Accommodation requirement
Having a suitable residence in Great Britian is one of the criteria used to determine whether or not an applicant is approved a spouse visa. When a spouse in Great Britain lives alone at their own place of residence is the simplest scenario, which requires no analysis. That type of residence will certainly do for processing this type of visa.
But what if the spouse is renting a place and the owner of the residence not only lives there but has their entire family living with them there as well? What if the spouse lives with their parents and brother, who has his wife and kids of his own there himself? What's the proper way to count the number of rooms and the permitted number of people in a residence in order to be absolutely certain in advance that the visa will be approved?
There is a number of criteria to consider when it comes to tricky cases like these.
Financial requirements:
What should you do if your spouse's income is insufficient? What amount should be reflected in the accounts?
Read our Financial requirements guidance
- Friends or relatives could have provided the residence.
- The residence may be owned by relatives or friends or they could be renting it.
- The spouse could be renting the entire residence, or just renting a room.
- If the residence may not belong to the spouse, in which case the owner of the residence must consent to the applicant living there with their spouse.
- The rooms permitted for residence are bedrooms and living rooms which could be used as bedrooms. These do not include bathrooms, toilet rooms, halls, kitchens, cafeterias, or work offices.
- Facilities with an area of more than 50 square feet are not considered.
- Two adults living together as a couple can occupy the same room.
- Children under the age of 10 and of different genders can share the same room. After the age of 10, however, they must be living in different rooms.
- Children of the same sex can live in the same room.
- This doesn’t include children less than a year old. Children between the age of 1 and 10 are counted as half a person.
Financial requirements:
What should you do if your spouse's income is insufficient? What amount should be reflected in the accounts?
Read our Financial requirements guidance
The following table indicates the maximum number of people allowed to inhabit a residence with the corresponding number of rooms and available places to sleep broken down by age, gender, and whether or not they're a couple.
| Number of rooms | Number of people |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 7.5 |
| 5 | 10 |
| Over 5 | up to 2 people per room |
Cases when moving to a new place of residence is permitted:
- A child has recently been born in a family or the child has reached the threshold age at which point he or she will be required to live in a separate room, but the family hasn't managed to find a new place of residence yet.
- There’s a relative temporarily living with the family. Documented evidence must be provided that the relative is staying at the residence on a short-term basis.
- Local authorities have allowed families to live under certain housing which may not meet the established standards.
Here are some examples:
- The applicant and the spouse plan to live in the parents’ home which has 4 bedrooms and the parents themselves live there along with their daughter, her husband, and their two children. The children are of different genders and are 5 and 11 years old. The number of people already living there is 5.5. 2 more people plan to move in. A 4-bedroom home is just right for the number of residents – 7.5 people. This home will work to get a spouse visa processed.
- The applicant and the spouse plan to live in the parents’ home which has 4 bedrooms and the parents themselves live there along with their daughter, her husband, and their two children. The children are of different genders and are 15 and 11 years old. The number of people living in the home is 6. Then, two more people plan to move into the home (for a total of 8). A 4-bedroom home can adequately house 7.5 residents. This residence won't suffice to get a spouse visa processed.
To spare yourself the need to count up the rooms and the number of people on your own, get in touch with our professionals. We will help you count everything correctly and ascertain for you whether or not a particular residence is suitable for getting a visa processed.
Contact us now and get professional visa support!
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