Child Settlement Visa - Financial Requirement or Adequate Maintenance?

Hello,

I would be grateful if someone can advise on the following:

I am a British citizen, my husband received his initial entry clearance for 33 months (limited leave to enter) last month.  At the time of applying for his spouse visa we did not apply for our son as we thought he was British and we applied for his passport to HMPO.
We were in shock when HMPO refused his passport application claiming that I am British by descent (born abroad) and cannot pass on the citizenship to my baby.  We received hubby's visa the next day - that was bittersweet!
I cannot register my son either because I never lived in the UK so don't meet the  registration requirement.

We would like to relocate as soon as possible and it is our understanding that we need to apply for a child's settlement visa for our baby, i.e. to go through almost exactly the same process as with my husband's visa.   Is our understanding correct?  Or there might be some other ways to bring the child to reside in the UK?

The most confusing about the child application is the financial requirement / maintenance requirement.   We don't seem to find anywhere an exact and clearly spelled out requirement.  Would greatly appreciate if someone can clarify - is it a financial requirement of GBP18,600 a year like for a spouse or is it adequate maintenance only, when applying for a stand-alone child visa, not family visa (i.e. spouse and child together)?   And what is the magic number for the adequate maintenance requirement?

Our situation is complicated with the fact that I, as a British citizen and the sponsor, do not currently work as I am a stay at home mom.   My husband is about to sell his business as we thought we'd be in the UK by now.   He also has savings in his name only, not in our joint names.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

Welcome, glad you found us. 

What income did you use to qualify for your husband's visa?  Savings?

The annual salary amount is £22,400 for a partner (husband) and child.

If using savings to meet the requirement, it is £72,000.

Had you only needed to sponsor your husband, the amount would be £18,600 salary or £62,500 savings.

I believe it is £18,600 for a child of applying on their own, though technically with both a husband and a child on settlement visas, you must show £22,400... this is the amount you will need to show for their future visas.

You can only use adequate maintenance if you receive one of the listed U.K. government benefits, which exempts you from meeting the £18,600 requirement... in which case it would have been adequate maintenance for your husband too.

How did you meet the £18,600 requirement for your husband’s visa?

Savings do not have to be in joint names - they can be in either yours or his or both names. They just can’t be in anyone else’s name.

If your husband now has a visa that allows work in the U.K., you should be able to use his U.K. income as well to meet the requirements.


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Thank you very much for the comments.

We used savings only route to apply for my husband's visa.   Since he already has his visa, do we still need essentially the same amount of money for the child?    Unfortunately, we already dipped into savings, so might not meet the GBP72,000 depending on the exchange rate.

Also, some links on gov.uk state that it must be sponsor's savings only when applying for a child.   It's different for a spouse - could be his, her or joint.

We don't want to split the family so would not be relocating and looking for a job in UK until we sort out all the visas.

I've read somewhere on the gov.uk website about "adequate maintenance" for a dependent child visa, not the "financial requirement", and it's completely different from applying for a spouse visa while receiving UK benefits.   Can't find it now but I've located this:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452964/IDI_Adequate_Maintenance_and_Accommodation_Part_8_Annex_F.pdf [nofollow]

Can our family apply using this as a guidance? What do you think?

Thank you again.

You won’t qualify for adequate maintenance (article .

I’ll dig deeper into the savings for a child.  Usually both visas are applied for at the same time.

I cannot find anyth8ng that says the savings can not be in the child’s fathers name.  Can you direct us to the source of that?

As your husband is not yet “settled”, you’ll have to meet the higher requirement of £72k I’m afraid.

Thank you very much for the comments.

We used savings only route to apply for my husband's visa.   Since he already has his visa, do we still need essentially the same amount of money for the child?    Unfortunately, we already dipped into savings, so might not meet the GBP72,000 depending on the exchange rate.

As KFDancer said, I believe you would need the £72,000, as you are actually sponsoring both a spouse and a child.

Also, some links on gov.uk state that it must be sponsor's savings only when applying for a child.   It's different for a spouse - could be his, her or joint

Never heard that before. As far as I know it can be in either name... because if you had been applying for both visas together at the same time, you would have used the same savings account to meet the £72,000 for both visas.

We don't want to split the family so would not be relocating and looking for a job in UK until we sort out all the visas.

Has your husband already entered the U.K. to pick up his BRP in the allocated 30 days? If not, you will also have to apply for a new 30-day vignette in order for him to enter the U.K.

I've read somewhere on the gov.uk website about "adequate maintenance" for a dependent child visa, not the "financial requirement", and it's completely different from applying for a spouse visa while receiving UK benefits.   Can't find it now but I've located this:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452964/IDI_Adequate_Maintenance_and_Accommodation_Part_8_Annex_F.pdf

Can our family apply using this as a guidance? What do you think?

