Advisory: Budgeting for Spouse/Fiance(e)/Unmarried Partner visas

There is no requirement in the guidance or immigration regulation that you must provide a budget.

As for your 2nd question without knowing the specifics of your family and situation no one can really answer that question. It is really up to the ECO deciding the application in the end.

There really is no 'magic number' that can be applied to everyone and actually this was explianed previously in the thread, just go back and have a read.

There is no requirement in the guidance or immigration regulation that you must provide a budget.

As for your 2nd question without knowing the specifics of your family and situation no one can really answer that question. It is really up to the ECO deciding the application in the end.

There really is no 'magic number' that can be applied to everyone and actually this was explianed previously in the thread, just go back and have a read.

Well, I guess that makes sense - family size would probably be a factor, etc.

I guess I wondered if there were a 'magic number' as I'm aware magic numbers are applied to folks seeking benefits.  But - different agencies different policies - I presume.

Well, I guess that makes sense - family size would probably be a factor, etc.

I guess I wondered if there were a 'magic number' as I'm aware magic numbers are applied to folks seeking benefits.  But - different agencies different policies - I presume.

See: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=57076.msg810216#msg810216 like I said here, I don't know how else to explain it.

See: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=57076.msg810216#msg810216 like I said here, I don't know how else to explain it.

Yes, I read the entire thread.

Yep...per week per child.

What if there is shared custody and we only have the children every other weekend?

hi first can i say hello,so glad i found a topic covering this subject,i am disabled and suffered a heart attack 4 years ago,im a UK citizen and marrying my US g/f in feb 2010,could i throw some figures at someone regarding budgeting,i recieve 495 pounds a month in benefits,my g/f has roughly 20,000 pounds to come here with,how would this look to the consulate,also shes been emailing some companys here about working in the care community because she is a LPN in the US....hope someone can help ....

If she's got £20,000 in savings then I don't see a problem.

Caveat--I am not a professional adviser.

thank you webyj for your reply,thats a good reply phewww,i forgot to say she also has a bit more than that,she has to sell her car,plus furniture from her apartment,i have made enquieres here,and i dont loose my benefits even when she comes with that amount,only thing that happens is we pay full rent ( i already pay 15 pounds a week rent ) and of course full council tax,i run a car and with utility bills payed i still have 60-00 a week  for food,plus saving for my trips to go and see her,this has been a 8 year relationship,so we hope febuary will go well for us...thanks again for a quick reply

You're welcome...good luck to you.

Tim and I have been going through the PAPER application in anticipation of filling out the online one just to make sure we had all the information we need for it, and I found this piece of information interesting:

8.7.15 much does your sponsor spend each month on living costs?
This includes rent/mortgage/utility bills/loan repayments etc.. Please state which currency e.g. US Dollars or UK Pounds Sterling.

So they do want more than just rent/council tax for living costs.

Becca, I can tell you that this is the same guidance on the online form. While I can't say exactly what the ECO will be looking for, I can tell you that we included mortgage, council tax, gas, electricity, and water. We didn't include any loan repayments because David doesn't have any. I did make up a simple budget for us and considered submitting it with everything, but decided against it since we were well over the maintenance requirements even with all of Davids non-essential bills. While I can't swear this is the absolute correct thing, it seems to be working for us. The expediter said everything looked great & I should get the call tomorrow. I'll let you know if I am told anything otherwise.

Good luck!   

Thanks Holly. I'm not really worried on the finances either, I've done the math and without Tim's savings, we still have a few times the £100.95 guideline.  I was mostly pointing out that a lot of people say it's just rent/mortgage and council tax you need to include, but it looks like that's not entirely accurate.

Thanks Holly. I'm not really worried on the finances either, I've done the math and without Tim's savings, we still have a few times the £100.95 guideline.  I was mostly pointing out that a lot of people say it's just rent/mortgage and council tax you need to include, but it looks like that's not entirely accurate.

LRJST- If you have a read through the initial post you will see that it does not address what is asked on the actual online or paper applications. It addresses what process is used by the ECO's to determine if you meet the maintenance requirement and that maintenance requirement is that after rent & council tax is the applicant & family living on less than what a British Family of the same size would be receiving on Income Support which is £100.95/wk per couple.

That maintenance requirement assumes that the British Family on Income Support would also be receiving Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit which is why to meet the bottom of the barrel minimum of maintenance is: Income(or Savings) - (Rent + Council Tax) > £100.95/wk assuming a couple with no children.

This is taken directly from the ECO's guidance, as you can see it even says there is 'no explicit minimum'.

MAA4 Maintenance: General requirements

There is no explicit minimum figure for what represents sufficient maintenance. If dependants of the main applicant are going to accompany him / her to the United Kingdom, resources must be available for the whole family unit to be maintained.

The ECO should bear in mind the position taken by the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (UKAIT):

In 2006, the UKAIT  in UKAIT 00065 KA and Others (Pakistan), strongly suggested that it would not be appropriate to have immigrant families existing on resources that were less than the Income Support level for a British family of that size.
More information is available on the British & Irish Legal Information Institute website (BAILII)

If it is more likely than not that the total amount that the applicant and sponsor will have to live on will be below what the income support level would be for a British family of that size, then it may be appropriate to refuse the application on maintenance and accommodation grounds.

I completely understand why they do ask for all the other additional information just to make sure that someone would be able to meet all of their financial obligations. It is unknown if it actually used determining if the applicant or sponsor meet maintenance budgeting requirement.

So is it still 56.11x 2 if my husband has 2 kids and they only live with him half of the week and live with their mom the rest? I am just worried about the financial aspect. I have about 8,000 dollars in my bank account right now and I will be working until Jan 22nd. I am planning on applying next week for my visa. I will also be selling my 2002 CR-V when I move which will be another 8-10 thousand dollars. I am planning on putting that in my cover letter and that I am applying for a certain job right now and putting that in the cover letter with my license and my degrees in social work. My husband makes around 27,00 pounds a year. Can anyone give me advice?

IMO, if he makes £27,000 pa, and you've got savings of $8-10,000 you'll probably be OK. As far as the Children are concerned, does he pay support? If so then that comes under his obligated payments...if not then I would tend to think that you would need to include them as well in the budgeting. However, you do not give details regarding the accomodation costs (mortgage/rent & council tax amounts) so a more educated guess cannot be given.

And since we are not professionals here, that's all it would be is an educated guess.