Applicants and their partner must have the required resources under their own control and not somebody else.
Promises of support from a third party are vulnerable to a change in that person's circumstances or in the
applicant's or partner's relationship with them and therefore their support is not counted towards the financial
requirement.

Applicants are not allowed to work in the UK until their Spouse or Civil Partner visa has been granted.

Dependants (including children under 18 years of age) will be eligible to live and stay in the UK with the parent.
They can live and work in the UK without any restrictions. They will be granted leave in line with the expiry date
of the main applicant's leave.

Applicants will have the following conditions attached to their leave:
• No recourse to public funds;
• Prohibition on employment in the UK:
• Registration with the police, if applicable.

Foreign nationals from outside the European Economic Area making certain applications to the Home Office
have to apply for a biometric residence permit. This applies to both postal applications and applications made in
person (known as 'premium applications'). The biometric residence permit is a residence permit which holds a
migrant's biographic details (name, date and place of birth) and biometric information (facial image and
fingerprints), and shows their immigration status and entitlements while they remain in the UK. This also means
that a UK visa will no longer be stamped in applicant's passport and all applicants will be issued one of the new Biometric visa cards instead. These cards look very similar to a (pink) UK driving license except they have a
microchip on the back.
Applicants who wish to extend their stay in the UK by post, the Home Office will send them a letter asking them
to enrol their biometrics after the Home Office have received their application. Applicants will be able to enrol
their biometric information one of the Post Offices offering this service across the UK using their walk-in service.
Applicants who are submitting their application in person can do this at one of the Public Enquiry Offices by using
the premium service. Applicants will enrol applicants' biometric information at the same time as making their
application.

For application submitted overseas, the applicants have to provide their biometric enrolment at one of the Visa
Facilitation Centres. Successful applicants will receive a 30 day 'vignette sticker' in their passport instead of a
vignette with the full grant of leave. This 30 day visa will be the date they indicated as their intended travel date in
their visa application. Applicants will be required to collect their BRP from the Post Office branch detailed in their
decision letter within ten days of arrival in the UK. The Post Office branch is linked to the postcode that they
submitted in their visa application. The BRP card can then be used as proof of right to work, study and access
public services in the UK.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) was introduced by the Home Office on 6th April 2015. People (non-
EEA) coming to the UK for more than six months have to pay this health surcharge as a part of their immigration
application towards the National Health Service (healthcare in the UK).
Offshore applicants will have to pay the health surcharge if they are applying for a visa for a period of longer than
six months, and onshore applicant will have to pay the health charge for any length of visa.
Applicants will have to pay £150 per year as a student or £200 per year for all other visa and immigration
applications. Dependants will usually need to pay the same amount as the main applicant. The exact amount
they have to pay depends on how much leave they are granted. They can calculate how much they will have to
pay before you apply. If the period of grant applied for is less than 6 months, then half of the yearly amount to be
paid and if the period of grant applied for is more than 6 months, then whole year amount is to be paid.
Visa application will not be granted if applicants do not pay the healthcare surcharge or application will be
delayed if the right amount is not paid.

Following persons are exempted to pay the IHS:
• Applicants applying for a Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) visa and their dependants;
• Applicant under 18 who has been taken into care by a local authority;
• Applicants who arenationals of Australia or New Zealand;
• Dependant of a member of the UK's armed forces;
• Dependant of a member of another country's forces who is exempt from immigration control; and
• Applicants of a relevant civilian employee employed by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) or the
Australian Department of Defence in the UK and their dependants.

In line with the Home Office service standards for processing UK visa applications, they decide 95 per cent of settlement applications within 12 weeks of the application date and 100 per cent within 24 weeks of the application date.