Switching to a Spouse visa UK

[PLONKERER]

Hello

Could someone please help me.

I recently married a women I have spent the last year studying with. We are both based in London. She is on a student visa that expires at the end of Jan 2016. I am a South African citizen who has permanent residence ( ILR). I was granted ILR a year ago and I gained it after spending 5 years in the UK on a Tier 2 work permit.

I have the following questions, please could you help if you know the answers. We are pretty tight on cash and cant afford a lawyer.

- Will the fact that I gained permanent residence through a work visa have a bearing on the application process? I have read online that the process if different in comparison to say someone with UK citizenship who was born here and is applying for a visa for his or her spouse... If it is is different please could ypu explain the difference rather than posting a link as I am a bit confused.

- Will we both have to have a certain amount of money in our accounts for 3 months? If so, is there any way around this ? we have had almost nothing in our accounts for the last 3 months as we have been students and we want to apply now. We are both employed though and we both earn £35k per month, she is on a 3 month contract, which her work has agreed to make permanent once she gets the spousal visa, i have a permanent full time position. We cant wait for the 3 months because her visa will expire and then she will have to leave the UK, lose her job and then apply from outside the UK. We could both get employment letters from our respective companies detailing salary etc, both companies are household names.

- Will she be subject to the healthcare surcharge and does she have to pass the life in the UK test?

- If we opted for the same day service in Croydon, what from your experience would be the waiting time for an appointment ? I know they say up to 6 weeks, but I would like to hear from someone who has recent experience of the actual times rather than the "safe" period of time that is normally given.

Please could you let me know if you know the answers to any of the questions, any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
JC

[vinny]

No difference.

She will be subject to Appendix FM, Appendix FM-SE, healthcare surcharge, etc.

[Wanderer]

35k per month?

Some points;

1. You have to have earned £18,600 pa for the last 6 months, no way around that.

2. Check the terms of her spouse visa, she will only have permission to work 20 hrs a week, if at all.

3. Yes to the NHS surcharge and she'll also need to pass an English test unless she's from an English speaking country or has a degree taught in English.

[Casa]

Hello

Could someone please help me.

I recently married a women I have spent the last year studying with. We are both based in London. She is on a student visa that expires at the end of Jan 2016. I am a South African citizen who has permanent residence ( ILR). I was granted ILR a year ago and I gained it after spending 5 years in the UK on a Tier 2 work permit.

I have the following questions, please could you help if you know the answers. We are pretty tight on cash and cant afford a lawyer.

- Will the fact that I gained permanent residence through a work visa have a bearing on the application process? I have read online that the process if different in comparison to say someone with UK citizenship who was born here and is applying for a visa for his or her spouse... If it is is different please could ypu explain the difference rather than posting a link as I am a bit confused. No difference

- Will we both have to have a certain amount of money in our accounts for 3 months? If so, is there any way around this ? we have had almost nothing in our accounts for the last 3 months as we have been students and we want to apply now. We are both employed though and we both earn £35k per month, she is on a 3 month contract, which her work has agreed to make permanent once she gets the spousal visa, i have a permanent full time position. We cant wait for the 3 months because her visa will expire and then she will have to leave the UK, lose her job and then apply from outside the UK. We could both get employment letters from our respective companies detailing salary etc, both companies are household names. Assuming you mean you have an income of £35,000 per year how long have you been earning this? You will have to show that you meet the minimum £18.600 income level pro-rata for the last 6 months before submitting the FLR(M) application.

- Will she be subject to the healthcare surcharge and does she have to pass the life in the UK test? £500 NHS surcharge required + A1 Level English unless she has a degree which has been taught in English. Life in the UK + B1 level English required in five years time for ILR.

- If we opted for the same day service in Croydon, what from your experience would be the waiting time for an appointment ? I know they say up to 6 weeks, but I would like to hear from someone who has recent experience of the actual times rather than the "safe" period of time that is normally given.
The waiting time for a PSC appointment isn't 6 weeks. You've confused this with the fact that appointment slots are only released onto the system 42 days ahead. Availability depends on the PSC, some are more heavily booked than others.
Please could you let me know if you know the answers to any of the questions, any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
JC

In addition to the above, Wanderer has mentioned an important point. If your fiancee has been working outside of her permitted hours on her student visa, her spouse visa application will be refused.

[vinny]

2. Check the terms of her spouse visa, she will only have permission to work 20 hrs a week, if at all.

Probably a mistype. "Spouse" should be "student".

[Wanderer]

2. Check the terms of her spouse visa, she will only have permission to work 20 hrs a week, if at all.

Probably a mistype. "Spouse" should be "student".

Correct! Apologies!

[PLONKERER]

Thank you for your replies, Vinnie Casa and Wandererer - much appreciated.

