Spouse Visa - Questions & Checklist

Hi everyone!

I've been collecting documents / preparing to apply for my first spouse visa over the past few months & am hoping to submit in early September.  My husband moved to our new town & started a new job this month so we will be applying under Category B using his payslips and bank statements from August 2017 - August 2018.

A little bit of background: I'm a US citizen & my husband is a UK citizen living in Scotland. We met in December 2015 when we were both teaching English in Germany. After dating long distance for a few months, I moved to Glasgow in August 2016 to do my Master's (luckily I'd already decided on this before we met!) & we moved in together once I finished my program (July 2017). I was unable to get Tier 2 sponsorship & we didn't feel ready to get married at the time so I left Scotland when my Tier 4 visa expired in January 2018. After a lot of thinking & talking & missing each other, we decided to get married and went to the courthouse last month when he was visiting me in the US. And our reward is all this paperwork!

I've spent a lot (read: entirely too much) time on this forum over the past year or so & am feeling pretty informed and prepared. But I do have a few questions and would appreciate some help. I'm going to post my checklist once he mails me some more of the docs!

Questions:

• Will I be able to drive on my US license when I arrive? Or does my previous time in the UK count against that 1 year of validity?
• My husband is a teacher & is paid by our local council. There is no start date on any of his payslips, just the pay date (last working day of every month) & a description stating 'monthly pay'. I can only assume this is fine?
• He's just moved into a new flat & it is strictly a one month rolling contact, without a minimum time frame. Hopefully that should be fine too?
• His new job sent over his contract by email & it does not sound like he'll be receiving a physical copy. From what I understand, providing his job contract is only optional but should we try to get an original copy of it from the council anyway?
• Because we are applying Category B, is it correct that the total over the 12 months has to be at least £18600 and it's fine if he earned less than £1550 in one of the months?

Thanks so much in advance!

I'd really appreciate some feedback on my checklist! My husband will be sending some of the docs below over next week. We've opted to submit an extra month of payslips + bank statements for our peace of mind.

Please let me know if there's anything I'm missing or anything that I don't need to include! Things in red are things I still have to get.

Application
- online application
- VAF4A Appendix 2
- priority processing receipt
- round trip VFS shipping label
- my previous passport
- current passport
- 2 passport photos
- contents list
- certified copy of husbands's passport photo page
- sponsor letter (says eligibility to be a sponsor [UK citizen], employment info + salary, that we are applying category B, accommodation info, and history of relationship)

Finances
- 13 months of original payslips mailed to my husband (total is over £18600) - end of Aug. 2017 - end of Aug. 2018
- 13 months of original bank statements mailed to my husband (covering same period)
- letter from his employer (dated 27 August)
- copy of his job contract (they emailed it to him)
- latest P60

Accommodation
- lease in my husband's name
- letter from landlord stating that he doesn't object to me living there + confirming that it will not be overcrowded

Relationship
- original marriage certificate
- 2 photos of us together (1 from 2016, 1 from our wedding in July)
- boarding passes / flight confirmations
- Flixbus tickets from when we both lived in Germany (1 page)
- Scotrail tickets from when I lived in Glasgow (1 page)
- 2 cards from me to him + 2 from him to me (birthday / Valentine's Day)
- correspondence (2 messages per month for each method of contact)

• 2016-2018: WhatsApp screenshots (3-4 pages)
• 2016-2017: screenshots of my phone bill showing we talked on the phone (1 page)
• 2018: Facetime / WhatsApp video call screenshots (2 pages)

- original joint lease from when we lived together (July 2017 - January 2018)
- jointly addressed mail from when we lived together

• letter from bank - 21 July 2017
• council tax - 28 August 2017
• we knew I'd be leaving so that's all we have for official correspondence

- letter from bank when we opened our joint account

Thanks so much in advance!

Welcome to the forum - sorry no one has answered your questions yet.

Questions:

• Will I be able to drive on my US license when I arrive? Or does my previous time in the UK count against that 1 year of validity?

I'm not sure, actually. Since you broke your residency, my gut feeling is that your 12 months will start over when you move back, but I really don't know for sure.

• My husband is a teacher & is paid by our local council. There is no start date on any of his payslips, just the pay date (last working day of every month) & a description stating 'monthly pay'. I can only assume this is fine?

It should be fine, but you will need to make sure that all the end dates cover a full 12 months.

