Spouse visa - fulfilling the financial requirement with a job offer?

[Bibliophage]

My US national wife is currently in the UK on a tier 2 visa, valid until April but she was laid off a few days ago. We're looking to switch to a spouse visa and everything for us is straightforward except the financial requirement. I'm self employed, and during the last tax year I didn't make over the £18,600 threshold. When combining this with our joint cash savings we're still just shy of £18,600. The job she was working at during her tier 2 employment paid comfortably more than the threshold, and she has a job offer in writing with a confirmed start date and salary well over double the threshold. The complication is that this job cannot sponsor a tier 2 visa, so she would need the spouse visa to start.

Given this, I have two questions:

1. Will the Home Office accept this as satisfactory evidence that the financial requirement can be met? I've seen a plethora of advice on using a job offer to satisfy the requirement if returning to the UK, or bringing a partner in from outside the UK, but none for when the applicant is already in the UK on a tier 2 visa.

2. If the Home Office will accept it, how can this evidence be submitted? Payslips for the previous employment and a letter from the previous employer, plus a letter confirming the offer?

[seagul]

she has a job offer in writing with a confirmed start date and salary well over double the threshold. The complication is that this job cannot sponsor a tier 2 visa,

No bonafide employer will ever offer any job offer in writing where you have unsuitable type of visa because of heavy penalties.

[Bibliophage]

I should clarify, the job offer is of course contingent on my wife having the legal right to accept it. The employer has no intention of employing my wife illegally. The employer is a major UK university and their HR department is willing to provide any necessary assurance that they will employ my wife when she has the right to work for them; my question is whether the Home Office is likely to accept such assurances as fulfilment of the financial requirements?

[seagul]

my question is whether the Home Office is likely to accept such assurances as fulfilment of the financial requirements?

no

[Bibliophage]

my question is whether the Home Office is likely to accept such assurances as fulfilment of the financial requirements?

no

I appreciate the answer, but could you clarify why not? How does it differ from using a job offer in this way, for example:

https://britishexpats.com/forum/citizen ... er-889519/

[seagul]

my question is whether the Home Office is likely to accept such assurances as fulfilment of the financial requirements?

no

I appreciate the answer, but could you clarify why not? How does it differ from using a job offer in this way, for example:

https://britishexpats.com/forum/citizen ... er-889519/

That can only be accepted where the sponsor after working overseas have earned £18600 and now returning to UK with job offer going to start within 3 months. You can read the official guidance.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -ext_1.pdf

[Casa]

Seagul is correct that a job offer won't be considered as income to meet the minimum level of £18,600. Your wife would need to submit a minimum of 6 months of payslips, together with the corresponding bank statements.

For couples living together outside of the UK, the sponsor (you in this case) would be required to have overseas earnings the equivalent to £18,600 pro rata in the 6 month period prior prior to submitting the spouse visa application AND have a confirmed job offer to start within 3 months of arrival in the UK. The applicant's overseas income, doesn't qualify.

Also, when you are making your calculations please be aware of the following points:
1. Only savings over £16,000 are considered, as the first £16,000 is disregarded.
2, For self-employed income the qualifying amount is after all allowable business expenses have been deducted. i.e the amount on which HMRC use to calculate tax due from your annual self-assessment tax return.

Edit: beaten by Seagul.

[Bibliophage]

Seagul is correct that a job offer won't be considered as income to meet the minimum level of £18,600. Your wife would need to submit a minimum of 6 months of payslips, together with the corresponding bank statements.

For couples living together outside of the UK, the sponsor (you in this case) would be required to have overseas earnings the equivalent to £18,600 pro rata in the 6 month period prior prior to submitting the spouse visa application AND have a confirmed job offer to start within 3 months of arrival in the UK. The applicant's overseas income, doesn't qualify.

Also, when you are making your calculations please be aware of the following points:
1. Only savings over £16,000 are considered, as the first £16,000 is disregarded.
2, For self-employed income the qualifying amount is after all allowable business expenses have been deducted. i.e the amount on which HMRC use to calculate tax due from your annual self-assessment tax return.

