# UK spouse visa financial requirement



## lucillew (Feb 9, 2013)

Hi there
My partner and I are currently living in Australia. We are getting married next month and will be applying for an Australian spouse visa. We are however planning on returning to UK permanently in mid 2014. We will be meeting the financial requirements under category C soley from non employment income - rental income received from his flat in London.The rental income he recieves is higher than the minimum 18,600 pounds. As he will be a returning resident to the UK will he still be required to have a confirmed job offer within 3 months of returning as required in categories A and B or will the income from rent be sufficient? Any answers would be much appreciated.


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## Terpe (Apr 20, 2013)

You're correct that income from property rental (Cat C) can be counted towards the financial requirement.
In principle there's no need to have any other sources such as employment etc.

The relevant part of FM Section FM 1.7 states that:-



> Any rental income from property, in the UK or overseas, must be from a property that is:
> (i) owned by the person
> (ii) not their main residence and will not be so if the application is granted, except in the circumstances specified in paragraph 20(e)
> (iii) if ownership of the property is shared with a third party, only income received from their share of the property can be counted.
> ...


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## lucillew (Feb 9, 2013)

Terpe said:


> You're correct that income from property rental (Cat C) can be counted towards the financial requirement.
> In principle there's no need to have any other sources such as employment etc.
> 
> The relevant part of FM Section FM 1.7 states that:-


Thank you for your speedy response. Could you please also advise if the financial requirement will still be met if my partner has a mortgage on his flat or does he have to own it outright?


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

lucillew said:


> Thank you for your speedy response. Could you please also advise if the financial requirement will still be met if my partner has a mortgage on his flat or does he have to own it outright?


It doesn't matter if the property is mortgages but the income received must meet or exceed£18,600 after paying the mortgage and any other expenses that might be related.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

nyclon said:


> It doesn't matter if the property is mortgages but the income received must meet or exceed£18,600 after paying the mortgage and any other expenses that might be related.


I don't think mortgage and other expenses need to be deducted to arrive at the amount that can be put towards the financial requirement. So the whole of gross rental income that is deposited into your bank account counts, according to FM 1.7 and FM-SE.


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

Joppa said:


> I don't think mortgage and other expenses need to be deducted to arrive at the amount that can be put towards the financial requirement. So the whole of gross rental income that is deposited into your bank account counts, according to FM 1.7 and FM-SE.


Yes, I see now there is no mention of it having to be net after deducting anything. So, the entire amount of rental income could be going to pay off the mortgage and any other expenses. Interesting.


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## lucillew (Feb 9, 2013)

Thank you for your responses. So the whole of the rental income which exceeds 18,600 pounds can be used in its entirety without any deductions to meet the financial requirement under category c.

Can I please also confirm that as we will be returning to the UK there is no requirement for him to have an offer of employment commencing within 3 months as required under category a and b? 

I understand also there is a maintenance requirement which needs to be met.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/s...w/IDIs/chp8-annex/maintenance.pdf?view=Binary. 
As we will be living in his flat on our return we will no longer be receiving the rental income, so will not be using that to demonstrate adequate maintenance. We will be relying on cash savings as income. The instructions state that the the level of income required to adequately provide maintenance must be the same as if the family was in receipt of income support minus housing costs. The instructions also state the maintenance requirement can be met by cash savings being held for the previous 6 months (Sections 6.6 evidence) However neither the rules nor instructions state a projectied time period the cash savings have to cover (unlike the 2.5 year requirement for meeting the financial requirement under category d - cash savings.) Surely it would still not be 2.5 years probationary period since we are both intending on working on our return and the main reason we are applying for the marriage visa is so I can legally stay and work in the UK.

A complicated one I know but surely not too unusual. Once again your advice would be much appreciated.


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