Conflicting Advice Reg Third Party Sponsors/Support

[pantalaimon]

Hi, I would love some clarity regarding third party support please, as I'm desperate to submit the best application I can despite many weaknesses I have in the finances area.

Some background info: I'm present and settled in the UK (British Citizen) and my hubby is a Turkish national present and settled in Turkey. We are married with one baby and looking to apply for a marriage visa as soon as we have gathered all of our evidence for the application. Neither of us have savings and I'm currently on benefits and he's just about to finish his degree so has student status for the time being. He has financial support from his family and is able to prove via bank statements of his own and of his family that he has been in receipt of income which is slightly greater than the current UK income support level for a couple (£100 p/w). His family are also willing to write a letter to say that they are willing to continue until he finds full time work. He has no job offer here in the UK but has skills and we will print out all of the current job offers that are available and appropriate for his qualifications to demonstrate our plans to search for a job. He is also happy to work any job that doesn't require any skills, experience or qualifications until he finds a more appropriate job that does. We plan to become financially stable and for me to come off of benefits completely. Our relationship is a genuine one and I will submit every form of communication I possibly can, also with a letter from our landlord, tenancy agreement, and a report to show my home is adequate for him to live with us.

I've always understood that third party support is not allowed and have known people to be recently refused on this basis. However, I got advice both from a solicitor and the IAS that third party support IS allowed. Is this true if we can prove that he has been regularly supported over the past 6 months worth of bank statements from my hubby and his family? I read the sticky regarding third party support but I'm still unclear about why people are still being refused on this basis.

Thank you so much in advance for your advice.

[pantalaimon]

p.s. I'm sorry if this has been covered elsewhere but being on my own with a young baby means I hardly get time to eat these days. Thanks for your patience.

I also forgot to mention that I heard that third party support is acceptable as far as accommodation is concerned but I'm talking about financial support here as I'll be accommodating him in my flat. I'm so confused about the news that third party financial support is allowed - my head is spinning!

[Casa]

Although a judgement was recently passed in the courts allowing 3rd party financial support, so far the UKBA Regulations permitting this haven't been amended. You would still face refusal if you're relying on financial help from family, although you may win if it went to appeal.
You'll need to show that you won't be claiming additional benefits if your husband joins you.

[haz2010]

What exactly is meant by 'additional benefits'?

Am I right in thinking that it means if you claim for example child benefit, child tax credit and working tax credit and can support yourself on this plus earnings from work then this is fine but if due to your spouse coming to the UK you would then need to claim more benefits then this would not?

[Casa]

Exactly.

[batleykhan]

My understanding of it is that you are allowed 3rd party support from what are known as close relatives only and that the sponsor is not wholly reliant on state benefits.

What I am saying is that sponsor has to show that he/she is going to make some contributions ( which are not public funds) to support their spouse, eg you are working but earning a small wage, you can then get your father/brother or spouses relatives to help you out financially until you both can support yourselves.

This stated case is only a few months old and therefore has not been tested out thoroughly for anybody to give you true and correct advise.

At the end of the day if you can show by whatever means that your husband is not going to claim benefits in the 2 yr period before he is granted ILR, you should be ok.

[Casa]

ECO's are still refusing cases where 3rd party support is used in the application. It would be risky to rely on it until the Regulations are amended, especially in this application where the relatives offering ongoing financial support are living outside of the UK.

[batleykhan]

I think it will be sometime before the appropiate regulations are changed for the simple reason that it might open the floodgate.

I think the HO will take as long as it can to do this, thus denying the opportunity for loved ones to be reunited straightaway.

I mean they havent even notified people of this change yet, in the hope that each applicant will just have to try that bit harder to ensure that they can support each other without support from anybody at all.

I accept OP position is precarious and unfortunately most of the things are not going her way and she is going to struggle with her husbands case.

I think she needs to get of benefits if possible before she stands a chance of succeeding.

[pantalaimon]

Thank you so very much Casa and Batleykhan for the clarity on my situation. I had a gut feeling that I wasn't getting the straight facts. At the IAS I was told I could have third party support, I was full of doubt otherwise I would have read about the amendment in the UK government visa official site (I would have thought) and it would have been all over the net and a hot topic on all of the forums. But there wasn't much I could find on it. The guy at the IAS told me that I was allowed third party support as if a magic wand had been waved over my case. When I called another visa attorney after that meeting, I had the same response, except they said I had to make it clear that there is no doubt that the family support will be ongoing (although I could prove the past support going back a few years).

I have seen on another forum that there have been a few people who have been granted visas where the sponsor is wholly reliant on benefits and some where they refused due to suspicion of being on benefits (when they weren't!). For those who were on benefits and succeeded, I guess they were considered on their own individual merits, and I don't understand what those were and just because they did succeed, doesn't not guarantee I would, that I understand.

It seems logical to me that I stand a high chance of getting refused and winning via appeal. It's definitely not in the cards for us to wait the many months to get this opportunity though - so succeeding at first would be amazing for us.

I must go and feed my little one, I'll have another ponder over the situation and come back with my thoughts. Thanks again so very much!