Financial Requirement for FLR sanity check

Apologies if this has been addressed many times previously, but I've been out of the immigration loop for quite some time and hadn't been keeping up. I'm a USC married to UKC for almost 12 years, have two dual-national daughters. We were married in the UK and spent a few years there, then to the US, then back to the UK for a year, then back to the US until present. My UKC wife is ready to head home and having lined things up on the US side we were preparing to apply for my FLR visa. Having gone through the process back in 2007 or so when I saw the financial requirement I wasn't concerned. However, I've just now learned that the financial requirement applies to the UKC sponsor only, not household income. My wife has been a stay at home mom for about 7 years now. I earn enough to make that feasible, and she wanted to be home with the kids while they are young.

My current employer is a large multinational and agreed to transfer my position to the UK sub (though they won't sponsor a visa) and I have an official job offer of 75K GBP per year. However, since my wife hasn't been working, my understanding is that we won't meet the financial requirement. We do have some savings but after doing the calculator it's not enough.

My wife is distraught as she thought we'd had it all lined up, I'm flabbergasted as I never expected being penalized by the UK gov't for my wife wanting to stay home with small children, and from what I'm reading we have no chance of moving back to the UK unless she gets a job, earns at least the minimum amount for 6 months, then gets a job offer in the UK, and I get a job offer in the UK. It sounds insane to even write that.

Am I missing something important, or are we basically out of luck in our attempt to move to the UK without jumping through some serious hoops?

Welcome back to the forum .

Just to clarify to start with that you will NOT be applying for FLR(M), because FLR(M) is an extension visa and can only be applied for if you are already living in the UK and wish to either extend your current visa or switch from a work or a student visa.

The visa you need will be a Spousal visa, which is an Entry Clearance visa (a visa that allows you to move to the UK) and you apply for it in the US.

My current employer is a large multinational and agreed to transfer my position to the UK sub (though they won't sponsor a visa) and I have an official job offer of 75K GBP per year. However, since my wife hasn't been working, my understanding is that we won't meet the financial requirement. We do have some savings but after doing the calculator it's not enough.

No, unfortunately, your income cannot count towards the financial requirement for a spousal visa unless you are already living in the UK on a visa that allows you to work.

Your only option to be able to move using your income is for your company to sponsor you for a Tier 2 work visa, move to the UK, then work for 6 months and switch to FLR(M) using your UK income.

My wife is distraught as she thought we'd had it all lined up, I'm flabbergasted as I never expected being penalized by the UK gov't for my wife wanting to stay home with small children, and from what I'm reading we have no chance of moving back to the UK unless she gets a job, earns at least the minimum amount for 6 months, then gets a job offer in the UK, and I get a job offer in the UK. It sounds insane to even write that.

The reason for it is that the UK government is trying to reduce immigration to the UK and so they are trying to prevent as many people from being able to qualify for visas as they can.

By increasing the financial requirement, they estimated that about 45% of potential fiance and spousal visa applicants would no longer qualify for a visa!

Am I missing something important, or are we basically out of luck in our attempt to move to the UK without jumping through some serious hoops?

Do you have any other non-employment income? Any property you own that you could sell (to meet the savings requirement)? A 401K that you can access to meet the savings requirement?

The ways to meet the requirements are:

Category A: Employment Income
Your wife has a UK job paying at least £18,600 which she has been working in/earning for at least 6 months
or
Your wife has been with her US employer (and is still employed at time of applying for the visa), earning at least £18,600 for 6 months or more AND she has a job offer in the UK paying at least £18,600 and starting within 3 months of moving back

Category B: Employment Income
Your wife has a UK job paying at least £18,600 but she hasn't been there for 6 months yet AND she has a UK job offer paying at least £18,600 and starting within 3 months of moving back AND she has earned at least £18,600
or
Your wife has earned at least £18,600 in the US in the last 12 months AND she has a UK job offer paying at least £18,600 and starting within 3 months of moving back AND she has earned at least £18,600

Category C: Non-Employment Income
You and/or your wife have non-employment income in the US of at least £18,600 per year, which will continue in the UK (i.e. interest from stocks and shares, rent from property you own, child maintenance from a former partner etc.)

Category D: Cash Savings (can be combined with other categories)
- If your wife has no income, then you need at least £62,500 in savings that are immediately accessible and have been held in your account(s) for at least 6 months. A 401K can be used to meet this requirement
- Proceeds from sale of property you own can be used to meet this requirement and as long as you owned the property for at least 6 months before selling, the money can be used immediately and you don't have to hold it for 6 months first

Category E: Pension Income
You or your wife have pension income of at least £18,600 per year, that has been paid out to you for at least 28 days

Category F: Self-Employment
Your wife is self-employed and has earned at least £18,600 (after expenses, before tax) in the last full financial year. Plus, her income will continue in the UK

Category G: Self-Employment
Your wife is self-employed and has earned an average of £18,600 (after expenses, before tax) in the last 2 full financial years. Plus, her income will continue in the UK

ksand has definitely laid everything out for you perfectly.  But I just want to point out that your fully vested 401k value can be used to meet the requirement, if you do not have the money from a house sale or savings.  Hopefully that will do the job!

Thanks to both of you for the responses, and my apologies for using the incorrect terminology with regard to the visa type. That was a very clear explanation of the requirements and options for fulfilling them. I've been looking at the options and since my wife (UKC sponsor) is a stay-at-home mother the only option would be the savings option. After looking at my 401k, cash savings, and other investments and converting to GBP it appears we'll fall just short of the required amount, and since the funds need to remain untouched for 6 months I'll need to do some transfers to make sure the cash isn't in accounts with outgoings to confuse the matter. We are also evaluating whether we want to put our youngest in full-time childcare so my wife can go back to work to meet the income requirement. Either way, it looks like we'll need to put off the move until I can either find an employer that will sponsor a work visa or we meet the financial requirements, either by her returning to work or adding enough savings and keeping it untouched for 6 months.

It's a shame, as the rest of our lives had lined up quite nicely to move at this time, my oldest daughter changing schools, a good job offer with my current employer, house rental ending, etc. 

Fingers crossed for you guys that it'll all work out.  Unfortunately returning UKC's have been very hard hit by this tough financial requirement.

If it helps with the budgeting, my 2 year old is in full time childcare to the tune of £1,118 a month.