Spouse or Civil Partner permits

Where a work permit holder, an Immigration Employment Document holder, or an exempt person, is engaged in permanent, regular full-time employment ("the primary employment"), his or her spouse or civil partner is, upon application to the Department, automatically entitled to a work permit.

An application for a spouse/civil partner permit is made directly to the Department by the spouse or civil partner of the permit holder, costs £60 and is issued for one year at a time.

A spouse/civil partner permit authorises the employment of the person named in it generally, in any capacity, subject to any conditions specific in it. The permit is not connected to a specific employment.

Persons with certain unspent criminal convictions have no entitlement to a spouse/civil partner permit (see further at criminal records).

Page last updated: 21 July 2017