Complicated visa situation - which would you do?

It doesn't matter that she didn't take the money.  She was still entitled to it.  It's no different than having a joint savings account with someone other than your spouse if you are using Category D. The other party is entitled to 1/2 of the account even if they don't take it out.

Where are you getting that the other party is entitled to 1/2 of the account? Either party could take out the entire amount at any point, not just 1/2.

It doesn't matter that she didn't take the money.  She was still entitled to it. It's no different than having a joint savings account with someone other than your spouse if you are using Category D. The other party is entitled to 1/2 of the account even if they don't take it out.

But where is your official evidence that this is how they will treat his salary under category A?

All that matters for Category A is that his gross salary is more than £18,600. That's it. What happens to the money after it has been deposited into his account has nothing to do with it.

Savings in a bank account under Category D have different requirements than salaried employment under Category A or B.

For Category A/B, it only specifies that the account must be in the name of the sponsor and/or the applicant. It doesn't say anything about anyone else being allowed to be on the account as well or not.

For Category D it says they have to show that the account is in the name of the applicant and/or the sponsor AND that money in the account is under their control.

Category A/B:

(c) Personal bank statements corresponding to the same period(s) as the payslips at paragraph 2(a), showing that the salary has been paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.

Category D:

7.4.1. Savings must be held in cash in a personal bank/savings account in the name of the applicant, their partner or the couple jointly. The savings can be from any legal source, including a gift from a family member or other third party, provided the source of the cash savings is declared. The applicant and/or their partner must confirm that the money, which cannot be borrowed, is under their control and evidence that it has been held in their bank account for at least the 6 months prior to the date of application.

Where are you getting that the other party is entitled to 1/2 of the account? Either party could take out the entire amount at any point, not just 1/2.

Of course they could take out the entire amount but legally they are entitled to 1/2.

But where is your official evidence that this is how they will treat his salary under category A?

Where does it say that it's ok to have a bank account with someone other than your partner?

From FM -SE:

Bank statements must:

in relation to personal bank statements be only in the name of:

(1) the applicant's partner, the applicant or both as appropriate
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From FM -SE:

Bank statements must:

in relation to personal bank statements be only in the name of:

(1) the applicant's partner, the applicant or both as appropriate

This is the bit I'm concerned about, obviously. The bank statements are in the name of my partner AND his ex-wife. Not me.

He just opened a new account, in his name only, after all of the rigmarole, after tons of bank run around, losing his overdraft in the process, changing over all of his direct deposits and payouts. This is why he never changed the account in the first place.

If we had realized this 6 months ago, he would have done it then, but we didn't realize the wording on FM-SE until we were referred to it in Appendix 2, THEN the guide to supporting documents, which THEN refers to FM-SE...so we just didn't dig deeply enough when initially looking into the requirements. We only got to 6 months of bank statements and sort of mentally went, "yep, we have those."

I know that it is our responsibility to do the research, but we really had to dig deep to find that statement about the bank statements being ONLY in the name of...

All that matters for Category A is that his gross salary is more than £18,600. That's it. What happens to the money after it has been deposited into his account has nothing to do with it.

This is what I am hoping will happen. At least I can have hope!

Where does it say that it's ok to have a bank account with someone other than your partner?

From FM -SE:

Bank statements must:

in relation to personal bank statements be only in the name of:

(1) the applicant's partner, the applicant or both as appropriate

I never said that it did. In fact, I explicitly said that it doesn't say that... And I've already stated above that that's the problem here. We don't know for sure from the requirements whether it's possible that they can be in someone else's name too.

However we do know that someone has had their visa approved with someone else's name on their statements, which shows that it may well be okay.

If you can show me an example of someone who has applied with their ex-spouse's name on their statements and that their income was split in half when UKVI calculated the financial requirement, then perhaps I might believe that there is some credibility to your statement. Otherwise, you are not going to convince me that your statement is correct.

