Applying under Cat A or B?

I have to start by apologising if i posted this on the wrong bit. Also to say thanks for all the help in advance.

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light to my situation please.

My husband's visa is due to expire July 13th 2017. We both work and wanted to apply using Cat A initially but due to zero hour contract he does not get regular hours and therefore some months he has no pay. Employer being a bit reluctant to issues letters explaining this and i am soo stuck i just do not know what to do.

I started my job in Sept 2016,part time and salaried but not enough to meet the required amount. Before Sept 2016, i was on SMP from Oct 2015 and before that i was working with the same employer but on a zero hour since 2012.

For my husband he has two zero hour jobs, for one he did not get hours for Mid March, April and May and a few hours in June. The other zero hour he missed work for April and therefore does not have a payslip for May (gets paid in arrears if you know what i mean). He, however, got a permanent job that began this month on the 12th and will be making above the required amount but as we are planning to send this off as soon as possible we can only include the contract not a payslip.

How can we apply under CAT B? How do i calculate the last 12 months payslips? do i include SMP and if yes how do i calculate if i was on SMP between June and July and no pay until Sept 2016 which became salaried?

Please anyone who can advice i appreciate.

I have to start by apologising if i posted this on the wrong bit. Also to say thanks for all the help in advance.

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light to my situation please.

My husband's visa is due to expire July 13th 2017. We both work and wanted to apply using Cat A initially but due to zero hour contract he does not get regular hours and therefore some months he has no pay. Employer being a bit reluctant to issues letters explaining this and i am soo stuck i just do not know what to do.

I started my job in Sept 2016,part time and salaried but not enough to meet the required amount. Before Sept 2016, i was on SMP from Oct 2015 and before that i was working with the same employer but on a zero hour since 2012.

For my husband he has two zero hour jobs, for one he did not get hours for Mid March, April and May and a few hours in June. The other zero hour he missed work for April and therefore does not have a payslip for May (gets paid in arrears if you know what i mean). He, however, got a permanent job that began this month on the 12th and will be making above the required amount but as we are planning to send this off as soon as possible we can only include the contract not a payslip.

How can we apply under CAT B? How do i calculate the last 12 months payslips? do i include SMP and if yes how do i calculate if i was on SMP between June and July and no pay until Sept 2016 which became salaried?

Please anyone who can advice i appreciate.

Cat B as you are relying on his job and he just switched jobs.

Take all the pay sips from the last 12 months and add up the figures, et voila!

As physicskate says, you should be able to qualify under Cat B - as long as your total combined income from the last 12 months is at least £18,600 before tax.

So, you include:

- his new job contract showing a salary of £18,600 before tax

- 12 months of ALL your payslips and bank statements showing a total pre-tax income of £18,600 over those 12 months... this is both your job and his job combined.

Not sure about including SMP... normally, for Cat A, if you have been on SMP in the 6 months prior to applying, they use up to 6 months of your pre-SMP salary in the calculation... but I don't really know how it works for Cat B if you went back to work more than 6 months ago, but less than 12 months ago.

Can i just say you guys are awesome!  That was a very speedy reply! 

In regards to SMP as i am going back to June and only got SMP until July 2016 that is two months but even with that at 12 months payslips from date to last year our income combined is above the required £18,600. Just was not sure whether i add each payslip or have to use those calculations they provide as mine is salaried and his is/was non salaried.

His new job we are waiting for the contract as he only just started! His annual will be above the required amount but waiting to see if he is on salaried or non salaried! Its one of those complicated roles that i just cannot predict as he is paid per hour but has set amount of days he does (he is a security officer). If all fails i saw he and i can combine our salary to meet part 1 of cat B.

Am i wrong in thinking that?

One more thing, because of his past zero hour jobs, some months he did not work (hence going under cat b variable income) so will not have payslips for April 2017 as they do not issue payslips for zero pay. His employer wrote a letter stating that ..am guessing that is sufficient?

For Cat B, it doesn't matter how you were paid - all that matters is the TOTAL pay from any and all jobs held in that period. You could have been unemployed for most of it and then earned £18,600 in 3 months and it wouldn't matter.

Therefore there is no need to explain gaps in payslips - he could have 1 payslip for the whole year and it wouldn't matter as long as the total earnings was £18,600.

For his new job, it doesn't matter if it's salaried or non-salaried, as long as it will pay at least £18,600 per year and the hours/hourly wage or annual salary is listed on the job contract. He should also send a letter from the employer confirming the job offer/contract and total pay.


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Thank you soo much Ksand...i will keep you all posted on how it goes. Its soo stressful but with all your help you have just made it soo much better. Thank God for this forum and thank you all for giving your time. 

Hey all,

We got the letter from the new employer. They have listed the details down as follows:

Date of work commencing: june 2017
Hourly rate: £15
Average weekly hours: 48
Contract type: PAYE

We got his first payslip from the new job but its wrong! :-( so challenging.

I also have my job which is part time and salaried and have had it since sept 2016!

Can we apply using cat b still? I read the appendix fm 1.7 and its soo confusing.

Thanks

Contract type: PAYE

I'm confused - PAYE is not a type of contract, it's the method by which he pays income tax and National Insurance (as opposed to filing taxes each year)

The contract type should be along the lines of: permanent, temporary, full-time, part-time, fixed-term contract etc.

