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Topic: UK spouse visa - income requirement question: employed, disregard self employed?  (Read 941 times)

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Hello,
I'm asking on behalf of my fiance. We plan to marry in the US and then apply for her to join me in the UK on a spouse visa (family of settled person). I am a UK citizen, she is a US citizen. We have been back and forth visiting and spending too long apart in between.

I wonder if anyone who has been through the process of spouse visa application can answer this? I understand the income requirement is £18600 gross annual salary. I am earning a bit more than this as employment income, but I also have small self employed and property income.

I'm wondering if its enough to apply on the basis of the employment income? Or will I have to document the self employed/property income too? This extra income shows on my bank statements and of course on my tax returns.

My reluctance include the self employed income unless necessary, is because I keep my own books (I don't use an accountant), so the requirement to provide "audited accounts" of self employed and property income would be very difficult to meet in practice.

So do they want me to document everything, or just document sufficient income to exceed the threshold of £18,600?

I welcome your thoughts.


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Hello,
I'm asking on behalf of my fiance. We plan to marry in the US and then apply for her to join me in the UK on a spouse visa (family of settled person). I am a UK citizen, she is a US citizen. We have been back and forth visiting and spending too long apart in between.

I wonder if anyone who has been through the process of spouse visa application can answer this? I understand the income requirement is £18600 gross annual salary. I am earning a bit more than this as employment income, but I also have small self employed and property income.

I'm wondering if its enough to apply on the basis of the employment income? Or will I have to document the self employed/property income too? This extra income shows on my bank statements and of course on my tax returns.

My reluctance include the self employed income unless necessary, is because I keep my own books (I don't use an accountant), so the requirement to provide "audited accounts" of self employed and property income would be very difficult to meet in practice.

So do they want me to document everything, or just document sufficient income to exceed the threshold of £18,600?

I welcome your thoughts.

Hi Duo, welcome!

If you qualify for the financial requirement with just your employment income then you just provide evidence of that.
No need to include any other income on your application or provide evidence of it.


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Thank you Larrabee, thats good news.

I read a sticky about providing a household budget, but it was an old post. Is the budgeting still something we have to submit, or has that gone under the current rules? ( Previously people had to show spare income at or above Income Support state benefit levels ).

I am wondering because I have child support payments made to my ex wife, which again, if considered, could dip the income just below the £18,600 threshold, or under the £100+pw surplus income level.


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Thank you Larrabee, thats good news.

I read a sticky about providing a household budget, but it was an old post. Is the budgeting still something we have to submit, or has that gone under the current rules? ( Previously people had to show spare income at or above Income Support state benefit levels ).

Nope, that only applied under the old rules, which ended in 2012. Now they only matter for people who are exempt from meeting the financial requirement of £18,600.

Under the new rules, ALL they care about is an annual INCOME of £18,600 or more... your outgoings are completely irrelevant.


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That's good news. Thank you   :)


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In familiarising ourselves with the spouse visa application form (VAF4A appendix 2), we have a further income question:   I see they ask about money paid our for maintenance of children by the sponsor and want to know how much is paid out.

I thought one simply had to show the £1860 was met as gross salary (to gain entry for a spouse and no children)? The fact they are asking about maintenance payments to a former partner for existing UK children from a previous relationship does rather make it look as if they take these payments into account somehow.

Does anyone know, do they deduct maintenance payments in the income assessment? If not, then why do they ask this?


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All you need to show is 18.6kgbp. The maintenance payments are not factored in in any way.


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That's reassuring. And yet, it begs the question - if that's the case, why on earth do they ask for the information?


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