Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were exempted from the spouse visa financial requirements on account of receiving benefits which exempted them in the latest period for which data is available.

Where an individual is applying on the 5-year partner route, their partner must be in receipt of one or more of the specified disability related benefits in order to be subject to the ‘adequate maintenance test’ rather than the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR).

Each application for permission under this route is considered on its merits and against the appropriate financial requirement. Data is not centrally held on the numbers of people who are required to meet the ‘adequate maintenance test’ rather than the MIR, and could only be collated for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.