Can we apply using cat b still? I read the appendix fm 1.7 and its soo confusing.

You have no choice but to apply under Category B.

You will not qualify under Category A until he has been at his new job for at least 6 months AND you have 6 full months of payslips and bank statements from the new job.

And since his visa expires in a couple of weeks, you don't have time to qualify under Category A.

For Category B, you have to meet two requirements:

1) He has a job paying at least £18,600 per year (before tax), but he has not been with his current employer for 6 months yet

AND

2) Between you, you have earned at least £18,600 before tax in total over the last 12 months

So, you have to provide:

- his new job contract
- the letter from his current employer
- 12 full months of original payslips from any and all jobs he and/or you have held in the last 12 months
- 12 full months of original bank statements showing the deposit of every single payslip you are providing

If he has any (correct) payslips from his new job at the time of applying, then you should include those too, along with the bank statement showing the deposit of the payslip(s).

I did point this out the PAYE as it did not make sense to me at all. Its such a shame because if he held this job six months prior we would just use his job under category A.

I will email his HR manager on his behalf.

Thanks

I did point this out the PAYE as it did not make sense to me at all. Its such a shame because if he held this job six months prior we would just use his job under category A.

It's really not that much different - you're just providing 12 months of payslips and bank statements instead of 6 months.

It almost makes things easier, because they can be stricter with the calculation of his income under Category A - especially as he is non-salaried and paid by the hour.

Sometimes when people have the choice to apply under either Category A or Category B (i.e. if they have variable income each month or they have recently received a promotion), they choose Cat B because it's easier.

Oh i see what you mean. The HR manager changed it to Permanent. Do i need to work out the calculation or will the Caseworker do all that? I have attached 12 months payslips and bank statements (June 2016 to June 2017).

My husband queried his pay so hopefully that will be rectified. I hope to send everything off by 30th June.

Oh i see what you mean. The HR manager changed it to Permanent. Do i need to work out the calculation or will the Caseworker do all that? I have attached 12 months payslips and bank statements (June 2016 to June 2017).

The calculation I was referring to is not relevant for Category B.

For Category B, all you have to do is add up all the payslips from the 12 months and make sure that they come to £18,600 or more BEFORE tax.

However, if you were using Category A the calculation would be as follows:

a) For salaried employment:
-  they take the lowest payslip amount from the 6 months and multiply it by 12 to get the total annual salary. So, in order to qualify, every single payslip must be at least £1,550 before tax (£1,550 x 12 = £18,600)

b) For non-salaried employment:
- they add up all the payslips from the 6 months, divide by 6 and multiply by 12 to get the average income over 1 year. This figure must be at least £18,600.

We had someone refused under Category A recently because UKVI calculated their income as salaried because that's what the employer letter said it was.. but actually, they were non-salaried.

Although they qualified for the visa using calculation b) for non-salaried employment, UKVi used calculation a)... and because the lowest payslip was £1,275, it was determined they didn't qualify for the visa, even though they did!

Oh no! That sucks to be denied for the wrong category.

Ok so to clarify..last 12 months payslips all add up to over £18,600 from both mine and his job.

His new job will be over the £18,600 and combined with mine we are looking at over £35,000 anyway. My employer provided me with a letter of employment showing my salary etc so i will include it.
I guess what i was asking is for his entry spousal visa, i used cat A and did the calculations on the form but since using Cat B ..shall i work it out for the caseworker (add up all the 12 month payslips) or just provide the paperwork and let them do it?

Still waiting for his contract..would that be a problem if we dont have in time to send it but have the letter of employment sent today?

Also do we meet part one of Cat B from what i will be providing?

Thanks Ks...

Oh no! That sucks to be denied for the wrong category.

Ok so to clarify..last 12 months payslips all add up to over £18,600 from both mine and his job.

Yes, that's correct.

His new job will be over the £18,600 and combined with mine we are looking at over £35,000 anyway. My employer provided me with a letter of employment showing my salary etc so i will include it.

No, don't include a letter from your employer. It will only complicate the application.

For future income, since he will be earning over £18,600, you ONLY need to rely on his new job, so just send his contract (and employer letter).

You're only using your income to show total earnings over the previous 12 months, and you don't need to provide an employer letter for that.

If you use your income as well to meet the future income, you will have to send ALL of your employment information too, which is not necessary.

I guess what i was asking is for his entry spousal visa, i used cat A and did the calculations on the form but since using Cat B ..shall i work it out for the caseworker (add up all the 12 month payslips) or just provide the paperwork and let them do it?

On the application form, just write down the total amount you get when you add them up (in the box that asks for the total earnings over the 12 months).

They will then add the payslips up themselves and check that they get the same number.

Still waiting for his contract..would that be a problem if we dont have in time to send it but have the letter of employment sent today?

Also do we meet part one of Cat B from what i will be providing?

Since he has only just started the job and only has 1 payslip so far, you need the official, signed contract.

Normally the 6 months of payslips and bank statements, along with the employer letter, are enough, but in his case, it's the contract that is most important (the letter is just an additional suggestion for you to send, along with the contract, to confirm the information on the contract).