I'm just a bit worried because I get Carer's Allowance and apparently that waives the requirement of having to earn £18,680? I'm afraid it would make it very complicated.
Don't panic - there's nothing to worry about and it doesn't make it very complicated at all - in fact, it may make your application much easier, because you don't have to meet all the strict new financial rules, you can just apply almost as if you were applying under the old immigration rules, which are much simpler.
The introduction of the £18,600 minimum salary requirement in 2012 made the application much more complicated and meant that a good percentage of people could no longer qualify for the visa - I bet there are many people here who only wish they could be exempt from the financial requirement!
If you had to meet the £18,600 requirement:
- only your income can count (the UK citizen's)
- the US citizen's income cannot count at all
- you must have been earning at least £18,600 for 6 months or more
- if you want to use savings to make up the salary to £18,600, the first £16,000 of savings do not count and then you need 2.5 times the difference and the savings must have been in your account for at least 6 months.
If you are exempt from meeting the £18,600 requirement:
- you need evidence of your DLA and at least 1 bank statement from the last 12 months showing it was paid into your account
- you just need to show you have 'enough' money to live off without the US citizen accessing public funds
- you can use your joint income if your husband's US income will continue in the UK (but you can't rely on a job offer or prospective employment for him)
- you can use any savings you have between you, no minimum required.
UKVI define 'enough money' as:
- you have at least as much left over each week after paying rent and council tax as a UK family of the same size would receive in income support from the government.
This amount is £113.70 for the couple plus £66.33 per child, per week. If you have 3 children, then this comes to = £113.70 + (66.33 * 3) = £312.69 left per week after paying rent and council tax. Per month, this equates to £1,354.99, or £16,259.88 per year.
So, if you can show you have rent + council tax + £1.354.99 per month in income, you will meet the requirement for the visa.
Presumably they need paper proof of texts, photos etc?
For relationship evidence, you just include:
- your marriage certificate (if you are already married when you apply)
- 1 or 2 photos of you together
- any boarding passes you have from trips to see each other
- cards/letters you might have sent to each other
- a screenshot or two of your email inbox and/or Skype call log showing a selection of your email subject lines and dates/times and dates of calls (no actual email/call/text content should be included, just dates and times).
