[Merged]: Assorted ilak Questions

Hi I would like to know if 1000 GB Pounds is a sufficient income from my sponsor's side for my spousal visa. I'm sure I dont need to provide anymore info as you are all pretty much familiar with me.

Rent 500 monthly
Water/Electric about 100 monthly
Council tax 100 monthly

Nothing else being payed. No cable or phones/internet. Mobile phones but they are PAYG.
No loans, car payments, ect.

All I want is simple answers please. I don't want this post to become an argument for asking a simple question please. Thank you.

If he makes 1000 pounds a month, and you have roughly 700 pounds outgoing, that would leave roughly 300 left over after bills and tax and such. For spousal visa apps you're looking at roughly 100.95 GBP left over per *week* in order for finances to be sufficient. If you have 300 pounds left over, divided by four weeks in a month, you get 75 quid left over per week for food, your mobile phones, and all other weekly expenses that pop up. It won't be enough to meet the threshold if you go by the 100.95 per week figure that's commonly used on here.

Savings from either of you can help this though, as well as any definite job offers which give a specific salary that you would make when you take the job

Ditto what kittenfish said.

The amount of money your sponsor needs isn't set in stone.  The £100.95 amount kittenfish mentioned is the suggested guideline amount for the couple to have leftover per week, however it is unknown (and a hot discussion topic) if that figure is supposed to come after you pay for food and other expenses (like phone and transportation) or if your food, phone, and transportation come out of the £100.95.

And don't forget heat.  How is your home heated in the winter? if it's gas or coal, that's an additional bill you need to factor in. 

If you have any documented savings you can pitch in to the budget to help bolster it, that would help to counter a lack of funds on the sponsor's side.

Hi & thank you for the replys.

There is no gas in my apartment. No gas bill at all. One thing we were happy about when taking the place. Everything is electric. So we have electric bill and water. And those figures of 100 for both were the approximate figures when I was living there.

No savings at all right now. No set job offer. I am supplying only my CV & a few jobs I am interested in applying for once in UK that fit my ability and have experience in.

I don't think the figure 100.95 comes after food and other expenses. I think they only look at whats left over after bills and rent/mortgage, and tax. This was what I researched. I will double check.

If you don't think the 100.95 doesn't count, fair enough then I suppose. It's the number I used for a guideline to my budget, and I know many people on here use it--I don't believe it's been written in the guidance, hence the debate Becca mentioned. But I'm not sure 75 quid a week (300 a month after bills) will be seen as sufficient really, especially since utilities will go up slightly once you are there and there's more water and electricity being used. Once bills are paid, you still need to buy food, top up mobile phones, etc, even if the 100.95 doesn't stand for whatever reason.

There are also other expenses in life, too.

Clothes, medical (prescriptions, etc), transportation costs (unless you do walk everywhere and never leave your walking-radius area), etc.  That's not even counting any "fun" expenses, like going out to dinner, seeing a movie, etc.  (And I won't even touch on the idea of saving up for future emergencies, any big expenses you'd like to make, vacations, visits back to the US, etc...)

I would imagine the ECO will expect you to have to buy some of those things in the next 6-12 months.  Even if they come out of your £75/week you have leftover, that's stretching that £75 very far when you factor it all in (food, phone, clothes, medical, transportation, etc).

You mentioned in another thread that you were interested in engaging MediVisas services...this is exactly the sort of thing you would pay them to answer.  Plus, we already answered this question in another of your threads.

Thanks for the help.

I will make sure my husband has that 100.95 leftover. I might have to wait alittle. The place where he works is promoting him so his pay will go up as well.

Don't wanna risk my application if 300 left over isn't enough as I have learned from your guys help. Thanks, I will see what we can do to fix this.

Hi & thank you for the replys.

There is no gas in my apartment. No gas bill at all. One thing we were happy about when taking the place. Everything is electric. So we have electric bill and water. And those figures of 100 for both were the approximate figures when I was living there.

Ah, okay. Sounds like you have the utilities all taken care of then.  Tim doesn't have gas either, but it was pointed out to me that since he has a coal fired fireplace and we will use that to heat the house, we'd have to factor in money for coal in our budget.

No savings at all right now. No set job offer. I am supplying only my CV & a few jobs I am interested in applying for once in UK that fit my ability and have experience in.

I'm not a lawyer or an ECO or anything like that, but it really sounds like your husband's salary won't fit the requirements. Like equestiranerd said, £75/wk really isn't much for a couple to live off of when you have to factor in everything the £75 has to cover (food, transportation (bus fare and/or petrol), phone, etc.).   I, personally, would be concerned about trying to live off of £75/wk as a couple when I know our grocery bill is usually around £50/wk! (and this is assuming the magic number isn't £100.95 or that the ECO is willing to over look that.  I have no idea how high of an importance is placed on the financial part of an application).

