# Spouse visa financial requirements



## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

Hi, I am a British citizen and my partner is Australian.

We have been living together in Britain for almost 2 years. His current visa (youth mobility scheme) expires in April and we would like to apply for the partner visa.

He has a job which earns £16,100 pa. He has had this job for 1 year now, and it is indefinate provided he gets permission to remain in the country.

I am in my final year of a PhD, for which I receive a stipend of £13,400 a year.

I have recieved this stipend for 2 years so far, and the funding will expire in October 2013.

I have seen on the evidence guidlines that stipends for postgraduates do count towards the financial requirement, but you must provide evidence that you will receive the stipend for at least 12 months after the date of application. I cannot provide this evidence as my course finishes in October, only 6 months after we will apply for the visa.

I feel that we meet every other requirement for the visa, and are in a good financial situation, but cannot provide this piece of evidence they require. The amount of income we need to make up is only £2,500, and I will earn over £6,000 in the year following the application date, just not spread out over 12 months.

My question is, are they at all flexible when considering applications like this? Is it worth putting in an application, or will it be rejected straight away?


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

They've demonstrated no flexibility yet, and their staff guidance indicates that no flexibility is to be exercised over the financial thresholds.

Ordinarily, one option would be to take on some small part-time job that pays just enough to bring your combined pay to the required £18,600 under Category B, but in your case you won't be able to demonstrate a full 12 months because your partner's YMS visa expires in April - and worse, presuming he has to return to Australia at the end of it, you would then have NO income between you until you (as UK citizen) acquire a job meeting the £18,600 pa minimum. I can't think of any way around that.

Whilst savings can be used to bolster your projected future income based on current earnings (if you're just £2,500 short you would need £21,000 in addition to your partner's income), savings cannot be used for past earnings, meaning your partner's income is too low and so would fail under either of the salaried employment categories. If anyone can make available to you substantial cash savings (£62,500) that you can keep in your own bank account for 6 months minimum, your partner would be able to apply under Category D (cash savings) instead of using salary. Unless you already hold that amount, he would still have to return home for a month or two before he could apply. You need to be ready to explain the source of the money to prove that it IS yours and not merely a loan.

Other than the stupid savings amount, I fear the only option is for you to find a job earning £18,600 or more. If you do, and it's with a single employer, you could work in this job for 6 months and then your partner could apply from Australia to return to the UK. For the unmarried-partners visa, you would need to provide comprehensive documentary proof showing that you lived together for at least two years before he has to return to Australia (this will include any official paperwork addressed to you both: utility bills, bank statements and any correspondence from NHS or government department spanning the two year period).


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## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

Thanks, it doesn't sound good!

The only other thing I can think to do, (if my University will let me), is to change my study to part time, thereby extending the amount of time I get paid my stipend. I would then receive the £6000 stipend over 12 months. 

Would this be acceptable to them? Seems a bit odd seeing as I would earn exactly the same amount of money, but just more evenly over the year.


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## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

2farapart said:


> Ordinarily, one option would be to take on some small part-time job that pays just enough to bring your combined pay to the required £18,600 under Category B, but in your case you won't be able to demonstrate a full 12 months because your partner's YMS visa expires in April - and worse, presuming he has to return to Australia at the end of it, you would then have NO income between you until you (as UK citizen) acquire a job meeting the £18,600 pa minimum. I can't think of any way around that.



I've just read that again and I'm not sure if I understand. We can demonstrate a combined income of £29,500 for 12 months prior to the application because we both have an income. The problem is my income finishes 6 months after the application date, so we cnnot demonstrate a continued income of this amount for more than 6 months after application.


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

Yes, my apologies - you're absolutely right: I forgot to count the stipend, so you partly qualify under Category B. 

The part you don't qualify for at the moment is the forward projected income because your stipend comes to an end. Ordinarily, income is based on what was received previously, together with what is being received now, but if guidance in the case of a stipend states that you must prove that the stipend will last a further 12 months minimum, then your suggestion of switching to part-time study to make it last that long should in theory qualify. Yes, bizarre when it's the same money and it is rather 'playing the system', but it will at least stretch the 12-month period so you meet that stipend requirement and you could apply before your partner's YMS comes to an end once you have 12 months of demonstrable income, especially if you can be ready with some explanation as to why you opted for part-time study (which of course will have nothing to do with 'playing the system' whatsoever  )

Good luck!


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## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

Thanks very much, that sounds much more promising! 

One other possibility I have been thinking about, is that my partner or I could get a part time job before the application date to make up the £2,500. 
Could we then use this to make up the £18,600 even though there isn't a six month history of the income coming in from the part time job. 

Does all this work using the stipend for proof of income prior to the application and the part time job to prove adequate income following the application date.


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## 2farapart (Aug 18, 2011)

You have your stipend plus partner's income for past earnings (it's safer to prove 12 months evidence under Category B as it's a combination of two income sources). Take a part-time job now which ensures your income is over £18,600 and yes, you have the forward earning requirement for Category B too. The sooner you take such a job, the better chances you will have of satisfying UKBA that it is a job you intend keeping.

There's a bit of a vague part in that the source of income for future earnings is not the same as for past earnings (normally a situation that arises only when both partners are moving to the UK together and the UK citizen is moving to a UK job), but the whole objective of these rules is simply to prove you have earnt £18,600, and can continue to earn £18,600, and on that basis (although I'm not UKBA) I think you will be absolutely fine. 

We normally reply to queries based on evidence from past application results, but at this stage there are many 'firsts' going through because the rules are still very new and as such we cannot be certain how UKBA will calculate different scenarios. So any vagueness on our part doesn't mean we suspect it will fail, but just that we're trying to make best interpretation of the rules until such a time when an application such as yours is processed (after which we will have a clearer idea of what UKBA will likely do in a given situation).


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## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

Thank you so much for your help! I know you cannot say whether we will get a visa or not for sure, but it is reassuring to hear from someone who knows more about the system than we do, that it isn't too late to sort something out


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