It is quite worrying though as I only started work on the 12th October and her visa expires at the end of January . I was studying before this and only finished at the end of September. I did receive in the months of June and August but this was from a family member who helped me towards my studies, Could i earn £35k pa over a for month period to cover the £18.5K over a 6 month period?

She has been working full time on a student visa because she is allowed to once her studies are complete and she still has time on her visa, there is no doubt about this.

Aby chance one of you could provide us with a solution to the problem?

Thanks

JC

[Casa]

Regrettably I don't have a solution to how you could qualify to apply from within the UK. The 6 month period for earnings is mandatory, no matter how much more you might earn in the months to come. Unless one of the other mods or members can come up with a alternative plan, it appears that your wife will have to return to her home country and apply for a spouse settlement visa from there. I assume you've already looked into whether she qualifies for visa in her own right under a work category?

[PLONKERER]

Thanks Casa. I just found this paragraph though in the following document which appears to contradict your view. It is on page 24 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... t_2015.pdf

5.3.4. First, where the applicant’s partner and/or the applicant (if they are in the UK with
permission to work) is in salaried employment at the date of application and has been
with the same employer, or earning the amount relied upon, for less than the last 6
months, they can count the gross annual salary at the date of application towards the
financial requirement. There is no required minimum period for this current employment,
provided that the requirements for specified evidence under paragraph 2 of Appendix
FM-SE can be met in respect of it.

I am not sure whether I am misunderstanding this, but I understand that as long as I can provide evidence of my current employment and gross salary ( eg contract and payslips) the 6 months is not a problem..

What do you think?

Thanks
JC

[Wanderer]

She has been working full time on a student visa because she is allowed to once her studies are complete and she still has time on her visa, there is no doubt about this.

Not sure about this - back in the day when my better half was a student working 20 hrs/wk, one of the stipulations was that the student work was not allowed to be considered a career, Lord knows how that's provable or even if it's in the rules anymore or if it's problem now.

Also if she's not studying now is she a bona-fide student.......?

Judgement call I think...

[Wanderer]

Thanks Casa. I just found this paragraph though in the following document which appears to contradict your view. It is on page 24 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... t_2015.pdf

5.3.4. First, where the applicant’s partner and/or the applicant (if they are in the UK with
permission to work) is in salaried employment at the date of application and has been
with the same employer, or earning the amount relied upon, for less than the last 6
months, they can count the gross annual salary at the date of application towards the
financial requirement. There is no required minimum period for this current employment,
provided that the requirements for specified evidence under paragraph 2 of Appendix
FM-SE can be met in respect of it.

I am not sure whether I am misunderstanding this, but I understand that as long as I can provide evidence of my current employment and gross salary ( eg contract and payslips) the 6 months is not a problem..

What do you think?

Thanks
JC

Isn't that for Armed Forces Personnel?

[PLONKERER]

Hi Wanderer. She finished her MSc at the end of September. She was made an offer by a consultancy ( one of the big four) that has hired her on a fixed term contract until the end of Jan. Once she has the spouse visa she a new permanent contract of employment will be written. The rule is that if you can prove that you have finished your studies, eg a letter from your uni confirming this, then the 20hr or 10hr per week working limit is retracted and you can work as many hours as you want, This was confirmed by her companies immigration department and Cranfield University. There is no doubt about this.

[Casa]

Thanks Casa. I just found this paragraph though in the following document which appears to contradict your view. It is on page 24 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... t_2015.pdf

5.3.4. First, where the applicant’s partner and/or the applicant (if they are in the UK with
permission to work) is in salaried employment at the date of application and has been
with the same employer, or earning the amount relied upon, for less than the last 6
months, they can count the gross annual salary at the date of application towards the
financial requirement. There is no required minimum period for this current employment,
provided that the requirements for specified evidence under paragraph 2 of Appendix
FM-SE can be met in respect of it.

I am not sure whether I am misunderstanding this, but I understand that as long as I can provide evidence of my current employment and gross salary ( eg contract and payslips) the 6 months is not a problem..

What do you think?

Thanks
JC

Well I often wonder whether the Home Office explains their Immigration Rules with the intention to be as confusing as possible. Unfortunately, my interpretation is that is fails due to the following example:
Example (b)
The applicant’s partner works in the UK. She started a new job 3 weeks ago. Her gross
annual salary is £20,000. She meets part (1) of the calculation for Category B because she
is in salaried employment at the date of application and her gross annual salary at the date
of application meets the financial requirement.
In addition, she must have received in the 12 months prior to the application the level of
income required to part (2) of the calculation for Category B. But she has had no other job in
the last 12 months as she has been travelling.
The financial requirement is met under part (1) of Category B because the applicant’s
partner is currently in a job paying at least £18,600, but not under part (2) as she has not
earned at least £18,600 from employment in the last 12 months. Therefore the applicant
cannot meet the financial requirement using Category B

Let's wait to see if there are any other viewpoints on this. I can only say that since the change in the Rules regarding income, personally I haven't seen a report from anyone on the forum who has been successful with an FLR(M) application showing less than 6 months of earnings when they haven't also combined it with a previous period of employment in order to qualify.

