Caseworker guidance now reflects Immigration Rules changes aligning a partner's leave length where the sponsor holds 30 months' protection leave granted after an asylum application made on or after 2 March 2026.
Key facts
- Who: Partners applying under Appendix FM whose sponsor holds 30 months' protection leave, granted after an asylum application made on or after 2 March 2026
- From: The source gives no in-force date. Guidance version 29.0 was published for Home Office staff on 5 August 2026 and is shown as updated on 6 August 2026.
- Source: Family life and exceptional circumstances: caseworker guidance
UK Visas and Immigration has updated its caseworker guidance on family life as a partner or parent and exceptional circumstances. The new version is 29.0. It was published for Home Office staff on 5 August 2026, and the GOV.UK page shows it as updated on 6 August 2026.
The guidance says the update reflects changes to the Immigration Rules. Their purpose is to ensure that the period of leave granted to a partner is aligned where the sponsor holds 30 months' protection leave. That leave must have been granted following an asylum application made on or after 2 March 2026. The same update corrects minor grammatical errors and broken links.
The guidance also sets out who counts as a qualifying sponsor for the purpose of leave to remain as a partner. The sponsor must be over the age of 18. Among the listed categories is a person in the UK with protection status, which the guidance says includes "those granted 30 months leave after an asylum application made on or after 2 March 2026".
The other categories the guidance lists for a partner's sponsor are:
- a British Citizen in the UK present and settled in the UK
- a person in the UK with limited leave under Appendix EU, in accordance with paragraph GEN.1.3.(d)
- a person in the UK with limited leave as a worker or business person under Appendix ECAA Extension of Stay, in accordance with paragraph GEN.1.3.(e)
- a person in the UK with permission as a Stateless person
Separate wording applies to parents, with a different list of qualifying sponsors. There, the sponsor is a child under 18 at the date of application. Where the child has turned 18 since the applicant was first granted entry clearance or leave to remain as a parent, the child must not have formed an independent family unit or be leading an independent life.
The guidance does not cover applications for children seeking to stay with or join a close relative with protection status in the UK. Those fall under Appendix Child Relative (Sponsors with Protection).
The extract of the guidance available to us does not set out the exact length of leave granted to the partner, or the rule paragraphs that were changed.
What this means for applicants
A partner whose sponsor holds 30 months' protection leave, granted after an asylum application made on or after 2 March 2026, is covered by the guidance's qualifying sponsor wording. The guidance says the period of leave granted to the partner is aligned in these cases. The extract does not state the length of that period.
Sources
- Family life and exceptional circumstances: caseworker guidance, UK Visas and Immigration, version 29.0, updated 6 August 2026