Spouse Visa: Non-salaried employment help please

Hello,

My wife and I are in the process of applying for a spouse visa for her to join me in the UK from the USA.

I am a non-salaried permanent employee, have been with my company for roughly 18 months, and earn over the £18600 required with a contracted 40 hours per week. I am also eligible for overtime which is usually a few hours per week.

I have a couple of questions. Firstly, should I include any overtime when calculating my gross income (6 months worth of payslips / 6 x 12? I wasn't sure if that was necessary as I am already above the threshold without it.

Secondly, I am currently filling out the finance section of the application and am being asked for 12 months of bank statements and payslips, not 6, even though I have selected permanent employment, which began on 8th April 2019, and have therefore been with the same employer for longer than 6 months.

I have selected that I earn "not the same amount continuously, above the financial requirement" and have done so because I receive overtime. Am I misreading this? Should I be stating that I "earn the same amount continuously, above the financial requirement" as I am always paid a monthly wage which equals or exceeds the level relied upon.

I hope that makes sense.

Many thanks,
Rob

I am a non-salaried permanent employee, have been with my company for roughly 18 months, and earn over the £18600 required with a contracted 40 hours per week. I am also eligible for overtime which is usually a few hours per week.

I have a couple of questions. Firstly, should I include any overtime when calculating my gross income (6 months worth of payslips / 6 x 12? I wasn't sure if that was necessary as I am already above the threshold without it.

For the annual income that you put on the application form, use your income without overtime... so whatever your hourly wage x 40 hours per week is, multiplied by 52 weeks.

Overtime can only be considered towards your previous income, but not for any future income.. unless it is guaranteed in writing that you will earn X amount of overtime every month in future. So you want to use your ‘base’ income without overtime

Secondly, I am currently filling out the finance section of the application and am being asked for 12 months of bank statements and payslips, not 6, even though I have selected permanent employment, which began on 8th April 2019, and have therefore been with the same employer for longer than 6 months.

I have selected that I earn "not the same amount continuously, above the financial requirement" and have done so because I receive overtime. Am I misreading this? Should I be stating that I "earn the same amount continuously, above the financial requirement" as I am always paid a monthly wage which equals or exceeds the level relied upon.

This is a question where you have to answer it a certain way even if it’s not quite true.

You need to say that you HAVE ‘earned the same amount continuously, above the financial requirement’, otherwise the form will assume you do not meet Category A and will tell you to send 12 months instead of 6 months.

Basically, ignore the fact that you have earned variable amounts of income and only look at your hourly wage and contracted hours.

Assuming your wage and contracted hours have not changed in the last 6 months, you HAVE been earning the same amount continuously.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks so much for your help and quick response. I will leave the income as my standard 40 hours x 52.
I have also been given advice to put that I receive a variable income, as this is technically true, but ignore the request for 12 months paperwork and only send 6, as stated in the Appendix is all that is necessary for Category A. I wasn't sure if this was sensible though as I am effectively ignoring a request.

Thanks so much for your help and quick response. I will leave the income as my standard 40 hours x 52.
I have also been given advice to put that I receive a variable income, as this is technically true, but ignore the request for 12 months paperwork and only send 6, as stated in the Appendix is all that is necessary for Category A. I wasn't sure if this was sensible though as I am effectively ignoring a request.

Yeah, it's probably easiest just to put the 'same amount continuously' option... because the form has been badly designed and  the documents it comes up with do not actually match the options it gives for this question.

What the question should really be asking is:
"Have you been employed by the same company, earning at least £18,600 continuously for the last 6 months?"

Great, thanks again for your help.

Sorry, one more question. I actually received a pay rise during the last six months. I was already above the £18,600 threshold before the pay rise. Am I still safe to put the answer of continuous earnings for six months? I don't want to be caught out on a technicality.
Best.

Sorry, one more question. I actually received a pay rise during the last six months. I was already above the £18,600 threshold before the pay rise. Am I still safe to put the answer of continuous earnings for six months? I don't want to be caught out on a technicality.
Best.

Yes, because your previous wage was still above £18,600/year.

When they calculate your income, as you are non-salaried, they will add up all your payslips from the last 6 months, divide by 6 months and then multiply by 12 months to get your average annual salary. As long as this figure is above £18,600, you will meet the requirement.

Oh, and you need to make sure that your employer letter explicitly states that you are NON-SALARIED, because if it says you are salaried, they will calculate your income differently (they will take the lowest monthly payslip and multiply it by 12).

We have seen people get refused because they were NON-salaried, but their employer letter said they were salaried... they met the requirement using the non-salaried calculation... but UKVI used the salaried calculation, which did not meet the requirement, and their visa was refused.

Ok yes that makes sense.
My letter states that I am employed on a permanent contract, contracted to 40 hours per week, and states that I am paid by hour (£17). It states "annual base salary is £35,360" which is incorrect I suppose. It should read income or wage Do you think I should get that changed to read income/wage as opposed to salary?

Ok yes that makes sense.
My letter states that I am employed on a permanent contract, contracted to 40 hours per week, and states that I am paid by hour (£17). It states "annual base salary is £35,360" which is incorrect I suppose. It should read income or wage Do you think I should get that changed to read income/wage as opposed to salary?

Yes, it must not say 'salary' anywhere in the letter.

It would be better to say something like:

"X is a non-salaried employee on a permanent contract. They are paid a wage of £17/hour and are contracted to work 40 hours per week, which gives X an annual income of £35,360."

The letter must also state:
- your start date
- your previous wage
- your current wage
- the date you started earning your current wage

Thought I replied to this! Thank you, I got the letter sorted and changed at work today