Edit: beaten by Seagul.

Thanks for your input, and also thanks to Seagul - sadly not the answer we were hoping for, but the one we suspected.

We are currently living together in the UK, not outside - my wife's earnings over the last 12 months were in the UK, through her tier 2 sponsored job, and were well in excess of the £18,600 threshold. The issue is that our current joint income is less than this threshold.

For the sake of argument, if I got a weekly paid job that pushed my total income above the threshold, would that satisfy the financial requirement? That is to say, if my taxable income from my self employment was x during the last financial year, and I now found a job that paid y weekly, would my total income now be x+52y after my first weekly paycheck? And if this figure exceeds £18,600, would the Home Office be satisfied that the financial requirement has been met?

[geoeng]

For the sake of argument, if I got a weekly paid job that pushed my total income above the threshold, would that satisfy the financial requirement? That is to say, if my taxable income from my self employment was x during the last financial year, and I now found a job that paid y weekly, would my total income now be x+52y after my first weekly paycheck? And if this figure exceeds £18,600, would the Home Office be satisfied that the financial requirement has been met?

Unfortunately it wouldn't help as only income received during the same period as the applicable financial year for self-employment can be used towards the financial requirement; furthermore evidence of ongoing employment would have to be provided (so you also could not use your wife's employment income during this period).

[Bibliophage]

For the sake of argument, if I got a weekly paid job that pushed my total income above the threshold, would that satisfy the financial requirement? That is to say, if my taxable income from my self employment was x during the last financial year, and I now found a job that paid y weekly, would my total income now be x+52y after my first weekly paycheck? And if this figure exceeds £18,600, would the Home Office be satisfied that the financial requirement has been met?

Unfortunately it wouldn't help as only income received during the same period as the applicable financial year for self-employment can be used towards the financial requirement; furthermore evidence of ongoing employment would have to be provided (so you also could not use your wife's employment income during this period).

My understanding is that we would be able to fulfil the requirement using Category B income, as per:

https://www.freemovement.org.uk/appendi ... uirements/

Our joint gross income over the last 12 months is in excess of £18,600, and if my income from a new job extrapolated to fill a year in addition to my self employed income is also in excess, then both parts would be satisfied, no?

I understand that the earnings have to be in the same financial year, but how do I give evidence of my self employed income when the current tax year doesn't finish until April?

[geoeng]

I understand that the earnings have to be in the same financial year, but how do I give evidence of my self employed income when the current tax year doesn't finish until April?

The evidence would be for the last full financial year, or average of the last two full financial years. At the moment, the last full financial year would be April 2018 - April 2019.

Our joint gross income over the last 12 months is in excess of £18,600, and if my income from a new job extrapolated to fill a year in addition to my self employed income is also in excess, then both parts would be satisfied, no?

Unfortunately no, unless any new job was at a salary sufficient to meet the financial requirement on it's own and the self-employment income could be excluded entirely (and total income in the last 12 months excluding self-employment income also meets the financial requirement). With self-employment being included, all sources of income must fall within the financial year(s) relied on and must still be a source of income at the time of application. Additional details in the guidance document linked below from page 60.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -ext_1.pdf

[Bibliophage]

I understand that the earnings have to be in the same financial year, but how do I give evidence of my self employed income when the current tax year doesn't finish until April?

The evidence would be for the last full financial year, or average of the last two full financial years. At the moment, the last full financial year would be April 2018 - April 2019.

Our joint gross income over the last 12 months is in excess of £18,600, and if my income from a new job extrapolated to fill a year in addition to my self employed income is also in excess, then both parts would be satisfied, no?

Unfortunately no, unless any new job was at a salary sufficient to meet the financial requirement on it's own and the self-employment income could be excluded entirely (and total income in the last 12 months excluding self-employment income also meets the financial requirement). With self-employment being included, all sources of income must fall within the financial year(s) relied on and must still be a source of income at the time of application. Additional details in the guidance document linked below from page 60.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -ext_1.pdf

As always, the government makes life just a little harder for the self employed... I really appreciate your help, and the input of everyone else who commented.