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

Just looking for a little guidance here..... 

My fiance left in March from his second, three-month long visit with me.  As soon as he got back his daughter moved in with him and he started working in a single parent capacity.  He is claiming child tax benefits.

We have been saving up a lot of money for our (my daughter and I) near coming move to the UK.  In the past few weeks my fiance came across a substantial amount of £, but it will show £ coming in and out of his account~~even though it's much higher now. By the time we apply in Dec/Jan my fiance will have about £17000 in his savings and I will have about £3500 in my savings (my savings is primarily for traveling expenses).

Also, he's started contract taxi work since moving back and brings in about £1800 per month.  I will be able to contribute £513 per month from child support/funds.  I can also provide a letter of employment to use after I arrive(in January) and after we get married.

So I have a few questions:

1.  How much will my fiance/sponsor claiming child tax credits have on our application?  Is there anything we should do aside from show my income and employment letter?

2.  Should we wait a FULL three months to have "clean" and easier to decipher bank statements from my sponsor?

3.  Is the increased amount of savings going to affect anything negatively?

I think I'm overanalyzing things and continuously second guessing myself, and probably bordering crazy today. 
 
I apologize if this post isn't in the correct thread, but I tried to find the right one and this seemed to be the most recent.

I think I'm overanalyzing things and continuously second guessing myself, and probably bordering crazy today. 

This...



It's not as complicated as you're making it.

Tax Credits cannot be used as income to meet the Maintenance Requriement anyway so it doesn't matter if they're receiving it or not. Wage stubs & bank account statements are all that is needed, a letter from the employer is not necessary.

Why? Only if you like being seperated for a longer period of time.

Again, Why? Savings is icing on top of the financial cake, why would it hurt?

The main worry on the bank statements is that it would show A LOT of transactions going in and out. 

No one likes being separated for a long time obviously.  I'm currently enrolled at a university and just waiting until this terms ends in December.  So we were originally going to apply early December, but he's worried the bank statements will send off an alarm with the ECO.  This is why we were going to hold on applying until early January.

I didn't know Tax Credits weren't used in maintenance requirements, not that it matters too much in my case, but I was worried because isn't it still considered "benefits" that we claim on our fiance visa application?

And because child tax credits are a benefit, would it look suspicious having a substantial amount in savings?  Or do the two not correlate in the application?

If the application asks about benefits then obviously they have to be declared, if he just came into the money after he renewed or applied for the tax credits then it probably won't impact anything as only the intrest from savings needs to be reported.

But that would be something that would need to be discussed with HMRC regarding tax credits and has nothing to do with a visa application.

As far as transactions in & out, who doesn't have transactions? It really does not matter.

Thank you for the clarification.

Will loan payments be part of the "living costs"? DH pays £250/month for his loan which shows in his bank statement, plus £150 to his mom in cash for rent and bills. Should we add this all up as the total?

Thanks!

As of today it looks like the ECO's guidance for maintenance & accommodation has been updated. The relevent portion below has been highlighted:

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.

Maintenance may be provided by either:


The applicant with their own funds or with funds available to them; or
The sponsor; or
A combination of applicant and sponsor funds; or
Third party suppot (see below).

A couple or other applicant who is/are unable to produce sufficient evidence to meet the maintenance requirement may provide an undertaking from members of their families that those members will support the couple/ applicant until they are able to support themselves from their own resources.

Third party support is not precluded from consideration under the maintenance requirements relating to spouses, civil partners, fiancé(e)s, proposed civil partners, unmarried partners, same-sex partners, children, parents, grandparents and other dependent relatives of sponsors who are settled in the UK.

The Entry Clearance Officer will need to verify and assess an offer of third party support in order to determine whether an applicant satisfies the requirement that he/ she can be adequately maintained in the UK without recourse to public funds. The ECO may request evidence (e.g. original bank statements over at least three months) of the third party’s assets.

What does this mean? Third Party Sponsorship is now in the guidance (only took them a year to get it in) and should be able to be used with no problems.

Lots of other small updates to the Maintenance & Accommodation guidance and for those interested on staying up on the current guidance should read over the linked page above carefully.

Happy Reading!