It's interesting how you always state these 'facts' about visas but never back them up with any evidence and then when someone calls you on it and asks to see your proof, you either ignore it and never reply, or you try to turn the argument back on them and nitpick what they have said... Both of which imply that you don't have any evidence to prove what you are claiming.


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I never said that it did. In fact, I explicitly said that it doesn't say that... And I've already stated above that that's the problem here. We don't know for sure from the requirements whether it's possible that they can be in someone else's name too.

Exactly.  We don't know.  Based on FM-SE which states that bank statements can only be in the sponsor's name, applicant's name or both and that savings must be under the control of the sponsor or applicant or both it's quite possible that the is true for back accounts used when using employment to meet the financial requirement.

However we do know that someone has had their visa approved with someone else's name on their statements, which shows that it may well be okay.

But she never told us what her salary was.  Was she earning at the requirement or above?

I

f you can show me an example of someone who has applied with their ex-spouse's name on their statements and that their income was split in half when UKVI calculated the financial requirement, then perhaps I might believe that there is some credibility to your statement. Otherwise, you are not going to convince me that your statement is correct.

Obviously, this is a pretty specific case.  See my interpretation above.

It's interesting how you always state these 'facts' about visas but never back them up with any evidence and then when someone calls you on it and asks to see your proof, you either ignore it and never reply, or you try to turn the argument back on them and nitpick what they have said... Both of which imply that you don't have any evidence to prove what you are claiming.

Back at ya.  I've asked you several times to provide links to back up "facts" to no avail.  This is a forum. I appreciate that you give a lot of good advice and make a significant contribution to this forum but please take into consideration that other people have opinions and interpretations that might be different from yours but also correct.  Attacking people who don't have the same opinion or interpretation as yours doesn't create a very inclusive atmosphere in what is supposed to be a forum.

it's quite possible that the is true for back accounts used when using employment to meet the financial requirement.

Maybe, but my interpretation is that if they would do the same for employment, it would say so in the immigration rules.

It's stated in Annex FM 1.7, Appendix FM and Appendix FM-SE that it's the income going into the account that must meet the requirement for employment income, not the outgoings or the control of the money. The bank statements are only mentioned in reference to showing that the payslip was deposited into an account held by the sponsor.

But she never told us what her salary was.  Was she earning at the requirement or above?

Why don't you ask her? She's been an active participant in this thread.

Obviously, this is a pretty specific case.  See my interpretation above.

That's my point - it's your interpretation, it's not a known, official fact stated by UKVI in their immigration rules.

It's fine if it is your interpretation, I have no problem with that, all I'm asking is that you make it clear that it's not an official rule and that it's just your opinion. Because otherwise people asking for advice may believe that it's an official fact and that they don't qualify for a visa because of it.

If you're stating it as if it's a fact, then you need to back it up with the official evidence so that people can see that it's true, otherwise make it clear that it's just your opinion and that it may or may not be true.

That's all I'm concerned about - I don't like to see people thinking that they don't qualify for a visa only based someone's opinion and not on the actual, known visa rules.

Back at ya.  I've asked you several times to provide links to back up "facts" to no avail. 

When exactly? I don't post anything that I can't back up with either links to the official guidance/rules or to examples of real situations where people's visas have been approved in that case. All of my information comes from the UKVI website or from people's real life experiences here at UK-Y. When I state an opinion or I'm not sure about something, I say so.

I usually try to post links whenever possible, but if I don't then I'm happy to post a link if someone asks for it.

I know that I'm not an immigration specialist, but I am a scientist and so I deal in facts, which is why I'm picky about separating fact from opinion and backing everything up with evidence.

I work in a job where I have the safety of other people in my hands and I have to be able to back up every single decision I make every day with logical reasoning and evidence... because those decisions are published on official government documents and are used by the armed forces to make operational decisions. If something goes wrong and someone dies because of a decision I've made, which I can't back up with evidence and reasoning, I could be taken to high court.

