Advisory: New maintenance rules for spouses

There's some heretofore unpublished material now exposed at http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/partners-families/citizens-settled/spouse-cp/documents/maintenance/

People applying for spouse/fiance visas should be examining this material with a view towards compliance.

Of course at first sight it appears to be outside the Pankina decision and thus challengable, but truly peeps, leave that to somebody else.

Forum seniors are asked to give this page a read and add it to advice.

"All evidence must cover the period of your relationship, and particularly the immediate period before you make your application."

Can they really be asking for years of bank statements?

"All evidence must cover the period of your relationship, and particularly the immediate period before you make your application."

Can they really be asking for years of bank statements?

I can see that quickly becoming a problem for those of us that have been married for years and living outside the UK.

"All evidence must cover the period of your relationship, and particularly the immediate period before you make your application."

Can they really be asking for years of bank statements?

They can't mean that, surely - who keeps bank statements for that long? And how is it relevant?

That could problematic for a lot of people if years of statements is what they're asking for. Why should it matter what was happening financially 5 years ago? I could understand maybe for the year running up to the application, but otherwise.  

It's going to be fun getting together 4 years worth of statements, when the time comes for me to apply for my UP visa.  2 of those will have to be wrangled out of our banks because I certainly wasn't keeping anything up until we lived together.  

Googling this, it looks like this stuff has been up on the website for a few weeks - at least the part saying "you have to have finance stuff for the whole relationship". Anyone recently been refused for not showing 7 years bank statements?

From the Maintenance requirement link on that page:

You and/or your partner must demonstrate that you and/or they can cover your living expenses in the UK for:
    27 months, if you are applying from outside the UK; or
    2 years, if you are already in the UK and applying to switch from a different immigration category.

Does this mean that you need enough cash funds for the entire 24-27 months, or would potential work account for that?

All evidence must cover the period of your relationship, and particularly the immediate period before you make your application.

What is this supposed to mean exactly?

So they want statements covering the 'period of relationship' - but when does this 'period of relationship' start? If one is applying for a Spousal/FLR(M) is it from when you are married? Started dating? Became engaged?

The 'particularly the immediate period before you make your application', sounds a lot like the previous advice of the last three to six months of statements.

Was just going to post what sukachi  just posted, I guess that support for the length of the visa idea has now been codified.

I just applied for ILE on Sept 14, and I was approved. We've been married for over 7 years. We only provided US bank statements for the last 6months, and UK statements for the last 2.5 months. We also had approx. $19,500 in savings. I also included our taxes for the last 5 years. So I didn't provide documents covering our entire marriage, and the savings level definitely isn't enough to sustain us for 2 years.

So I wonder what rule of thumb they are using to determine who to approve and who not to?

I just applied for ILE on Sept 14, and I was approved. We've been married for over 7 years. We only provided US bank statements for the last 6months, and UK statements for the last 2.5 months. We also had approx. $19,500 in savings. I also included our taxes for the last 5 years. So I didn't provide documents covering our entire marriage, and the savings level definitely isn't enough to sustain us for 2 years.

So I wonder what rule of thumb they are using to determine who to approve and who not to?

This is my thought, too, in a way.

Just for the sake of it, say they keep ILE in the cards after the changes are in place, would we still have to show 27 months worth of funds since we're not ready to apply yet?  Or when it comes time, could we get by with showing just 6 months or more worth because it will be ILE?  Our plan (if possible) is if they keep ILE in place, I was going to apply in Feb/Mar 2012 (by that time, we'll be able to show well over 6 months' worth of fund, but not the 27 months' worth) and then move about July 2012 since we don't have to go by the 2 months rule of entry on a standard spousal visa.

that's plain stupid no one keeps bank statements for that long, I can maybe understand for perhaps a year before but for four years plus in the case of ILE can you imagine how much paper that would be if you got a statement once a month it would be huge. Plus they may also want payslips for that long what about people who have just changed jobs.

As Kenny Everett would say YOU Cannot be serious x

Apparently something has them upset about evidential quality and they are trying to do something about it.

About the 'whole relationship' requirement, even here in UKY we have had lots of people who used a parking strategy to improve their financial picture, and that could be a motivation for them wanting to see a bigger picture.  

I don't condone parking strategies and it saddens me that people resort to them without compunction.  And then brag about it on the net!   But I have no sense if everyone is doing it, or just a handful.

Or they might be wanting to see if the applicant or sponsor has received income from welfare and is channeling these into a different account for the purposes of appearing to be solvent.  But whatever it is *something* has them upset.

And these changes are new.  Moreover, nobody was told and that's *worse* because it affects practitioners in the field.

Having said all that, I don't think it's a good idea to treat these new hurdles in a cavalier way.  Even for Americans.

This is my thought, too, in a way.

Just for the sake of it, say they keep ILE in the cards after the changes are in place, would we still have to show 27 months worth of funds since we're not ready to apply yet?  Or when it comes time, could we get by with showing just 6 months or more worth because it will be ILE?  

I'm wondering this too because we don't quite have the 27 months in savings as it stands.  We may have to liquidate some cash before applying.  However, the 27 months appears to refer to the probationary visas.  I wonder whether they will approve ILE at all without a regular monthly income.

Well that's lovely.

Surely the 27 months they are talking about is just an extension on you showing you have that extra money each week to support yourselves?

What do you mean by parking strategy, Transy? That's a new one on me.