Some much appreciated advice is needed.
My wife and I are applying for the FLR (M) visa, she being the applicant (Canadian) and I the sponsor (UK citizen).
We first met in Canada in 2013, we then decided to move back to UK so she came over on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa in late 2014, after a few months here I proposed and we got married in late 2015 but never switched over to the FLR (M) until now, her current Tier 5 expires in less than a month (not ideal).
We're opting for the one day service due to last minute application. We've been really concerned with the financial requirements. Basically, we both work, she has been in same employment since May 2015 and it's been a non-salaried employment, her annual salary would be about 12.5K gross. I am also in same employment, earning same amount, but have only been there less than 3 months. Though prior to this I had a salaried employment since April 2015 - July 2016 on a 24.5K gross salary.
I know we must apply through Category B, but we have just found out whilst reading through the guidance notes, that we must provide bank statements showing payments to correspond with the net amount on the payslips.
The problem is, I can easily show this for my previous salaried employment in the last 12 months as I was paid by bank transfer, though when it comes to our current employment we have irregular payments being deposited into our joint account as we get paid cash weekly. Nothing really corresponds with payslips. For example, in the last 3 months whilst working at the same place, we often take our pay, always cash, and then don't necessarily deposit it until a few weeks later, sometimes accumulating and then making one or two large monthly deposits into our account. Yet those deposits always tend to be less than our actual combined pay, as we'll usually hold some back to use as food shopping, nights out etc etc.
We're concerned that immigration will not look at our actual gross pay that shows on our payslips, but rather look at what we've been depositing into our joint account. Even then, payments are irregular and we're also worried they'll struggle to actually validate what is what on our bank statements.
Is there a way we can help fix this mess, perhaps having an official letter from our employer or employers accountant proving pay to be genuine? I dunno, I'm really just struggling to know what to do or bring along at our appointment.
Doesn't help that we're also 12 weeks pregnant and really depending on this visa to be able to remain in the UK to start our family life without the unnecessary uncertainty of where we'll be in 6 months!
Hope that explains enough of our situation.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read through and offer up your valued help.
MT