Spouse Visa Divorce: Your Options if the Relationship Ends

You must usually tell the Home Office when you divorce or separate from your partner if your visa is based on your relationship. You can use the online service, or tell it by post with a signed form and a covering letter. If you have a British National (Overseas) visa you do not need to tell the Home Office, and you can apply to extend your visa or live permanently in the UK even if your relationship has ended.

Your visa is based on your relationship if you have permission to stay in the UK for a limited time as:

• A dependant on your partner's UK visa
• A spouse or partner on a family visa
• The holder of an EU Settlement Scheme family permit or pre-settled status as the dependant of an EU national, which may also be based on your relationship

The same rules apply if your ex-partner's visa is based on your relationship, for example if they are your dependant or you are their sponsor.

If your visa is based on a relationship that has ended you must apply if you want to stay in the UK, otherwise you have to leave. Apply as soon as possible after the relationship breaks down and do not wait until your current visa expires.

• A work visa
• A visa as a parent of a child who is British, settled in the UK or has lived in the UK for at least 7 years
• A visa based on your private life in the UK
• Settlement (indefinite leave to remain) if your relationship has broken down because of domestic violence or abuse
• Settlement another way, for example after 10 years in the UK (long residence)

Indefinite leave to remain means you can live, work, study or claim benefits in the UK without time restrictions, and you can use it to become a British citizen if you are eligible. The earliest you can apply to settle as a partner is after 5 years continuously on a family visa as a partner, and you cannot include time on any other visa or as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner. You can get advice about staying in the UK on the Citizens Advice website.

See our legal aid guide if you need help paying for advice, and our eVisa guide if you need to prove your status while you wait.

You may be able to apply for permission to settle in the UK permanently if your relationship has broken down because of domestic violence or abuse. Domestic violence and abuse can be emotional, psychological, physical, sexual or financial, and includes threatening or controlling behaviour to try to harm, isolate or frighten someone. Apply as soon as possible after the relationship breaks down, and if you have a current visa do not wait for it to expire.

Your current immigration status usually must be based on your relationship with your partner or parent, who must be:

• ✓Yes: A British citizen
• ✓Yes: A person with permission to settle in the UK permanently (indefinite leave to remain or enter)
• ✓Yes: A member of the UK armed forces who has served for at least 4 years
• ✓Yes: A person with permission to stay in the UK as a refugee
• ✓Yes: A person with settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• ✓Yes: A citizen of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status who was living in the UK by 31 December 2020

You must show your relationship broke down because of domestic violence or abuse from your partner, parent or other family member, which can include a member of your partner's family. You will be asked to give a statement about your circumstances, and you should include supporting evidence if you have it, but you do not need it to apply. Under the Immigration Rules the applicant must be aged 18 or over, and a person applying from outside the UK must have been abandoned outside the UK and have been physically present in the UK before that.

• You do not have to pay the fee if you can provide evidence that you do not have a place to live and cannot afford one, have a place to live but cannot afford essential living costs like food or heating, or have a very low income and paying the fee would harm your child's wellbeing
• There is no fee for biometric information
• You can apply to settle from inside the UK or from outside the UK, and you must apply online
• You can include any eligible children on your form if you apply from inside the UK, and if you are outside the UK you need a separate application for each child coming with you

If your application is approved you can work, run a business, study, use public services such as healthcare and schools, apply for benefits and pensions, and apply for British citizenship, usually after a minimum of 12 months. You can lose your indefinite leave to remain if you stay outside the UK for more than 2 years at a time.

You may be eligible to apply for settlement (indefinite leave to remain) if your partner has died and was a British citizen, had indefinite leave to remain, or was from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and had pre-settled status. You can apply any time after your partner's death and you must be in the UK when you apply. You do not need to take the Life in the UK Test or prove your English language skills.

• ✓Yes: Your permission to be in the UK was based on being their partner as part of a family visa, and a partner is your spouse, civil partner or someone you were living with in a relationship that is like a marriage or civil partnership
• ✓Yes: Before your partner died you got a family visa as their partner, but not as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner
• ✓Yes: When they died you were living together in the UK and intended to live together permanently in the UK
• ✓Yes: Your partner was not living permanently in any other country
• ✓Yes: You and your partner were in a genuine and subsisting relationship immediately before their death

• A current passport or other valid travel identification, and any previous passports you have had while living in the UK
• Your partner's death certificate
• Proof of your relationship, for example your certificate of marriage or civil partnership
• Proof that you and your partner were living together, from when you got permission to be in the UK as their partner
• Your biometric residence permit if you have one, or online proof of your immigration status with a share code if you have an eVisa

For proof of living together, provide 2 official documents addressed to both of you, or each of you individually, at the same address, of different types such as gas, water or electricity bills, Council Tax bills or bank statements. The application fee is £3,226, and family members applying at the same time pay the fee for each of them. You do not have to pay the fee if you can each provide evidence that you do not have a place to live and cannot afford one, have a place to live but cannot afford essential living costs like food or heating, or have a very low income and paying the fee would harm your child's wellbeing.

You can include your children as dependants if they have permission to be in the UK based on being your partner's dependant, were under 18 when this permission was given, are going to live with you in the UK, will have somewhere to live and be financially supported without using public funds, and are not married or in a civil partnership. If you are not eligible because your partner has died, there are other ways to apply for indefinite leave to remain.

If you have a British National (Overseas) visa you do not need to tell the Home Office when you divorce or separate, and you can apply to extend your visa or live permanently in the UK even if your relationship has ended. If you have pre-settled status as a spouse, civil partner, unmarried partner or child you can also apply for settlement if your relationship has broken down permanently because of domestic violence or abuse. An alternative route may be available for relevant family members under Appendix EU who are victims of domestic abuse. See our EU Settlement Scheme guide.

GOV.UK's family visa guide says you might be able to apply to settle in the UK if you had permission to stay in the UK as a partner when you were the victim of domestic abuse or your partner died.

If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police, and if you cannot speak and are calling on a mobile press 55 to have your call transferred to the police. For free, confidential advice, 24 hours a day, you can contact a domestic abuse helpline.

• England: Refuge's National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247
• Wales: Live Fear Free, a Welsh Government funded 24 hour, 365 day service, on 0808 80 10 100
• Scotland: Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline on 0800 027 1234
• Northern Ireland: Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline on 0808 802 1414

You can get immigration advice if you need help with getting permission to stay in the UK, and you may be entitled to legal aid (free legal advice). You can report domestic abuse to the police or contact organisations for help or advice. You can also get advice about staying in the UK on the Citizens Advice website.