For example, if his latest payslip is dated 31st August 2018, you'll need to make sure that his first payslip is dated August 31st 2017, or earlier (this may mean including the payslip and bank statement  from July 2017 as well). Same with the bank statements - they must cover the same 12-month period as the payslips, and not a day less... so you may need to cover August 1st 2017 through to August 31st 2018 (for example).

• He's just moved into a new flat & it is strictly a one month rolling contact, without a minimum time frame. Hopefully that should be fine too?

Should be fine - but I would get the landlord to address and confirm this in their letter giving you permission to live there too.

• His new job sent over his contract by email & it does not sound like he'll be receiving a physical copy. From what I understand, providing his job contract is only optional but should we try to get an original copy of it from the council anyway?

If you can get an original physical copy, that would be best. But if you absolutely cannot get one, then I would include the printed emailed copy.

• Because we are applying Category B, is it correct that the total over the 12 months has to be at least £18600 and it's fine if he earned less than £1550 in one of the months?

Yes, that's correct, and that's fine.

It's only for Category A that he must have earned £1,550 in each month, because you have to prove he has been earning a minimum salary of £18,600 (£1,550 per month) in every single month.

For Category B though, all you have to prove is:
- his current salary is at least £18,600 per year
- his total pre-tax earnings from any and all jobs over the last 12 months come to at least £18,600. He could have been unemployed for 6 of the month and then earned £18,600 in the other 6 months; or he could have worked for 2 months, then been unemployed for 1 month, then worked 4 months, then unemployed for 2 months, then worked 5 months; or he could have been working 3 jobs one month and only 1 job the next month... it really doesn't matter, as long as the total is £18,600.

In regards to your document list:
- you only need 1 passport photo
- the letter from the landlord does NOT need to confirm no overcrowding, because presumably your sponsor is the only one named on the lease, and therefore only one suitable room is needed for both of you. Overcrowding only needs to be addressed if you will be living with friends or relatives, where there could be several other people also living in the house as well.

You're currently missing from your list:
- stamped biometrics confirmation sheet
- IHS surcharge number/receipt

I'm just going to rearrange your documents into the correct order they should be included in the package:

Applicant Documents
- priority processing receipt
- round trip VFS shipping label
- contents list
- online application
- VAF4A Appendix 2
- stamped biometrics confirmation sheet
- IHS surcharge number/receipt
- current passport
- my previous passport
- 1 passport photo

Sponsor's Documents
- certified copy of husbands's passport photo page
- sponsor letter

Finances
- 13 months of original payslips mailed to my husband (total is over £18600) - end of Aug. 2017 - end of Aug. 2018
- 13 months of original bank statements mailed to my husband (covering same period)
- letter from his employer (dated 27 August)
- copy of his job contract (they emailed it to him)
- latest P60

Accommodation
- lease in my husband's name
- letter from landlord stating that he doesn't object to me living there

Relationship
- original marriage certificate
- 2 photos of us together (1 from 2016, 1 from our wedding in July)
- boarding passes / flight confirmations
- Flixbus tickets from when we both lived in Germany (1 page)
- Scotrail tickets from when I lived in Glasgow (1 page)
- 2 cards from me to him + 2 from him to me (birthday / Valentine's Day)
- correspondence (2 messages per month for each method of contact)

• 2016-2018: WhatsApp screenshots (3-4 pages)
• 2016-2017: screenshots of my phone bill showing we talked on the phone (1 page)
• 2018: Facetime / WhatsApp video call screenshots (2 pages)

- original joint lease from when we lived together (July 2017 - January 2018)
- jointly addressed mail from when we lived together

• letter from bank - 21 July 2017
• council tax - 28 August 2017
• we knew I'd be leaving so that's all we have for official correspondence

- letter from bank when we opened our joint account

For Category B though, all you have to prove is:
- his current salary is at least £18,600 per year
- his total pre-tax earnings from any and all jobs over the last 12 months come to at least £18,600. He could have been unemployed for 6 of the month and then earned £18,600 in the other 6 months; or he could have worked for 2 months, then been unemployed for 1 month, then worked 4 months, then unemployed for 2 months, then worked 5 months; or he could have been working 3 jobs one month and only 1 job the next month... it really doesn't matter, as long as the total is £18,600.

Thank you so much for your answers & looking over my list! Much appreciated.

