Edit 14-6: Sponsor with payday loans + Intervening Devotion

[Mikeyboy]

Hi, I am currently putting together all of the paperwork for my spouses visa and am a little concerned about the maintenance requirement.

I earn £40k pa but have been in a bit of a bad spiral of payday loans for the last year or so, as of the 1st June these will all be paid and my money will be my own (yay). My worry is that the bank statements look bad even though by renewing the loans at a reduced rate each month I have cleared the debt, i tend to end up with a bout £400 clear before the reloans each month on all of the old statements.

The question is should I just send in payslips employer letter and a budget omitting the statements or should I send everything above as well as the statements and a full and frank explanation of my circumstances (as of July 1st I will have £1300 clear after all bills each month)?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I had some great advice on the above thank you. My new question is:

My wife and I were living together before she left the UK to apply for her Visa, she left on 15th of May and went back to Brazil via Portugal (family reasons) she is looking to start the Visa process in the next 2 weeks so we will have only been apart for 6 weeks.

In regards to intervening devotion all we have as proof of contact for that period of time is her O2 bill showing that we spoke on numerous occasions throughout the day for the 4 weeks she was in Portugal. I also have some Western Union transfer slips from when I have sent money over to her.

Is it necessary to submit these as it has only been a few weeks separation?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Mike

[Lucapooka]

Generally, you would need to have 480 in net income remaining after you have paid for accommodation but then be able to cover all of your other expenses with this remaining sum. So what are you paying before you are left with that sum of 400? If you have at least 480 after only accommodation and the loans are paid you should be fine.

[Mikeyboy]

Generally, you would need to have 480 in net income remaining after you have paid for accommodation but then be able to cover all of your other expenses with this remaining sum. So what are you paying before you are left with that sum of 400?

Thanks for your response Looka, I was paying off old payday (short term loans of no more than 31 days) loans around £1k per month and then taking a new one each month to make up the difference (reducing by around £60pm) they essentially cost me just the interest as i was constantly renewing them.

So you would see £1000 out £950 in etc each month, the £950 would then be used alongside anything else as living money, I lived a very decadent life before i met my wife (£200 nights out in London etc).


I know now how stupid I was and will clear the last one on my next payday.

So after that my bills are:

Rent inc utils £800
Mobile for me and the wife £100
Gym £50
Catalogue £75
Parents £150

And that is it, my income after travel is £2420

[Lucapooka]

I'm still not sure if you are saying that you have a positive bank balance of 400 each month after everything in your particular lifestyle (inc loans) is paid. Or are you saying that you are persistently in the red each month?

[Mikeyboy]

I'm still not sure if you are saying that you have a positive bank balance of 400 each month after everything in your particular lifestyle (inc loans) is paid. Or are you saying that you are persistently in the red each month?

After the loan and all bills were paid I would have around £400 left in the black to live with.

As I used to want to spend more than that I would take a loan of xxx to spend on top of that and pay it in full when I got paid.

My account has not been in the red for a number of years as I never borrowed more than I could pay back I usually still have a positive balance on the day before payday.

My statements look messy though as there is always a lot of money moving in and out of my account.

[Lucapooka]

After the loan and all bills were paid I would have around £400 left in the black to live with.

So I think that is fine.

[Mikeyboy]

After the loan and all bills were paid I would have around £400 left in the black to live with.

So I think that is fine.

Thank you so much, is it best to send in the statements or will they just cause confusion / concern?

I already have 7 months of payslips and a tenancy agreement etc.

[Lucapooka]

The visa will not be granted without showing bank statements. Payslips and letters from employers are all well and good but not much use in the absense of historical bank statements. A bank account is the hub of your financial situation. Your net income enters that account and that account then services your lifestyle. Every bill you pay or every ATM withdrawal you make comes from that account. The Entry Clearance Officer can immediately see at a glance if you are able to live within your means.

[Mikeyboy]

The visa will not be granted without showing bank statements. Payslips and letters from employers are all well and good but not much use in the absense of historical bank statements. A bank account is the hub of your financial situation. Your net income enters that account and that account then services your lifestyle. Every bill you pay or every ATM withdrawal you make comes from that account. The Entry Clearance Officer can immediately see at a glance if you are able to live within your means.

Thanks again Luca, I might add a letter as well to say that the repayment they will see as of the 1st June is the final loan payment and the account has been closed.

Thanks again you made me feel a lot less panicky.

[pazpatel]

The visa will not be granted without showing bank statements. Payslips and letters from employers are all well and good but not much use in the absense of historical bank statements. A bank account is the hub of your financial situation. Your net income enters that account and that account then services your lifestyle. Every bill you pay or every ATM withdrawal you make comes from that account. The Entry Clearance Officer can immediately see at a glance if you are able to live within your means.

Thanks again Luca, I might add a letter as well to say that the repayment they will see as of the 1st June is the final loan payment and the account has been closed.

Thanks again you made me feel a lot less panicky.

This is only my opinion as I am still yet to get my wife's VISA which is under process.... but once I have it I can tell you if it was okay or not.