Hi,

I've just returned from 3 months with my wife in the UK and am now on the precipice of submitting my visa application.  Could some kind person please verify for me that the minimum weekly maintenance requirements are the same now as they were for the original 2009 post of this thread, that is:

  £100.96 / week for a couple
  £56.11 / week for each child

Cheers!
~Teddy

Unless there are even more recent numbers, as of 06 Apr 2010, the amounts were increased to £102.75 (couple) and £57.57 (per child).

Unless there are even more recent numbers, as of 06 Apr 2010, the amounts were increased to £102.75 (couple) and £57.57 (per child).

Correct. You can find all current benefit rates here: http://www.focusondisability.org.uk/brates-1.html

Thanks so much, Aquila & WebJ -- working on this mind-numbing application right now.  I had asked in the past about the advisability / necessity of including a budget... I know there were some differing opinions, and a budget is not actually required.  But for the following questions...

"How much of your sponsor's total monthly income is given to their family members and other dependants?"

"How much does your sponsor spend each month on living costs?"

...How the heck does one separate out costs for my wife's children?  I can list mortgage payment, electricity, gas, food, etc.  But things like toys, clothes, pocket money, etc, that go directly to the kids is either very small or a variable amount. 

This is SO stressful - but after 5 months of being with my wife -- each of us back and forth in both directions - it is finally coming together.  Can't wait to get this submitted!

Cheers!
~Teddy

I'd be grateful if someone could have a look at this related thread. The answer I got there put my mind at ease, but now reading this thread, I'm a bit worried again. But it's not clear to me precisely which kind of applications this thread pertains to.

thanks

RH

The new rates are out for the year April 2011-2012: the amounts were increased to £105.95 (couple) and £62.33 (per dependant child).

Panicked!  Just nearly ready to submit my application for spouse visa, and going over last details...  Was re-reading this thread and I'm HOPING and PRAYING that I didn't misunderstand months ago when this whole process began.

My UK wife is unemployed and has 4 kids.  The vast bulk of her income is from public funds, Child Tax Credit, Disability Living Allowance, and so on.  I am disabled, and my monthly Social Security Disability benefit will follow me to the UK. 

I know my wife will continue to receive the benefits she's sntitled to as a UK citizen when I'm there.  But I thought I just read a post in this thread indicating that her income from public funds would not count toward the minimum maintenance amount we must have in order for my visa to be granted.  Is this correct??

Even though I have my own income from disability, it will not be nearly enought to meet the burden of required weekly income over and above housing and council tax.

IF, however, all of her benefits count toward what is needed to meet the weekly maintenance amount, then between us, we have enough to make the requirement.

Please, can some kind soul help with this???

Cheers,
~Teddy

Hi I have a few questions.  I think its best if I start at the beginning.

In Summer 2009 my sons girlfriend came over from armerica who he had met on the internet.

In October 2009 she came over to stay for six months in britian she stayed with us, she went back to the United states in April 2010 having overstayed her visa by a couple of weeks because a volcano erupted and she had no money to get back she had to get a federal loan from the american embassy to get back.

My son travelled to the United states in July 2010 to get married and they now have a child together who was born in November 2010.

My son has applied for and successfully got a british passport for his daughter so she is now classed as a british citizen.

They now want to apply for a marriage visa so that they can live together over here.

My son is renting a three bedroom house, he is full time employed and his salary net is about 1040 pounds a month, he dosen't have any savings apart from what is earmarked for the visa.

His rent is 500 pound a month and his council tax is about 60 pound a month if I have read your thread correctly it would seem that although he just about has the 100 pounds a week or so for him and his wife he does not have enough to include his daughter as well.

He has been trying to get third party support but having initially said that she would support him his manager has not been forthcoming with her financial documents.

the problem is this his wifes mother is making her homeless on 15th of june  so time is running out for her to apply for and get the visa, if he was to apply as the sole sponsor what would his chances be and also would the fact that she overstayed her visitors visa slightly and the fact that she was refused entry into the untied kingdom in November  affect there application.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Yours concerned grandmother pads (british nan ) xx

Just to Clarify

Husband My son british citizen
Wife American Citizen
Daughter dual American UK citizen thanks x