Have you considered working while you're still in the US so you'd have some money to add to the budget?

I don't think the figure 100.95 comes after food and other expenses. I think they only look at whats left over after bills and rent/mortgage, and tax. This was what I researched. I will double check.

If you can find a definite answer, could you post a link to where you found out?  I know a bunch of people would love to know for sure what bills are counted/not counted before extra money.

Hi Becca thanks for your reply...

I am going to be working very soon in the US to make some money while I am here (job markets pretty tight, taking ages to get a job!!) but I should have one this week. But I dont understand how that will help my budget? I don't plan on working long enough to make an incredible amount of savings... don't even have an account here. I have one in UK.

How will my job here help me? Also, I will look up where I found info about the 105.95 and ill send the link when I find it... Lemme look it up...

Hi Becca thanks for your reply...

I am going to be working very soon in the US to make some money while I am here (job markets pretty tight, taking ages to get a job!!) but I should have one this week. But I dont understand how that will help my budget? I don't plan on working long enough to make an incredible amount of savings... don't even have an account here. I have one in UK.

How will my job here help me? Also, I will look up where I found info about the 105.95 and ill send the link when I find it... Lemme look it up...

Any savings you can bring over with you is helpful, it certainly can't hurt any. Savings can be used to patch up shortfalls (temporarily) in a budget depending on how much you end up with, since it's money that can be drawn out to cover expenses/emergencies. I would seriously consider opening a simple checking or savings account for that purpose alone, to include with your application.

I can work on opening an account while I am here, although they might require 3 months statements then. I don't wish to be here that long. My husband should be promoted soon with a payrise...hopefully alittle more then 300/monthly should help.

I can work on opening an account while I am here, although they might require 3 months statements then. I don't wish to be here that long. My husband should be promoted soon with a payrise...hopefully alittle more then 300/monthly should help.

You would need 3 months bank statements, and you may very well have to wait that long. It sucks, but 3 months is the minimum requirement for bank statements, and any money you can bring over will make the app a little bit stronger so it might be worth the wait.

I don't know where I found information saying you must have 105.95 left over after bills, rent/mortgage, tax. It also said this is before food, clothing, ect ect ect. Cant seem to find it in google like I did before. But I know alot of people have told me this is how it is.

How is one to know for sure. I guess I will just have to trust that figure of 100.95 and stick to that to be on the safe side!

3 Months Bank Statements is not essential part of application from what I was told by NY Consulate. They told me bank account statements arent a must (especially since we dont have savings) but my husband HAS to prove income if theres no statements part of my application.

This is what I was advised anyways, although I know having savings can make the application that much stronger........ thanks for the help

Why don't you have an account here?  Even if all you save is $1,000, that's better than nothing.

In theory, assuming that you have no other expenses than the £700 you listed above (ignoring the other points about clothing/transport/medical/etc), if the ECO is fine with that, then you just need to raise the shortfall each week up to the £100.95.  (I doubt this will be the case, but let's just go with the happiest scenario for the moment.)

£300/mo * 12 months / 52 weeks = £69.23/week extra after rent/taxes/utilities

£100.95 - £69.23 = £31.72 needed to meet maintenance amount per week

£31.72/week * 52 weeks / 12 months = £137.45/month ($222.83 at today's exchange rates)

$222.83 * 6 months = $1,336.98

If you can save up $1,336.98, you can prove that you'll meet the £100.95/week requirement for 6 months with your husband's £1,000/mo and your savings.  Please note: that still may not be enough to satisfy the ECO, especially since your budget above is very light on expenses (my normal budget has about 40 different spending categories, not just 3, for example.  Even factoring out anything car/house related, I still have about 25 different things that I pay for on a regular and/or annual basis).

If I were you, I would:
1. get a job ASAP and work on saving that $1,366.  
1a. If you can double that amount, great.  
2. Hope that your husband gets overtime/a promotion/etc, as that will speed up the process.
3. Open a bank account in the US for you, and one in the UK for him.
4. Have your paychecks direct-deposited into your bank accounts.
5. If you can, have as many of your expenses direct-debited from your bank accounts as well, to show clear cash flow (rather than having "Cash withdrawal - $100", and submitting a receipt for a bill for $100)

Re-do your budget figures in 1, 3, and 6 months (or every month if you'd prefer).  Once you hit the £100.95, keep going until you've saved up enough for the visa fee as well (hopefully this will only take another couple of weeks).  At that point, if everything else looks good (no changes in lifestyle/expenses/etc), apply.

Just my $0.02.