Can Crypto Help You Meet the UK Spouse Visa Financial Requirement?
Yes, but if relying on it to meet the financial requirement through savings, it must become cash first. Cryptocurrency may form part of your wider financial position, but Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital assets cannot simply be entered on a UK spouse visa application as qualifying cash savings. The safer and more straightforward approach is to sell the cryptocurrency, transfer the proceeds into an appropriate bank account and retain a clear paper trail showing where the money came from.
Handled correctly, funds generated from cryptocurrency may then help an applicant and sponsor meet the spouse visa financial requirement. This blog provides a summary, and it is not a substitute for receiving tailored legal advice based on your circumstances. For more detailed advice, please arrange a free consultation with one of our immigration experts in the Personal Immigration Team
Cryptocurrency is not the same as cash savings
For most new spouse and partner visa applications, the applicant and sponsor must demonstrate a combined gross annual income of at least £29,000. Depending on their circumstances, they may meet this requirement through employment, self-employment, pension income, non-employment income, cash savings or an accepted combination of these sources.
Appendix FM-SE is clear that savings relied upon under the standard financial requirement must be held in cash. Cryptocurrency remaining in an exchange account or digital wallet is therefore not automatically treated as qualifying cash savings.
That does not mean cryptocurrency has no place in the application. It means that the distinction between the digital asset and the cash generated from selling it must be properly understood.
The straightforward route: sell the crypto and document the proceeds
The most reliable approach is usually to sell the cryptocurrency through a legitimate exchange and transfer the proceeds into a bank or savings account held in the name of the applicant, the sponsor or both jointly. The required amount should then remain under their control, with complete records retained to evidence the sale, transfer and source of the funds. Before submitting the visa application, it is essential to ensure that all relevant cash-savings and evidential requirements have been met.
In a recent spouse visa application submitted by OTB Legal, cryptocurrency itself was not presented as qualifying savings. The cryptocurrency had been liquidated, and the money relied upon was held as cash in a conventional savings account. The Coinbase records were included to explain the provenance of the funds rather than to ask the Home Office to count the remaining crypto balance.
The supporting cash declarations and financial documents explained that the cash savings in this case, came from several lawful sources, including the liquidation of cryptocurrency, pension savings and a family gift.
That is the key point: The application relied on cash in the bank, not cryptocurrency in a wallet.
How much cash is required?
Where cash savings are combined with income, the usual calculation is:
£16,000 + 2.5 times the annual income shortfall
For example, where the required income is £29,000 but the qualifying annual income is £24,500, the shortfall is £4,500.
The cash savings required would therefore be:
£16,000 + (£4,500 × 2.5) = £27,250
Where there is no qualifying income at all and the financial requirement must be met entirely through cash savings, the amount ordinarily required is:
£16,000 + (£29,000 × 2.5) = £88,500
Only savings above the initial £16,000 are used to compensate for the income shortfall. The approach used by OTB Legal in the case mentioned above followed this calculation by combining pension income with cash savings, rather than attempting to meet the requirement through savings alone.
The six-month rule
In most cases, the qualifying amount must have been held as cash savings throughout the six months immediately before the date of application.
The evidence will normally include personal bank statements showing that the required balance remained in an account held by the applicant, sponsor or both jointly throughout that period. A signed declaration explaining the source of the savings must also be provided. This is particularly important where the money originated from cryptocurrency. Selling crypto shortly before submitting the application and placing the proceeds into a bank account does not necessarily mean the funds will immediately satisfy the ordinary six-month cash-savings requirement.
Although Appendix FM-SE contains particular provisions for funds transferred from certain investments into cash, cryptocurrency is not expressly named in the standard list of investments, stocks, shares, bonds and trust funds. Applicants should therefore be cautious about assuming that a recent crypto sale will automatically benefit from those provisions.
The lowest-risk approach is generally to convert the cryptocurrency into cash early enough for the resulting bank balance to meet the full six-month requirement.
Can cryptocurrency be sold within the six-month period?
Appendix FM-SE contains a limited exception to the usual requirement that cash savings must have been held in a bank or savings account for the full six months before the application.
Under paragraph 11A(c), funds held as cash at the date of application may have been transferred from investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds during the six-month period. However, the applicant must demonstrate that the funds remained in the ownership and under the control of the applicant, sponsor or both throughout the entire six months. They must also evidence the value of the investment at or before the beginning of that period and provide a clear record of its transfer into cash.
The Home Office caseworker guidance confirms that, where these requirements are met, the period during which the funds were held as an investment may be combined with the period during which they were held as cash. For example, an investment held for four months and then liquidated into qualifying cash savings for two months may potentially satisfy the six-month ownership period. The value of the investment at or before the start of the six-month period must, however, have been at least equal to the amount of cash savings relied upon in the application.
Does this exception apply to cryptocurrency?
This is where caution is required. Neither Appendix FM-SE nor the current Home Office financial-requirement guidance expressly identifies cryptocurrency as an investment for the purposes of paragraph 11A(c). The Rules state that “investments” include funds held in an investment account or pension account that does not otherwise qualify as a cash-savings account, but they do not specifically refer to Bitcoin, Ethereum or other crypto assets. The caseworker guidance also contains no worked example involving cryptocurrency.
There may be an argument that cryptocurrency held through a regulated exchange is an investment within the wider meaning of paragraph 11A(c). However, this is not expressly confirmed by the Immigration Rules or Home Office guidance. An applicant should not therefore assume that selling cryptocurrency during the six months before applying will automatically allow the earlier period of crypto ownership to be counted.
The lowest-risk approach remains to liquidate the cryptocurrency and hold the required proceeds as cash in an appropriate bank or savings account for the full six months before submitting the application.
