First, many thanks to all the members of this community, especially ksand and Kfdancer (in my case), for their guidance and support. It is a stressful time for anyone going through the UK visa process and this forum has proved an excellent source of information - and most importantly, empathy.
There isn't much info on this forum or others about using academic stipends to meet financial requirements, so I'd thought I'd share what we've learned:
- Academic stipends are a viable source of income, provided they meet the requirements specified under FM-SE 10(g). If applying under Category B, they are ALSO a source of past income.
- If you have previously earned a stipend, but are no longer in receipt of it, any payments received in the 12 months prior to the application CAN be counted towards past income under category B. For example, if you were in receipt of a monthly stipend for academic year 2012/2013, and you were to apply for a visa today (30 January 2014), you could count every payment you received from 30 January 2013.
- Again under category B - If you are currently in receipt of an academic stipend which meets the requirements of FM-SE 10(g), AND you have a future entitlement to that stipend, you may count the ENTIRE annual amount of that stipend as having been earned in the past year. For example, if you started a PhD in September 2013 and receive a stipend of £12000 per year, and you applied for a visa today using category B, you may count the entire £12000 as having been earned in the past 12 months, per FM-SE 20(f).
- The most important -The Home Office/UKBA do not deal with academic stipends on a regular basis. If you are going to use stipends as your income source, I highly suggest including a covering sheet over your financial documents to help your caseworker along. I'd say the most important thing to include is an introductory paragraph which highlights your use of academic stipends to meet the requirement. Include word for word extracts from Annex 1.7 and FM-SE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE APPLYING UNDER CATEGORY B, also citing paragraph/section/page numbers, for easy reference, depending on how you are using the stipends.
It was the cover sheet, I think, which made the difference. Our caseworker was, by her own admission, stumped over the use of academic stipends to meet the financial requirement. She called us to the desk where we explained the logic, and after she studied our cover sheet and looked up the guidance quoted on it, everything quickly fell into place.
