What a family sponsor actually has to show

The income test

The requirement is expressed per family member against the minimum wage, so the figure rises with each person included. A sponsor who comfortably supports a spouse may be short once two children are added, and finding that out at the counter is the wrong moment.

The one-year wait

A sponsor usually needs to have held a residence permit for at least a year before bringing family. There are exceptions, and they matter enough to check rather than plan around, because a move built on the wrong assumption strands the family abroad for a year.

Three years at a time

Family permits can run up to three years, longer than the short-term permit the sponsor may hold, and a family permit cannot outlast the sponsor's own permission. That ceiling is easy to miss when the two documents are issued months apart.

Tax is separate, per person

Each family member is their own taxpayer. One person's Article 20/D certificate covers one person. A spouse with foreign income of their own needs their own certificate, with their own three clean years, applied for in their own first year of tax residency.