# UK Spouse Visa Appeal - Refused Financial Reasons



## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

Hi All,

I wanted to share my experience.

I am a british national married to an egyptian for 3 yrs.
We have applied for a spouse visa but it was refused due to financial reasons.
The refusal letter states that according to my p60, it indicates that my income is below the threshold at 16k. However this is wrong. My income is 21k and i provided an employment contract (9months old of a 12month contract) plus 6 months payslips and bank statements.

Is it enough for me to sponsor him on my income alone?

I will be submitting an appeal any day now. Will i need to send 12 months payslips now?

I am also starting a new job in April but i have not received a formal contract yet only a conditional contract/offer.

I am worried that they will see my acs and think i have no money/savings. I have been splitting money between acs paying bills etc and paying off an old overdraft.

Please help!


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## Leanna (Oct 22, 2012)

loulabell said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I wanted to share my experience.
> 
> ...


It would be incredibly helpful if you type out the exact wording of your refusal letter. We can definitely help you better if we can read the letter. 

Second, by only submitting 6 months of payslips it would appear that you applied under Financial Category A yes? If so, if you had a payslip that was unusually lower or less than £1550 GROSS per month, that's where you went wrong. 

Again, if you can, type out the exact wording of your refusal letter and we can go from there.


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

Hi Leanna,

Thank you for your response. 
Yes i applied under Cat A. So yes i supplied 6 months payslips. My take home pay per month is around 1,400. But it clearly states on the form 'an income before tax of at least 18,600 a year' which is what i earn?!

The refusal text is as follows:
On 9 July 2012 new maintenance requirements was introduced for spouse settlement applications. Your sponsor's P60's show that her average gross income over the last 2 years was less than £18,600 per annum. You have also not supplied bank statements for this period showing that your sponsor's savings are sufficient (shortfall of 2.5 + £16,000). You have also failed to provide the specified documents of your sponsor's employment/savings/other sources of income. These documents are specified in Immigration Rules in Appendix FM-SE and must be provided. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph ED-O.1.1(d) of appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.3.1)

Await your response. 

Loulabell


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## Leanna (Oct 22, 2012)

loulabell said:


> Hi Leanna,
> 
> Thank you for your response.
> Yes i applied under Cat A. So yes i supplied 6 months payslips. My take home pay per month is around 1,400. But it clearly states on the form 'an income before tax of at least 18,600 a year' which is what i earn?!
> ...


Take home pay and gross pay are two different things. So check your statements to ensure that GROSS (before deductions and taxes and all that) you're earning at least £1550. 

If you take home less than £1550 GROSS per month, that's the problem. To calculate financial requirement for Category A, UKBA will take the LOWEST pay slip in the last 6 months, multiply that by 12 and get your annual salary. That's why its key to ensure you earn at least £1550 a month GROSS. 

What did your P60 state as GROSS income? The letter from UKBA seems to indicate that your P60 was showing an income of less than £18,600. Do you rely on additional earnings such as tips?

And what documents did you supply to prove your income? You need employment contract, P60, payslips covering at least 6 months as well as bank statements covering that period.

What did you supply to UKBA?


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

Gross before deductions on my payslips indicate 1,890. After deductions its 1,446.

My P60 doesnt indicate my income. Its proof of my tax contributions. Also i provided P60 dated between: March 2009 to April 2012. Obviously we are still in the current financial year.
I have no additional incomes.

To prove my income i provided my employment contract stating my salary, hours, duration of contract, terms and conditions etc. I provided 6 months pay slips.


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## Leanna (Oct 22, 2012)

loulabell said:


> Gross before deductions on my payslips indicate 1,890. After deductions its 1,446.
> 
> My P60 doesnt indicate my income. Its proof of my tax contributions. Also i provided P60 dated between: March 2009 to April 2012. Obviously we are still in the current financial year.
> I have no additional incomes.
> ...


I'm a bit confused now. All the P60s I've ever seen here in the UK show an annual income right at the top. Perhaps someone else can chime in regarding this? 

Are you self-employed or employed by a company?

Otherwise your income looks solid, did you submit bank statements as well?


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2013)

A P60 would usually have the years total earned income in Gross and Net. It would also show other deductions, NI, pension, student loan etc for the year. Thats how they work out your tax for the year.


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

ok, maybe im a bit slow regarding taxes etc...

P60 End of Year Certificate (Bearing in mind this is a cert from my employer not the tax office)
Tax year April 2010 
In this employment: 1,781.58... Total for year 1,781.58 

Tax year April 2011
In this employment: 21,378.96... Total for year 21,378.96 

Tax year April 2012 x 2 P60's 
(not sure why i have two for that year, possibly bcos i was temping and then moved onto a perm contract) Anyway
In this employment: 1,522.71... Total for year 1,522.71
In this employment: 2,287.65... Total for year 2,287.65
Totaling 3,810.36

Totalling all this: 30,781.26 ( i am guessing to get an average they may have divided that by the number of employyers = 2 therefore making it an average of 15,390.63) < Guessing here bcos i dont know how they came to the conclusion of 16k -_-

and remember this isnt including the current financial year.