Anyway, I do not have any payday loans etc, but I do have credit cards and also Lexus Finance Loan for my car. Now I run my own business and have done for 2.5 years now BUT my pay is not set evermonth like many small business owners I guess. So what I done instead of providing 6 monhs statments as requested I provided 12 months worth of statement. The 12 months show an income of over £55,000. I also provided a contract between me and my business partner.

My bank statments are also very messy, reason for this is when I pay my self I tend transfer out immediatlet at least 50% of it into savings. That 50% will pay off the immediate DD's, and have some left too. And then during the month I will just transfer little amounts of savings back into the account as I go (basically keeping my current account balance at around £100 all the time.... Dont know why I have a bit of an OCD I think.... HEHE. Anyway - They are VERY messy statments with all the internal transfers etc. So what i done is provided 12 months worth, all my savings statments which shows the transactions between accounts and if they look close enough they will see that I live in my means and each month there is also an increase on the savings. Only a couple of times in the year was there a decrease on the SAVINGS but following month it would go back up, those descreases where due to maybe a holiday (to india to see my wife), wedding, car insurance or something like that...

I also had my bank write me a letter (HSBC) which they done very kindly, I asked the letter to state to me how long I have been a customer, if I had ever gone over drawn in that time (which I havent), the average income over the last 6 months and the average outgoing over the last months, a true fact of the amount of savings I had at that day (I have 4 savings accounts (flex Saver, ISA, On line Saver, Regular Saver) with HSBC and a Invest account too) I also had on that letter that I have fixed scheme in which I have a SO for £200 a month, but cannot close till teh year is up so a fixed.

On my side I wrote a strong, but to point cover letter explaining why I have differnt amount of money coming into my statement everymonth as a business owner but over the year it comes to £55k, about the internal transfers between savings and current account, and also a table of all my fixed costs like petrol, insurances, council tax, bills, car loan etc. I also got my accountant to write a letter too about my salary.

I have backed everything up and shown good savings of over £7k in UK, £10k in India and £10k in bonds / shares etc.

Anyway I would sugeest to you, that you will be fine if you have £400 or over left each month as spending money, also you have never gone overdrawn. Also if you can get your bank to write you a letter and also explain all and be honest on the cover letter. You should be fine. The fact you have a good job, and earn a good salary is important. Also between you getting engaged or married and now if you savings have gone up or your statements shows you are being sensible it will go along way.

Good luck.....

[pazpatel]

The visa will not be granted without showing bank statements. Payslips and letters from employers are all well and good but not much use in the absense of historical bank statements. A bank account is the hub of your financial situation. Your net income enters that account and that account then services your lifestyle. Every bill you pay or every ATM withdrawal you make comes from that account. The Entry Clearance Officer can immediately see at a glance if you are able to live within your means.

Thanks again Luca, I might add a letter as well to say that the repayment they will see as of the 1st June is the final loan payment and the account has been closed.

Thanks again you made me feel a lot less panicky.

also I think you are worrying to much... Dont stress or worry, just be honest, explain everything and back it all up as well as you can... You will be fine. The main thing is you earn a good salary, pay your taxes and agood job.... I think we all worry about to much, but I dont think they look into that heavy unless there is a reason for them too....

[geriatrix]

Hi,

My wife and I were living together before she left the UK to apply for her Visa, she left on 15th of May and went back to Brazil via Portugal (family reasons) she is looking to start the Visa process in the next 2 weeks so we will have only been apart for 6 weeks.

In regards to intervening devotion all we have as proof of contact for that period of time is her O2 bill showing that we spoke on numerous occasions throughout the day for the 4 weeks she was in Portugal. I also have some Western Union transfer slips from when I have sent money over to her.

Is it necessary to submit these as it has only been a few weeks separation?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Mike

[Mikeyboy]

Hi,

My wife and I were living together before she left the UK to apply for her Visa, she left on 15th of May and went back to Brazil via Portugal (family reasons) she is looking to start the Visa process in the next 2 weeks so we will have only been apart for 6 weeks.

In regards to intervening devotion all we have as proof of contact for that period of time is her O2 bill showing that we spoke on numerous occasions throughout the day for the 4 weeks she was in Portugal. I also have some Western Union transfer slips from when I have sent money over to her.

Is it necessary to submit these as it has only been a few weeks separation?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Mike

[Mikeyboy]

The visa will not be granted without showing bank statements. Payslips and letters from employers are all well and good but not much use in the absense of historical bank statements. A bank account is the hub of your financial situation. Your net income enters that account and that account then services your lifestyle. Every bill you pay or every ATM withdrawal you make comes from that account. The Entry Clearance Officer can immediately see at a glance if you are able to live within your means.

Thanks again Luca, I might add a letter as well to say that the repayment they will see as of the 1st June is the final loan payment and the account has been closed.

Thanks again you made me feel a lot less panicky.

also I think you are worrying to much... Dont stress or worry, just be honest, explain everything and back it all up as well as you can... You will be fine. The main thing is you earn a good salary, pay your taxes and agood job.... I think we all worry about to much, but I dont think they look into that heavy unless there is a reason for them too....