[Wanderer]

Hi Wanderer. She finished her MSc at the end of September. She was made an offer by a consultancy ( one of the big four) that has hired her on a fixed term contract until the end of Jan. Once she has the spouse visa she a new permanent contract of employment will be written. The rule is that if you can prove that you have finished your studies, eg a letter from your uni confirming this, then the 20hr or 10hr per week working limit is retracted and you can work as many hours as you want, This was confirmed by her companies immigration department and Cranfield University. There is no doubt about this.

There is doubt, the 20 hr week provision is for a student while studying on a prescribed course, the extra is usually granted for graduation ceremonies etc, if the course has finished, it doesn't apply.

I wouldn't be so chicken-sure.....

[Casa]

Hi Wanderer. She finished her MSc at the end of September. She was made an offer by a consultancy ( one of the big four) that has hired her on a fixed term contract until the end of Jan. Once she has the spouse visa she a new permanent contract of employment will be written. The rule is that if you can prove that you have finished your studies, eg a letter from your uni confirming this, then the 20hr or 10hr per week working limit is retracted and you can work as many hours as you want, This was confirmed by her companies immigration department and Cranfield University. There is no doubt about this.

There is doubt, the 20 hr week provision is for a student while studying on a prescribed course, the extra is usually granted for graduation ceremonies etc, if the course has finished, it doesn't apply.

I wouldn't be so chicken-sure.....

Wanderer, it would appear that the OP's wife is covered, assuming the 3 month work contract get's around the 'permanent full-time vacancy' issue.
Students can work full-time after completing their studies until the end of their valid student
visa, provided they do not:
 engage in self-employment; or
 employment as a doctor in training (unless the course they are being sponsored to
do is recorded on the CAS is a recognised Foundation Programme).
 provide services as a professional sportsperson (including coach) or entertainer; or
 pursue a career by filling a permanent full-time vacancy

[Wanderer]

Hi Wanderer. She finished her MSc at the end of September. She was made an offer by a consultancy ( one of the big four) that has hired her on a fixed term contract until the end of Jan. Once she has the spouse visa she a new permanent contract of employment will be written. The rule is that if you can prove that you have finished your studies, eg a letter from your uni confirming this, then the 20hr or 10hr per week working limit is retracted and you can work as many hours as you want, This was confirmed by her companies immigration department and Cranfield University. There is no doubt about this.

There is doubt, the 20 hr week provision is for a student while studying on a prescribed course, the extra is usually granted for graduation ceremonies etc, if the course has finished, it doesn't apply.

I wouldn't be so chicken-sure.....

Wanderer, it would appear that the OP's wife is covered, assuming the 3 month work contract get's around the 'permanent full-time vacancy' issue.
Students can work full-time after completing their studies until the end of their valid student
visa, provided they do not:
 engage in self-employment; or
 employment as a doctor in training (unless the course they are being sponsored to
do is recorded on the CAS is a recognised Foundation Programme).
 provide services as a professional sportsperson (including coach) or entertainer; or
 pursue a career by filling a permanent full-time vacancy

Fair enough! Always better to be on the defensive though I think, assume nothing!

[Casa]

Very wise

[PLONKERER]

Wanderer, no wonder you have "All IMHO" Just covering yourself for talking rubbish with an authoritative tone. No point in wasting my time on a forum like this if there are clowns like you lurking around. I'll just go to a bloody lawyer.

[Casa]

Wanderer, no wonder you have "All IMHO" Just covering yourself for talking rubbish with an authoritative tone. No point in wasting my time on a forum like this if there are clowns like you lurking around. I'll just go to a bloody lawyer.

Actually to be fair, in Wanderer's 8,000+ posts he has given a great deal of sound advice..he was just erring too far on the side of caution with this one. It is of course your choice whether you pay for legal advice or not.

[Wanderer]

Wanderer, no wonder you have "All IMHO" Just covering yourself for talking rubbish with an authoritative tone. No point in wasting my time on a forum like this if there are clowns like you lurking around. I'll just go to a bloody lawyer.

Oops!

Another who likes it sugar-coating. OK, it's all fine you'll get the visa, all perfect, no problems.

That the answer you want?