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

sorry im rubbish at math, i think i totalled something wrong, but its still around 15,000- 16,000


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## Leanna (Oct 22, 2012)

loulabell said:


> ok, maybe im a bit slow regarding taxes etc...
> 
> P60 End of Year Certificate (Bearing in mind this is a cert from my employer not the tax office)
> Tax year April 2010
> ...


Hi again,

Sorry I didn't respond earlier. I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss with this information. By the looks of it you've supplied P60s dating back several years (when this wasn't necessary UNLESS you are self-employed). If you are working or employed by a company, you only needed to submit your most recent P60, and even that wasn't the most important as it only covers the previous year's earnings. 

It does appear that the ECO averaged your previous years earnings, but I'm not sure why. 

Do you still work two jobs? Or just the one? I'm just trying to figure out if an appeal is your best option. Hopefully someone else can chime in regarding the P60 issue.


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

Leanna said:


> Hi again,
> 
> Sorry I didn't respond earlier. I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss with this information. By the looks of it you've supplied P60s dating back several years (when this wasn't necessary UNLESS you are self-employed). If you are working or employed by a company, you only needed to submit your most recent P60, and even that wasn't the most important as it only covers the previous year's earnings.
> 
> ...



hey oh thats ok...
I provided numerous payslips just for ease. So they can see i have been working continuously. I guess that has worked against me now.


I made a few calls and a friend has suggested I seek legal advice which i did. Some lawyers/solicitors are quoting £150 for a face to face consultation and £750 if i want to appeal the case with them.

I have found one lovely lady who has been giving me free advice.
She said my case should be straight forward. She suggested i appeal and complete the form and provide 12 months bank statements and 12 months payslips from up to date.


I am keen to start the appeal process as i have read on a few posts on this site that the appeal can take a total of 6 months!


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

Loulabell - I want to check first that I'm understanding your situation correctly...

You were in the 9th month of a 12 month contract, you are on a salary of £21K and have worked in this same job for at least 6 months, and in each of those months your gross pay (before tax) has been £1,550 or greater and this is shown on every pay-slip you supplied? If this is correct, then either UKBA has made a mistake or they additionally expect to see £18,600 on the most recent P60 when using the shorter-term Category A (which won't necessarily be the case if your job is a new job paying more than any previous job). 

It appears that UKBA is not satisfied that you earned £18,600 in 12 months, so we first need a better understanding of why that might be. it could be a simple matter of providing more paperwork to overturn the decision.


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

2farapart said:


> Loulabell - I want to check first that I'm understanding your situation correctly...
> 
> You were in the 9th month of a 12 month contract, you are on a salary of £21K and have worked in this same job for at least 6 months, and in each of those months your gross pay (before tax) has been £1,550 or greater and this is shown on every pay-slip you supplied? If this is correct, then either UKBA has made a mistake or they additionally expect to see £18,600 on the most recent P60 when using the shorter-term Category A (which won't necessarily be the case if your job is a new job paying more than any previous job).
> 
> It appears that UKBA is not satisfied that you earned £18,600 in 12 months, so we first need a better understanding of why that might be.



Hello, Thank you for your input. :clap2:

I applied in Nov 2012. My job started in March 2012. I was in the 9th month of a 12 month contract. 

I provided 7 payslips dating March 2012 until September 2012 and I provided my employment contract stating my total salary. I also provided 6 months bank statements.

My pay before tax is 1,890.66. With the exception of two payslips. The first and second. They state 1,522.71 and 1,767.77... I think it was leanne who mentioned they take the lowest pay and multiply it to get an average. I don't see that stated anywhere in the immigration rules. 

I cant provide them a recent P60 as we are still in the current financial year. That is why i provided 2 years of my prev p60


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

2farapart said:


> Loulabell - I want to check first that I'm understanding your situation correctly...
> 
> You were in the 9th month of a 12 month contract, you are on a salary of £21K and have worked in this same job for at least 6 months, and in each of those months your gross pay (before tax) has been £1,550 or greater and this is shown on every pay-slip you supplied? If this is correct, then either UKBA has made a mistake or they additionally expect to see £18,600 on the most recent P60 when using the shorter-term Category A (which won't necessarily be the case if your job is a new job paying more than any previous job).
> 
> It appears that UKBA is not satisfied that you earned £18,600 in 12 months, so we first need a better understanding of why that might be. it could be a simple matter of providing more paperwork to overturn the decision.



QUESTION:
Does my bank statements have to evidence my salary payments?