I appreciate that you give a lot of good advice and make a significant contribution to this forum but please take into consideration that other people have opinions and interpretations that might be different from yours but also correct. 
Attacking people who don't have the same opinion or interpretation as yours doesn't create a very inclusive atmosphere in what is supposed to be a forum.

I do take opinions into consideration, when it's clear that they are opinions. What I object to is when people state their opinions as straight-up official fact and then don't back it up with evidence. I'm not the only one who has asked you for evidence to back up your statements, both on this thread and in the past.

The poor OP is considering not even trying to apply for her visa for another 6 months because of your opinion, when all the actual facts indicate that that there shouldn't be any problem with her application.

Yes, your interpretation is something to be considered, but it should be weighed up alongside the facts so the OP can determine if it's a legitimate concern or whether it's unlikely to be an issue.

Ultimately though, the concern is not so much whether they will only count 50% of the income, because even if they do, she meets the visa requirements anyway, but whether they will consider ANY of the income because the account is not solely in the sponsor's name.

So, as valid as your points may be in regards to legally entitlement to the money (and I don't know the rules on that), it doesn't seem to actually be relevant to the OP's situation.

So in my situation, I was switching from Tier 2 to FLR(M).  Both my husband and I each made over the requirement individually.  We applied in person.

They did NOT want both sets of financial evidence.  They just wanted one.  As I was switching from Tier 2, they needed to see my evidence to ensure I had been following the terms of my visa.  Therefore, we only handed over my financial evidence.

At that job, I was paid in US dollars into my US account.  My US account has both my mom and my dad on it.  This is because I live in the UK, and either of my parents can help with US banking issues without any hassle (something that has come in very handy).

At no time did the case worker ask about the other names on my account. 

At the time, I would NOT have made triple the financial requirement.  Which is a moot point anyway, as UKVI ONLY care about what is going into the account, not what is going out.

I know none of can say with 100% certainty that the OP will not have trouble with the bank statements but I honestly don't think she will.  The guidance does say they have to be in the sponsors name but it doesn't say that there cannot be another name or 2 on the account.  I honestly find it hard to believe that I'm the only person who has a joint signer on my account.  I have a feeling lots of people get approved with joint signers.  This case is just a bit different as it's an ex.

Just to add...

I understand UKVI want bank statements to prove the amount of the payslips provided.  That's why you have to have 6 payslips WITH the corresponding bank statement to show the deposit matches.  Isn't that all the bank statements are used for?

As long as the sponsor has his payslips and they are being deposited into an account with his name on it, that satisfies that requirement, no?

As long as the sponsor has his payslips and they are being deposited into an account with his name on it, that satisfies that requirement, no?

That's how I read it, based on the financial requirements document which says:

(c) Personal bank statements corresponding to the same period(s) as the payslips at paragraph 2(a), showing that the salary has been paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.

The only concern I see is in Appendix FM-SE, which says:

(a) Bank statements must:
(i) be from a financial institution regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which that institution is operating.
(ii) not be from a financial institution on the list of excluded institutions in Appendix P of these rules.
(iii) in relation to personal bank statements be only in the name of:
    (1) the applicant's partner, the applicant or both as appropriate; or
    (2) if the applicant is a child the applicant parent's partner, the applicant's parent or both as appropriate; or
    (3) if the applicant is an adult dependent relative, the applicant's sponsor or the applicant, unless otherwise stated.

Of course they could take out the entire amount but legally they are entitled to 1/2.

This is not the law. It is in some jurisdictions but not all. And I'm still not sure how that plays into the immigration rules. Where is it stated that only 50% of a sponsor's income will be satisfy the requirement if another person's name is on the personal bank account? It doesn't say that anywhere.

OP, please don't wait to submit your application.

OP, please don't wait to submit your application.

As soon as I have my certified marriage certificate in my hot little hands, I will be applying. I'll keep you all posted!

Thanks so much for the advice, both pro and con, obviously, I will update when I get a response and we'll know for sure.