Can I bring my Filipina wife to the UK?

Some people are concerned about the fact that during the application process, they need to prove that their relationship with a partner is genuine. The concern can be because of many different reasons – maybe the couple hasn’t been engaged for long before they got married, or maybe they’ve only seen each very little before the marriage because of the distance.

No matter which one applies to you, our advice is to focus on the quality instead of the number of documents you submit.

There are a few ways in which you can prove the genuineness of your relationship, including:

• A letter that provides a timeline of who you are, how you and your spouse met, the development of your relationship and a statement that it is your intention to live together in the UK.
• Marriage certificate, civil partnership certificate or a local equivalent.
• Statements from your friends and family – used more as contributory evidence rather than prime evidence
• Travel itineraries and hotel bookings – documentary evidence of any trips you might have taken together, including tickets, Airbnb bookings stamps in your passports and so on.
• A selection of photos that can cover the chronology of your relationship – however, selfies might not be enough. If you have photos from some holidays or life events, such as graduation or weddings, include them – it’s important that there are other people in the photos.
• Evidence of communications e.g. Whatsapp messages, emails, calls logs etc
• Evidence of financial support e.g. money transfer receipts.

If you want to bring your Filipino spouse to the UK, you need to meet a financial requirement. In order to do that, you need to prove your annual income/s – the amount you need to earn changes depending on who you are trying to bring to the UK.

If it’s only your spouse, then the minimal annual income is £18,600 before tax. If your partner is bringing their children, and they are not British, you have to add £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for all the others. If the children are British, or they have an indefinite leave to remain in the UK, there’s no additional cost.

Here’s an example. If you want to bring your Filipino wife and four children, of whom none is a British citizen, then your minimum annual income has to be £29,600. On the other hand, if you want to bring your Filipino spouse and three children who have British citizenship, the minimal annual income is still £18,600.

Another way of meeting the financial requirement is having enough savings in your bank account – in this case, £62,500, which have been maintained for at least the last 6 months or more. However, you need to be aware that if you want to bring non-British children as well, the amount of required savings will be higher.

If you and your partner are engaged, then you will need to apply for a fiance visa. The requirements are almost the same as for the spouse visa, the only difference is that once your partner arrives in the UK, you should get married within 6 months. The visa will be initially valid for 6 months. After the wedding, your partner will be able to apply to switch the fiance visa to a spouse visa, which will be valid for 30 months.