If you are in receipt of certain types of benefit, you’ll just need to show that you receive enough money to look after your dependent through adequate maintenance.
An application on a 5-year partner route to settlement under Appendix FM and their children may be able to meet the financial requirement through adequate maintenance. The applicant’s partner or parent’s partner must be receiving one or more of the following:
- Disability Living Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Industrial Injury Disablement Benefit
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer’s Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment
- Armed Forces Independence Payment or Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
- Constant Attendance Allowance, Mobility Supplement or War Disablement Pension under the War Pensions Scheme
Under the 5-year partner route to settlement under Appendix FM, the applicant (and their children) will have to meet the minimum income threshold at the next application stage if their partner or parent’s partner is no longer in receipt of one of the specified benefits above.
The Immigration Rules do not specify the level of income or amount of funds sufficient for adequate maintenance. These are case specific and depend on the number of dependants in the family unit. If dependants of the main applicant are going to accompany them to, or remain with them in, the UK, then sufficient resources must be available for the whole family unit to be adequately maintained, regardless of their nationality or immigration status.
A requirement for adequate maintenance has to be met by the following categories of the applicant under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules.
- Partner applying for entry clearance or leave to remain as a partner (on a 5-year route to settlement) whose partner is in receipt of a specified benefit
- A child whose parent is applying for entry clearance or leave to remain, or who has leave to remain, as a partner (on a 5-year route to settlement), and where the parent’s partner is in receipt of a specified benefit
- A child whose parent is applying for entry clearance or leave to remain as a parent or who has limited leave to enter or remain as a parent (on a 5-year route to settlement). This requirement to be adequately maintained applies to the applicant, the parent and any other dependent children
- The parent applying for entry clearance or leave to remain as the parent of a child in the UK (on a 5-year route to settlement):
- A requirement for adequate maintenance will also have to be met in an application for indefinite leave to remain at the end of these 5-year routes to settlement
- Adult dependent relative applying for Indefinite Leave to Enter or Indefinite Leave to Remain (or applying for limited leave where the sponsor is in the UK with limited leave as a refugee or via humanitarian protection)
Adequate maintenance is not a requirement of applications under the 10-year partner, parent and private life routes to settlement under Appendix FM and paragraph 276 ADE(1) or outside the Rules on the basis of exceptional circumstances. For illustration purpose, you may use our maintenance calculator.