At the time, my salary was going into a different ac which had an overdraft. I was transferring my salary into a 2nd ac. I provided them 6 months statements from the 2nd ac and that doesn't evidence my salary payments


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

loulabell said:


> Hello, Thank you for your input. :clap2:
> 
> I applied in Nov 2012. My job started in March 2012. I was in the 9th month of a 12 month contract.
> 
> ...


It very clearly states in FM-1.7 5.1.1:

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 point of application and has been with the same employer and earning the salary level relied upon for at least the last 6 months, the applicant can count the gross annual salary (at its lowest level in the 6 months prior to the date of application) towards the financial requirement.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/s...DIs/chp8-annex/section-FM-1.7.pdf?view=Binary


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

nyclon said:


> It very clearly states in FM-1.7 5.1.1:
> 
> 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 point of application and has been with the same employer and earning the salary level relied upon for at least the last 6 months, the applicant can count the gross annual salary (at its lowest level in the 6 months prior to the date of application) towards the financial requirement.
> 
> http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/s...DIs/chp8-annex/section-FM-1.7.pdf?view=Binary


Fair enough, but im being penalised for what exactly? That my first months wage (gross ammount) was below 1550? I started employment on the 5th March and I am assuming it is a full months salary. There cud be a chance it is one week short as the company pays me every 25th.


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

loulabell said:


> Fair enough, but im being penalised for what exactly? That my first months wage (gross ammount) was below 1550? I started employment on the 5th March and I am assuming it is a full months salary. There cud be a chance it is one week short as the company pays me every 25th.


You did not meet the salary requirement which is £1550/month. As has already been mentioned, they take the lowest pay slip and multiply by 12. Whatever the reason, your lowest pay slip times 12 didn't come up to £18,600, so you didn't meet the financial requirement. Period.


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

nyclon said:


> You did not meet the salary requirement which is £1550/month. As has already been mentioned, they take the lowest pay slip and multiply by 12. Whatever the reason, your lowest pay slip times 12 didn't come up to £18,600, so you didn't meet the financial requirement. Period.


 So how can i appeal this? They are always going to count my lowest salary payment!? Even though I enclosed my employment contract stating £22,438


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

Okay - I see two mistakes. The biggie (as nyclon pointed out) is that one of the pay-slips you provided is below the minimum for Category A. Category A always uses your pay "at its lowest point" in the most recent 6-month period (and so, to meet £18,600, your lowest pay cannot be less than £1,550 - they'll take your lowest month's pay and multiply it by 12). 

However, a more minor point is that, if you applied in November, your pay slips and bank statement evidence should have been provided for May to October (because the most recent pay-slip and bank statement cannot be older than 28 days from the date of application). If shifting the period to the correct 6 months eliminates the low pay-slip, you need to provide the correct 6 month period of pay-slips and bank statements instead. This might be enough to overturn the decision.

If you were employed in another job immediately prior to your current job and can provide 12 months of payslips proving that in the last 12 months you earned more than £18,600 from November 2011 to October 2012, you might fare even better by providing a full 12-month set as this proves beyond all doubt that you did earn at least £18,600. This would meet requirements of Category B which doesn't care about what you earned in any one month, but purely that you earnt £18,600 or more in the full year. Whether or not UKBA will entertain the idea of a change of category under appeal I don't know, but as the overriding principle of a sponsor is to be earning £18,600 per year or more, your evidence would show that this requirement is met beyond doubt.

If in a worst case scenario your lowest pay-slip still falls within May to October 2012, and you don't have 12 months pay equalling £18,600 or more (Nov 2011/Oct 2012) then you don't yet meet the requirement (no point in wasting time and money on an appeal if this is the case) and instead you'll need to reapply once you DO have a full 6 months of payslips greater than £1,550, or until you have 12 months of pay-slips meeting £18,600 - whichever comes first.


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

2farapart said:


> Okay - I see two mistakes. The biggie (as nyclon pointed out) is that one of the pay-slips you provided is below the minimum for Category A. Category A always uses your pay "at its lowest point" in the most recent 6-month period (and so, to meet £18,600, your lowest pay cannot be less than £1,550 - they'll take your lowest month's pay and multiply it by 12).
> 
> However, a more minor point is that, if you applied in November, your pay slips and bank statement evidence should have been provided for May to October (because the most recent pay-slip and bank statement cannot be older than 28 days from the date of application). If shifting the period to the correct 6 months eliminates the low pay-slip, you need to provide the correct 6 month period of pay-slips and bank statements instead. This might be enough to overturn the decision.
> 
> ...



I just checked the Payslips i submitted. I sent 7 slips. but in a 6 month period my salary was above the 1550. sept, aug, july, june, may, april, march

I think i made a mistake as the statements i sent do not evidence my salary payments into my ac. But another problem is that my other ac has a massive overdraft.