Is Coinbase regulated by the FCA?
In the UK, CB Payments Ltd, which trades as Coinbase, is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority under the Money Laundering Regulations to carry out specified crypto asset activities. Coinbase’s current UK terms also state that CB Payments Ltd is authorised as an electronic money institution and authorised and regulated as a MiFID investment firm. Its digital-asset services include hosted wallets and a service through which customers can purchase and sell supported crypto assets.
However, FCA registration does not by itself resolve whether cryptocurrency falls within paragraph 11A(c). Registration under the Money Laundering Regulations primarily concerns anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing supervision. It does not mean that all crypto assets are regulated investments or that they receive Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection.
It will also be important to confirm the precise Coinbase entity that provided the relevant wallet, exchange and custody services during the period relied upon. The documents should identify that entity and demonstrate its relevant regulatory status.
What Coinbase evidence could be provided?
Where an applicant seeks to rely on cryptocurrency liquidated less than six months before applying, the evidence should go considerably further than screenshots showing a wallet balance.
Coinbase allows customers to download monthly statements and generate customised statements in PDF or CSV format. These records may assist in demonstrating the account holder’s identity, transaction history and the purchase and sale of the crypto assets.
The application should, where available, include:
- Official Coinbase account statements covering the entire six-month period;
- Evidence identifying the account holder and the relevant Coinbase entity;
- Evidence of when and how the cryptocurrency was acquired;
- A statement showing the type and quantity of cryptocurrency held at the beginning of the six-month period;
- Reliable evidence of its cash value at or before the beginning of that period;
- The complete sale or liquidation records, including the date, value and fees;
- Evidence of the transfer of the sale proceeds into the applicant’s or sponsor’s bank account;
- Bank statements showing receipt of the exact net proceeds and the continuing cash balance;
- A copy of the relevant FCA register entry;
- Any written confirmation Coinbase can provide regarding the authenticity of the statements, ownership of the account and transaction history; and
- A signed source-of-funds declaration explaining the complete history of the money.
The values must reconcile across the documents. The opening cryptocurrency holding, its stated value, the amount sold, transaction fees, net proceeds and amount entering the bank account should be capable of being followed without unexplained differences.
Even where Coinbase documentation is available, there remains a legal and evidential risk because cryptocurrency is not expressly covered by paragraph 11A(c). Where the proceeds have not been held as cash for six months, the application should be carefully assessed and supported by detailed legal representations rather than treating the investment-to-cash exception as automatically applicable.
What evidence should be provided when relying on cryptocurrency liquated for more than 6 months?
A strong application should provide a clear and uninterrupted evidential trail from the original cryptocurrency holding to the cash savings relied upon. This should include exchange statements or transaction histories, evidence confirming ownership of the exchange account or wallet, records showing the purchase and sale of the cryptocurrency, confirmation of the amount realised, proof of the transfer into the relevant bank account, six months of bank statements showing that the required balance was maintained, any relevant tax documents and a signed declaration explaining the source and ownership of the funds.
The figures should reconcile. The amount sold, exchange fees, amount transferred and sum appearing in the receiving bank account should all be capable of being followed without unexplained gaps.
Keep a financial buffer
Cryptocurrency values can change quickly, and applications involving money held in a foreign currency may also be affected by exchange-rate movements. It is therefore unwise to hold only the precise minimum amount required. A reasonable buffer can protect the application against exchange-rate fluctuations, transaction charges or minor calculation differences.
In the example application, the sponsor’s principal savings account remained comfortably above the required level throughout the relevant period, leaving a substantial surplus and avoiding reliance on a borderline calculation.
Common mistakes to avoid
The most common problems arise where an applicant relies directly on the balance shown in a cryptocurrency wallet, sells the cryptocurrency too close to the application date, cannot demonstrate who owned or controlled the digital assets, provides screenshots instead of formal transaction records, or is unable to link the sale proceeds clearly to the funds entering the relevant bank account. Difficulties may also arise if the bank balance falls below the required level during the six-month period, the source of the savings is not properly declared, or the applicant incorrectly assumes that profits from cryptocurrency can be treated as employment or non-employment income. Appendix FM-SE provides that profit from the sale of an investment or other asset is not accepted as income, although the resulting funds may potentially be relied upon as cash savings where the relevant requirements are met.
I get paid in cryptocurrency, can I rely upon that as income rather than savings?
This is another question which is not directly addressed through the published guidance. The rules do allow reliance on an income where someone is paid in a foreign currency, and the rules state to determine the UK equivalent, then you use the exchange rate that exists on oanda.com. Interestingly, oanda.com does include exchange rates for some crypto currencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. There is therefore an argument that income paid in cryptocurrency could be relied upon.
The question of whether this income could be relied upon probably boils down to whether a cryptocurrency could be considered to fall within the definition of a ‘foreign currency’. There is no definition of foreign currency within the immigration rules and so this remains an area of uncertainty. Any application which is submitted relying upon income paid as a cryptocurrency therefore does carry a risk of refusal.
How OTB Legal can help
Cryptocurrency-funded spouse visa applications require careful planning and a clear paper trail from the original digital assets to the cash savings relied upon. OTB Legal can assess your income and savings, calculate the amount required, advise on the timing of any cryptocurrency sale and review the supporting exchange records, bank statements and source-of-funds evidence. We can identify any gaps, prepare the financial calculations and draft legal representations explaining how the funds were acquired, sold and transferred. Early advice is important, as selling too close to the application date or failing to maintain the required balance could put the application at risk. OTB Legal can prepare and submit the application on your behalf.
