Renewing Spousal Visa but my spouse is in a teacher training program

Hi all!

Looking for some advice on our situation. When I applied for my initial spousal visa my husband was a police officer. I have applied and am still waiting to get my nursing license transferred over from the states. He decided to change careers just this past September and is now a student in a teacher training program. We are living with his very generous parents until we both get permanent employment and are able to buy or rent a house.

My spousal visa is expiring this September. And we are both panicking a little as we don't meet the spousal visa means testing requirements (minimum income of £18600). I'm already applying like crazy to any entry level job I can get while I am waiting for my nursing license application. Come September my husband will have a job but we are very concerned about my visa application getting rejected. Does anyone have any advice about our situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Mrs Kelly.

I believe I have read here on the forum, that if the couple are unable to meet the financial requirement for FLR, they are then put on the 10 year path to settlement?
This is by no means ideal though and would totally be a last resort.

Hopefully you will be able to secure a job paying the required amount soon but  obviously the clock is ticking on that.

Are either set of parents in a position to gift you 62,500gbp so that you could use the savings route?

I believe I have read here on the forum, that if the couple are unable to meet the financial requirement for FLR, they are then put on the 10 year path to settlement?
This is by no means ideal though and would totally be a last resort.

Yes, this is correct - if you can't meet the financial requirement, then you can apply for the 10-year path to settlement, though it's based on Article 8: Right to Family Life in the UK and is more of a courtesy/loophole to keep your family together if you can't qualify for the proper visa than anything else (it replaced the Discretionary Leave to Remain visa).

Hopefully you will be able to secure a job paying the required amount soon but  obviously the clock is ticking on that.

If your husband will have a job by September and it will pay over £18,600, then you might be able to qualify under Category B, but you would have had to have earned between you at least £18,600 before tax between Sept 2015 and Sept 2016.

So, any income (employment or non-employment) you each can make between now and September would be advantageous, even if it's just entry-level, minimum wage work.

Does your husband receive any government maintenance grant or stipend for his teacher training course?

If he does, you could include this towards meeting the £18,600 earned in the last 12 months for Category B.

Thank you ksand24 and larrabee for your advice.

My husband has calculated that over the year of his course he will get £12,112 (student loan and bursary). I will hopefully get a job sorted soon.

When you said 'non-employment' would that include a gift of money to my account from parents/other family members?

I am hoping that in the next few months we will be able to find the other £6500.

No problem.

Your husband can't count any student loans towards the requirements... Only tax-free student grants or stipends (because loans aren't income)... So you will need to subtract any student loan he receives from the £12,112.

No, a gift of money won't count under non-employment income - that income can only be from:
- rental income from property you own
- interest from stocks/shares/dividends
- maintenance grant or stipend (not a loan) for university
- child maintenance from a previous partner
- maternity or bereavement pay
- payments from War Pension or Armed Forces schemes
- interest from savings
- insurance payments
- legal settlement payments
- royalty payments

Gifts of money from family members would come under Cash Savings and can be considered, but the first £16,000 of savings are not counted and then you need on top of that 2.5 times the difference between the 12 months of income and £18,600... So say you had £12,000 in income over the 12 months, you would need £32,500 in savings, held in your account in full for 6 months, to meet the second part of the requirement, along with your husband's job paying £18,600 or more.


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See the financial requirements document for what can be considered under each category and how they can be combined:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/469692/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_August_2015.pdf


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