the marriage certificate.
Second, that you have suitable accommodation in the UK that you will live in and that is not overcrowded under UK housing law — for example a tenancy agreement or the property deeds, and, if you will live with the sponsor's family, a letter of consent from the owner. We help you build a clear, well-organised relationship timeline and the right accommodation paperwork, all certified-translated where needed.
You need an approved English certificate (a Secure English Language Test, SELT) in speaking and listening. The levels rise as you progress: A1 for the first (entry) application, A2 to extend after 2 years 9 months, and B1 for settlement.
Important change: for cases applying for settlement from 26 March 2027, the settlement level rises from B1 to B2 in speaking and listening — so plan your English study with the higher target in mind.
In Thailand, Home Office-approved test centres include British Council (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Phuket) and IDP (Bangkok); from 22 March 2026 the IELTS test in Thailand is computer-delivered. Always confirm the current approved centres and accepted tests on gov.uk before booking.
UK spouse applications succeed or fail on the evidence. The Home Office expects relationship evidence, financial evidence in a specific format, accommodation, an A1 English certificate and a TB certificate.
Tick off your pack below — it saves on your device and prints.
Several Thai civil documents must be obtained from your local amphur (district office) and certified-translated into English: your marriage certificate (Kor Ror 2 / Kor Ror 3), house registration (tabian baan) and ID card.
A frequent cause of delay is a name mismatch across documents — for example a maiden name, a name change, or a different Thai-to-English spelling. We check for these and prepare certified translations that match.
For the TB certificate, the ONLY UKVI-approved provider in Thailand is IOM Bangkok (Migration Health Assessment Centre, Silom Road); the chest X-ray is taken at Bangkok Christian Hospital.
The certificate is valid for 6 months and a certificate from any other clinic will be rejected — always use the approved provider listed on gov.uk. The A1 English test is taken at British Council or IDP.
Below is the all-in cost: the £2,064 government visa fee (applying from outside the UK), the NHS health surcharge, optional extras, and our service fee — in pounds and live baht.
The health surcharge (IHS) is £1,035 a year and is paid as a single lump sum up front: for the 33-month first grant the part-year is rounded up to 3 years, so you pay about £3,105 when you apply online (refunded if you are refused).
Remember the difference between money you PAY and money you must SHOW — the £29,000 income or £88,500 savings is held, not spent.
From outside the UK, settlement decisions usually take up to about 12 weeks (sometimes longer in busy periods); a paid priority service may be available for some settlement applications from Thailand, subject to availability. The decision time is counted from your VFS biometrics appointment (fingerprints and photo).
Because the TB certificate is valid for 6 months and savings must be held for 6 months, timing matters — plan your start date with the planner below.
The UK has moved to a digital immigration status. After a successful decision you no longer get a sticker (vignette) glued into your passport. Instead you receive an email to set up a free UKVI account on gov.uk, and your permission to live in the UK is held there online as an eVisa.
Your permission to live in the UK lives in your free UKVI account — prove it from your phone with a share code.
To prove your status — to an employer, a landlord, or at the border — you sign in to your UKVI account and generate a share code (valid 90 days). Keep the email and your account log-in details safe, and make sure the passport linked to your account is the one you travel on.
We point you to the official gov.uk pages so you set this up correctly after the decision.
The most common reasons are financial evidence in the wrong format (for example payslips that don't match bank statements, statements older than 28 days at the date of application, or savings not held long enough), thin relationship evidence, missing certified translations, accommodation that looks overcrowded, and name mismatches.
We prepare, translate, organise and check every document against the published gov.uk evidence rules before submission. This is document preparation — it improves completeness and accuracy; it is not a guarantee of the outcome, which only the Home Office decides.
Unlike a visitor refusal (which has no appeal — you simply reapply more strongly), a spouse/partner refusal normally engages your right to family life, so you usually have a right of appeal to the independent First-tier Tribunal. The deadline is strict: 28 days from the date of the decision when you are outside the UK.
You must declare every previous UK and other-country visa refusal on your application — leaving one out, or giving false information, can lead to a refusal for deception and even a 10-year ban on re-entry. An appeal is a legal step: we are not lawyers and cannot run one, so for an appeal you should speak to a qualified, IAA-registered adviser or an immigration solicitor.
Our service fee is separate from the government fees above, and a fraction of typical law-firm fees in Thailand.
Last reviewed: June 2026. Fees, thresholds and rules change regularly — always confirm the current figures and approved test/TB centres on gov.uk before you apply. This page is general information, not regulated immigration advice.
Tell us about your situation and we'll come back with a clear plan and a price — no obligation.
Your details are kept private (PDPA / UK-GDPR). General information, not regulated immigration advice.