Thank you again.

That only applies if you are making a child dependant visa application where you are exempt from meeting the income requirement due to receiving certain U.K. benefits.

From the link - the highlighted part is what applies to you... and it would only apply if you were receiving an eligible U.K. benefit:

Some categories of applicant under Appendix FM are not required to meet the minimum income threshold – partners and dependent children whose sponsor is in receipt of a specified benefit[/b] (on the 5-year route to settlement as a partner); parents of child in the UK (on the 5-year route to settlement as a parent); and adult dependent relatives – and have instead to meet a requirement for ‘adequate’ maintenance.


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Yes, hubby went to UK and picked up his BRP and came back.  He now has no more than 6 months before relocating for good or he'll have problems renewing for the next 2.5 years.   Is that correct?

I just can't wrap my head around the fact that our kid needs to show GBP72k in savings, while my husband only needed GBP62.5k.   Wouldn't be just the difference enough, i.e. GBP9.5k?

Many thanks.

It's technically showing that you can support your family without drawing benefits.  It's the level the UK government has said we need to show we won't be a burden on the state.  Sadly, the UK is very anti-immigration.

You are sponsoring your spouse and a dependent and the level of savings required for that is £72,000.  I just hate that you didn't find us before applying for your husband, as we could have determined that your son didn't qualify for citizenship before you spent so much money to only have to repeat the process.

Your husband has 3 months to move to the UK without needing an extra extension of his visa.

Thank you for explanation.

But could you please elaborate a bit more on the 3 months rule for my husband?   I thought it was 6 months, i.e. not to be outside the UK for more than 180 days in any given 12-month period.

Also, how to apply for this extension.  I don't think we can figure everything out in 3 months.

Before his visa expires, you'll file for a visa called FLR(M) which is Further Leave to Remain based on marriage.  If you don't move within 3 months, you'll have to file a second FLR(M) to bridge the gap between the expiration date of that visa and applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

You'll be able to see this as your husband's visa should expire in 33 months, unlike visas issued within the UK (for those changing visa status) which are only issued for 30 months.  That gives a 3 month buffer to tie up loose ends and move to the UK.

I just can't wrap my head around the fact that our kid needs to show GBP72k in savings, while my husband only needed GBP62.5k.   Wouldn't be just the difference enough, i.e. GBP9.5k?

It’s because you are sponsoring both a spouse and a child for visas.

If it was your husband only, and you had no children (or your child was a U.K. citizen), you would need to show £62,500.

If it was your child only and you were not married so there was no spouse to sponsor, you would need to show £62,500.

This is because to sponsor one person only (spouse or child), you have to show in savings:

£16,000 + (£18,600 x 2.5 years) = £62,500

However, the annual income level you need to show to support a family of 3 without claiming public funds (for you, your husband and your child) is £22,400 per year.

So, you need to show that you have enough in savings to cover the costs to support both of them for the next 2.5 years:

£16,000 + (£22,400 x 2.5 years) = £72,000


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It’s because you are sponsoring both a spouse and a child for visas.

If it was your husband only, and you had no children (or your child was a U.K. citizen), you would need to show £62,500.

If it was your child only and you were not married so there was no spouse to sponsor, you would need to show £62,500.

This is because to sponsor one person only (spouse or child), you have to show in savings:

£16,000 + (£18,600 x 2.5 years) = £62,500

However, the annual income level you need to show to support a family of 3 without claiming public funds (for you, your husband and your child) is £22,400 per year.

So, you need to show that you have enough in savings to cover the costs to support both of them for the next 2.5 years:

£16,000 + (£22,400 x 2.5 years) = £72,000


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That's the daft thing isn't it. The financial requirement was set on the poverty cap for the income based welfare payment called Tax Credits-
poverty cap for a couple is 18k pa.
poverty cap for a couple with one child, is about 26k pa.
poverty cap for a couple with 2 children is about 31k
3 children is about 36k
etc

The financial requirement has not stopped foreign nationals/those who were a foreign natioanal,  from claiming the Tax Credits benefit if they have a child, as the 2014 report showed. Which then brought in the 2 child limit for the income based benefits Tax Credits and Housing Benefit, and for their replacement benefit on the new welfare system,called Universal Credit..

Universal Credit has a 16k cutoff, which will now incude any capital in a property they don't live in, in any county, land etc  I assume that means that those on the savings route, will not be able to claim those income based welfare payments anyway???  Most new claims are on Universal Credit now, with all new claims on by Decemeber. Existing claimants moved over from January 2019, some already moved because they triggered a move to Universal Credit. All abled bodied parents to earn a set weekly amount on the new system anyway, no more only 24 hours a week between them.