Good advice again thank you.

[pazpatel]

The visa will not be granted without showing bank statements. Payslips and letters from employers are all well and good but not much use in the absense of historical bank statements. A bank account is the hub of your financial situation. Your net income enters that account and that account then services your lifestyle. Every bill you pay or every ATM withdrawal you make comes from that account. The Entry Clearance Officer can immediately see at a glance if you are able to live within your means.

Thanks again Luca, I might add a letter as well to say that the repayment they will see as of the 1st June is the final loan payment and the account has been closed.

Thanks again you made me feel a lot less panicky.

also I think you are worrying to much... Dont stress or worry, just be honest, explain everything and back it all up as well as you can... You will be fine. The main thing is you earn a good salary, pay your taxes and agood job.... I think we all worry about to much, but I dont think they look into that heavy unless there is a reason for them too....

Good advice again thank you.

Just to let you know, my wife's VISA was granted yesterday!!!.... and as mentioned above I said I would let you know once I know... Do not worry, as mentioned above just explain and be honest and all will be fine...

As long as you have a income coming in above threshold and also show that you ahve paid these loans off you will be fine....

[Mikeyboy]

Thanks again Luca, I might add a letter as well to say that the repayment they will see as of the 1st June is the final loan payment and the account has been closed.

Thanks again you made me feel a lot less panicky.

also I think you are worrying to much... Dont stress or worry, just be honest, explain everything and back it all up as well as you can... You will be fine. The main thing is you earn a good salary, pay your taxes and agood job.... I think we all worry about to much, but I dont think they look into that heavy unless there is a reason for them too....

Good advice again thank you.

Just to let you know, my wife's VISA was granted yesterday!!!.... and as mentioned above I said I would let you know once I know... Do not worry, as mentioned above just explain and be honest and all will be fine...

As long as you have a income coming in above threshold and also show that you ahve paid these loans off you will be fine....

Glad to hear yours worked out, thanks for your help as well.

Mike

[Lucapooka]

she is looking to start the Visa process in the next 2 weeks

Try to apply before July 10th.

[Greenie]

she is looking to start the Visa process in the next 2 weeks

Try to apply before July 10th.

The rules change on July 9th. Applications under the current rules must be made by 8th July.

[Mikeyboy]

Entry Clearance Officer
UKBA
UK Embassy
Rio De Janeiro

Dated: 14th June 2012

Dear Sir or Madam

Re: Application for a Settlement Visa by Ms xxxxxxxxxxxx, Brazilian National, D.O.B xxxxxxxx.

I am pleased to sponsor xxxxxxxxxxxxx application for settlement in the UK on the basis of marriage.

I am a British National and have been living in the UK continuously since my birth. I am currently employed full time as a Product Manager for A Company on a salary of £39,000 per annum + benefits. I have been with the company since December 2005.

I am legally married to xxxxxx have never been married before and have no dependants. Before our marriage xxxxx was divorced and also has no dependants.

xxxx and I met in London just before Christmas 2011 and immediately struck up a good rapport, after realising that we had the same aspirations for the future our friendship very quickly became a strong relationship. Over the following weeks we would spend at least 4 nights a week together at either xxxxx place or my own leading to our engagement in March 2012. Following our engagement Ana moved into my home on 1st April 2012 and is still listed as a tenant today. Ana met with my friends and family before we married in London on the 14th May 2012. I intend to fly to Brazil later in the year to meet her parents and spend some time in her home town.

My salary and benefits (i.e. private medical care for me and my spouse) allow me to live comfortably in the UK, with an excess of income over expenditure. These factors coupled with my strong career prospects have led us to decide to settle in the UK. Ana intends to provide to the financial pot by taking work upon her return, we have already discussed various positions that may be suitable for her and I will be assisting her in the application process. Until she takes employment I have adequate funds to support us both.

Initially our marital home in the UK will be at my shared residence of 16 Hereford Street London where we currently have a 12 month rental agreement in place (details of the property can be found in the accommodation folder within my supporting documents) with a view to taking on a private property upon Ana’s arrival to the UK.

Following the guidance on your website I have included the following documents in support of Ana’s application:

A. Sponsor Details
• Copy of Sponsor Passport Bio Page
• Sponsor's Original Birth Certificate
B. Financial Information
• Cover letter
• Bank statements
• P60
• Payslips
• Budget
C. Evidence of Accommodations
• Joint Tenancy Agreement
• Accommodation Details
D. Employment Information
• Letter of Employment
• Employment Contract
• Last Annual Review
• Job Description
E. Marriage
• Marriage Certificate
• Wedding Cards
• Wedding Pictures
F. Intervening Devotion
• Cover Note
• Itemised O2 Bill
• Western Union transfer slips

The other required supporting documents will be provided separately by Ana.

I hope that you find the materials acceptable and can proceed with issuing Ana’s entry clearance into the UK. Thank you for the time spent reviewing this application. If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.


Yours sincerely





Michael Porter