About the above -- if someone is unemployed for part of the 12 months leading up to the application, how does that work? Do they just provide bank statements covering the full period with an explanation of why there are no payslips for the missing month(s)?

I ask because my husband started his first full time job last August (2017) so the first payslip we're submitting is his first one, period. If his August 2017 payslip were to be dated after his August 2018 one (it shouldn't be), would we theoretically be able to submit bank statements from July 2017 with an explanation that he was unemployed that month?

Thank you so much for your answers & looking over my list! Much appreciated.

About the above -- if someone is unemployed for part of the 12 months leading up to the application, how does that work? Do they just provide bank statements covering the full period with an explanation of why there are no payslips for the missing month(s)?

You would provide all 12 months of bank statements, but only the payslips for the months you have.

No need to explain why there are no payslips for some months, though, as it’s the total amount earned that matters, not whether you had an income every month.

The only things that matter are:
- the total of all the payslips provided comes to at least £18,600
- each payslip deposit is shown on the bank statements

I ask because my husband started his first full time job last August (2017) so the first payslip we're submitting is his first one, period. If his August 2017 payslip were to be dated after his August 2018 one (it shouldn't be), would we theoretically be able to submit bank statements from July 2017 with an explanation that he was unemployed that month?

Yes, but as mentioned, there’s no real need to explain he was unemployed... because it is irrelevant to Category B (there is no requirement to have been employed for the entire 12 months... you are simply providing the extra bank statements to make sure they cover the whole period specified on the application form).


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Interesting! Thanks for the explanation.

If a letting agency is managing a property on behalf of the landlord, is it okay for them to write / sign the accommodation letter? They are having trouble getting in contact with the landlord but they are happy to handle it & would put it on headed paper.

If a letting agency is managing a property on behalf of the landlord, is it okay for them to write / sign the accommodation letter? They are having trouble getting in contact with the landlord but they are happy to handle it & would put it on headed paper.

Ideally you want the letter to be from the landlord, but if you/they can’t get hold of them, then I think a letter from the letting agency on behalf of the landlord will be okay.


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I'm going through Appendix 2 while waiting for the rest of my supporting documents to arrive from the UK & have a question about Part 3A. After 3.20, there's a box that says:

If your sponsor has or had more than one previous/other job, you must provide full details for each job held at Part 5. You must also submit the specified evidence for each job detailed with your application.

My husband has his current job + worked for 1 other employer in the past 12 months (I filled all the details in about both jobs in part 3A already). Is there something (i.e. job contract) we need to submit from his previous job? Or what does "submit the specified evidence for each job" refer to there?

I'm assuming I don't need anything other than the payslips + bank statements that we've already got, just better safe than sorry!

I'm going through Appendix 2 while waiting for the rest of my supporting documents to arrive from the UK & have a question about Part 3A. After 3.20, there's a box that says:
My husband has his current job + worked for 1 other employer in the past 12 months (I filled all the details in about both jobs in part 3A already). Is there something (i.e. job contract) we need to submit from his previous job? Or what does "submit the specified evidence for each job" refer to there?

I'm assuming I don't need anything other than the payslips + bank statements that we've already got, just better safe than sorry!

You only need the payslips and bank statements from the previous job.

Me again!

So due to trouble with our bank, we've had to delay our application until early October. My husband originally ordered 12 months of statements to be mailed to him in early August and our bank only sent 1 month. Then he ordered 2 more sets that never arrived. Finally (4th time's the charm!) we have original bank statements!!! (In the meantime, they refused to print off more than 1 month in branch OR to stamp statements printed from online OR to write a letter saying they were authentic...not that I'm bitter).

Now that my mini-rant is over (sorry) - here's my question.

Because of the delay, we have to wait until he gets paid on the 28th of this month. He just got access to his payslip online and the gross payment is correct but they have applied the incorrect tax rate. Does this matter? Or is it okay if the deductions are incorrect as long as the gross pay is right & the amount deposited into his account matches the payslip? He will be calling HR on Monday to try to get it fixed before he's paid next Friday but I want to be prepared.

This delay has been frustrating but luckily I just got a promotion at work so I splurged on a quick visit over to see him the first weekend of October! I'm trying to focus on the positives & remind myself that a month's delay is nothing in the grand scheme of things. TBD on if that works. 

Any idea if we'll need a letter explaining the wrong tax rate on his most recent payslip?

We're applying category B and we met/exceed without taking this payslip into account.