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

Okay, so I now better understand the reason for your refusal...

*Firstly, you have to provide the most recent 6-months evidence.* Because you applied in November, your last payslip and bank statement should have been *October*. March and April were superfluous. September's pay-slip was more than 28 days beyond the date of your application but the rules in the Immigration Directorate state that the most recent evidence must be within 28 days of the application date...


> Where Appendix FM-SE requires the applicant to provide specified evidence relating to a period which ends with the date of application, that evidence must be dated no earlier than 28 days before the date of application.


*Secondly, the bank statements MUST show your pay being paid in.* This proves that the pay-slips are genuinely yours (and so is the money declared in them).

I don't know what impact a large overdraft will have. On the point of technicality, UKBA have shifted emphasis from how you manage your money to how much you earn. I can recall one refusal where ONE of the reasons cited was a £200+ overdraft, but there were other reasons for refusal too and the overdraft was not the primary reason, and so I don't know if an overdraft _in isolation _ would be enough to fail an application. Technically, it shouldn't be, but I can't be certain of this. I also recall one success story where the applicant's sponsor had an overdraft, but they gave good reason for the overdraft, so it's recommended that you do the same so it doesn't appear like an inability to manage your finances.



On the first point, it would be worth appealing by providing the correct dated documents and ommitting all the superfluous pay slips and P60s (just include your latest P60). The second point is difficult on two counts because appeal hearings will not take into account 'new evidence' (and providing bank account stattements for a different account *might* be classed as new evidence), and there might also be a risk depending on how large your overdraft happens to be. The way I see it is you have two options: appeal for a smaller fee (which will likely take between 4-6 months), or cut your losses, straighten out your primary bank account, then apply again in six months under Category A if you think all your pay slips will exceed £1,550.


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## stressed2013 (Jan 13, 2013)

I wouldnt see overdraft as a problem as it is there on ur account because of ur banks internal rating, i.e. they give u overdraft based on what comes n goes out of ur account and take affordability in account 
plus the rules are not means tested, provided you have two bank accounts and i m assuming the other one is in credit i wouldnt see that over draft as an issue.

just to confirm - is your overdraft been same in past 6-12 months? like did the bank ever reduced it?

i work in a bank and analyse the overdraft applied on accounts, so overdraft is not a bad thing, its a trust that bank shows towards there customers and its strictly based on affordability

if u have any query about ur bank od, fire away i will try my best to help

cheers mate


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

stressed2013 said:


> I wouldnt see overdraft as a problem as it is there on ur account because of ur banks internal rating, i.e. they give u overdraft based on what comes n goes out of ur account and take affordability in account
> plus the rules are not means tested, provided you have two bank accounts and i m assuming the other one is in credit i wouldnt see that over draft as an issue.


Unfortunately, we don't know this as fact (we're not UKBA and we don't have any special insider info - though I wish we did sometimes). Emphasis has shifted to financial potential rather than financial management, but the underpinning reason is still the same: _the sponsor needs to prove they can support the applicant financially without recourse to public funds._ Where there is what UKBA might perceive as difficulty in managing finances, there is still a chance they might decide against it so we have to be careful in what suggestions we make - especially in cases where the would-be appellant might not have the funds and/or time both for an appeal and for reapplying. 

To date, I know of one success and one refusal where in both cases the sponsor had an overdraft. In the case of the success, the applicant was able to give a good reason for the overdraft and the overdraft was subsequently paid off; in the case of the refusal, there were three reasons for refusal, only one of which mentioned the £200 overdraft. All we can do here is make suggestions that we have seen work for others. In the case of an overdraft, it needs a good explanatory reason and, ideally, some signs of paying it off in part or in whole if it's a significant amount. Another account with savings in it might also help (but we don't know if UKBA will look at extra evidence so we can't say it will definitely help).


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## loulabell (Feb 28, 2013)

well there was a family emergency and my mother went abroad and needed additional funds. I also dug into this further when I was abroad too. at first my salary was paid into the over draft ac, but i later changed that to a normal current ac and that is in credit. But I don't have a problem with money, i just don't have savings. But i also haven't been paying off the overdraft just because I have been preoccupied with other things, not because i cannot afford to.

The bank statements i submitted doesnt evidence my 6 months pay into my bank ac


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

loulabell said:


> The bank statements i submitted doesnt evidence my 6 months pay into my bank ac


This is what you need to put right for an appeal or reapplication. You need bank statements showing every month's pay being paid in. If that means supplying two sets of statements because you switched accounts - that's fine (just mention in an attached letter what happened).


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## John2015 (Mar 3, 2015)

John,

Refusal reply continued ...I have also looked at you and your sponsor's cash savings to see if the income threshold can be met through this method. To cut it short they calculated all the savings wrongly to justify their rejection. 

How to go on and appeal ...any idea pls. help thanks


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