Before you rant, I've been here 10+ years, done it, had the visas, got the fooking teeshirt, in a time when it was much much easier and it's a lot tougher now. Why am I here? Because I want to give back, no doubt you'll fook off when u get the answer you want and we'll never hear from you again, and that's fine. Me I prefer to give back, there's enough people here to give you the easy 'no probs' answers, whereas I and others know it's difficult, UKVI are devious twats and will try and catch you out and if you don't get that you are bound for an epic fail.

I'll still be hear when you've gone. I'll watch this thread and comment but I doubt you'll be around much.

Thank you.

[physicskate]

Well I often wonder whether the Home Office explains their Immigration Rules with the intention to be as confusing as possible. Unfortunately, my interpretation is that is fails due to the following example:
Example (b)
The applicant’s partner works in the UK. She started a new job 3 weeks ago. Her gross
annual salary is £20,000. She meets part (1) of the calculation for Category B because she
is in salaried employment at the date of application and her gross annual salary at the date
of application meets the financial requirement.
In addition, she must have received in the 12 months prior to the application the level of
income required to part (2) of the calculation for Category B. But she has had no other job in
the last 12 months as she has been travelling.
The financial requirement is met under part (1) of Category B because the applicant’s
partner is currently in a job paying at least £18,600, but not under part (2) as she has not
earned at least £18,600 from employment in the last 12 months. Therefore the applicant
cannot meet the financial requirement using Category B

Let's wait to see if there are any other viewpoints on this. I can only say that since the change in the Rules regarding income, personally I haven't seen a report from anyone on the forum who has been successful with an FLR(M) application showing less than 6 months of earnings when they haven't also combined it with a previous period of employment in order to qualify.

In the example you give - if they have been employed for less than 6 months and already actually earned above £18,600 (in total), I reckon Cat B might just work! Salaries could be combined in this instance too... so if you and your wife have earned above £18,600 I would say you're in with a shout for meeting the financial requirements.

Otherwise, OP, do you have substantial savings that could be used to make up any shortfall?

[Casa]

@physicskate How do you justify "The financial requirement is met under part (1) of Category B because the applicant’s
partner is currently in a job paying at least £18,600, but not under part (2) as she has not
earned at least £18,600 from employment in the last 12 months. Therefore the applicant
cannot meet the financial requirement using Category B
The OP has said they have no savings. His wife is on a 3 month temporary contract and he has just started employment following a year of study.
Do you know of anyone who has succeeded with less than 6 months proof of employment?
It's a lot of money to lose if they apply too early and the application is refused.

[Wanderer]

I wish the OP good luck really I do but I affirm while his case is good but it's by no means straight forward,as per recent input...

[physicskate]

@physicskate How do you justify "The financial requirement is met under part (1) of Category B because the applicant’s
partner is currently in a job paying at least £18,600, but not under part (2) as she has not
earned at least £18,600 from employment in the last 12 months. Therefore the applicant
cannot meet the financial requirement using Category B
The OP has said they have no savings. His wife is on a 3 month temporary contract and he has just started employment following a year of study.
Do you know of anyone who has succeeded with less than 6 months proof of employment?
It's a lot of money to lose if they apply too early and the application is refused.

From the example you gave: for arguments sake, let's say the sponsor earns £10,000 per month, wouldn't they meet the requirement after two months pay checks because they have actually earned £18,600 in the previous '12 months' - even though they only earned it in two months...

They said they were on generous salaries, so in my humble opinion, it would in theory be possible to meet Cat B with fewer than 6 months' employment as long as they had actually earned above £18,600 in total... No??

[Casa]

@physicskate How do you justify "The financial requirement is met under part (1) of Category B because the applicant’s
partner is currently in a job paying at least £18,600, but not under part (2) as she has not
earned at least £18,600 from employment in the last 12 months. Therefore the applicant
cannot meet the financial requirement using Category B
The OP has said they have no savings. His wife is on a 3 month temporary contract and he has just started employment following a year of study.
Do you know of anyone who has succeeded with less than 6 months proof of employment?
It's a lot of money to lose if they apply too early and the application is refused.

From the example you gave: for arguments sake, let's say the sponsor earns £10,000 per month, wouldn't they meet the requirement after two months pay checks because they have actually earned £18,600 in the previous '12 months' - even though they only earned it in two months...

They said they were on generous salaries, so in my humble opinion, it would in theory be possible to meet Cat B with fewer than 6 months' employment as long as they had actually earned above £18,600 in total... No??

In theory yes, but the example I gave wasn't mine, it was from the UKVI guidance which appears to discount applying with fewer months of employment.
This would also seem to be supported by the fact that it's mandatory to submit the most recent 6 month payslips, which in the OP's case, wouldn't be available. His wife's 3 month contract can't be extended until the FLR(M) application has been approved, so may well be discounted for income.