List of documents: Tier 5 to FLR(M) w financial exemption

My premium appointment is on June 26. Can you help me get my house in order? Here's what I have, along with what I need help with:

"Unique" things about our application:
My spouse is disabled and unemployed. We are applying with an exemption from the financial requirement because my spouse receives Personal Independence Payment. They are trans non-binary and changed their name through deed poll, so I'm including their birth certificate and name change document, at the advice of someone else on this forum, regarding trans partners.
My visa is a Tier 5 Temporary Worker Charity Migrant visa. I've come the the UK on 5 visas throughout my life, in 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. I put in the application that I first entered the UK, that I have lived in the UK for 4 years, 10 months, and then explained that I was gone for 3 years because I left when my first visa ended. I expect to be called up to explain this. It's not false, it's just the best way I could describe it within the form.

FLR (M) Form, filled out, but do I need to include the Payment Guidance and Payment Details if I have paid for the application, IHS, and appointment online? In what order should the following receipts go:
Appointment Booking Checklist
Payment confirmation receipt for 1643.00 GBP printed from Gov.uk website
Payment confirmation email for application
Completion confirmation email for Immigration health surcharge with reference number
Payment confirmation email for Immigration health surcharge
The rest of the application form

*2 passport photos of me
*1 passport photo of my spouse
*My current passport
*My previous passport (with previous entry visas)
*My current BRP card

*Our marriage certificate
*My spouse's birth certificate
*My spouse's deed poll name change certificate

*My spouse's Personal Independence Payment letter with weekly rate
*My spouse's Employment and Support Allowance Letter with 2-weekly rate
*My spouse's Housing Benefit letter from council with weekly rate
*Letter from my sponsor/employer confirming my length of employment, explanation of what I receive (room, board, and living allowance) confirming my annual allowance, my monthly allowance, and how long I have been paid at this rate. The letter also provides explanation for why I appear to live both at the housing provided for me and with my spouse. The letter also confirms the authenticity of my payslips
*7 payslips going back to November (I know only 6 are needed, but the last one had a screwup when they tried to put my new address on it, so the address is wrong, and I was worried it wouldn't count)

*2 bank statements from our joint account, going back to January when I joined the account, confirming both my salary going into the count and our shared address
*3 bank statements from my individual account, going back to November when the payslips are dated, to confirm the salary going into my account and acting as confirmation of my address
*Tenancy Agreement
*letter from estate agent confirming my tenancy and the date I signed the lease (they kind of yanked us around, LOST our tenancy agreement when they sent it overseas for the landlord to sign, until we marched into the office to demand a copy, so I wanted to make double sure that I have proof here)
*2 water bills with both our names on it as evidence of our shared address
*Dentist appointment letter addressed to me
*GP Record with my name and address
*Letter from hospital with spouse's name and address
*Letter from Job Centre Plus with spouse's name and address

Copies
*Full copies of both my passports (annoying that my current passport has 51 pages! I renewed it from the UK and didn't ask for the extra pages!)
*Copy of photo page of spouse's passport
*Copy of BRP card
*Copies of all additional documents (for the Tenancy Agreement, I just copied the *first page with our names listed and the pages that we both signed)

I'm taking the following things with me just in case but not including them in the application:
*previous BRP card and copy
*Proof of address from when I ordered a National Rail Card on it. It's the only other *piece of post I've got!
*Copy of my birth certificate (because I had it)
*Black and white copy of my passport
*Letter from when we gave notice and I didn't have to be investigated by the Home Office
*4 photos of my spouse and I together with locations and dates, our first date 2015, picture from Ash Wednesday 2016, picture from our vacation to Oregon August 2017, and picture of our civil ceremony December 2017

Are you using your spouses income of adequate maintenance to qualify or your employment income?

It’s very unclear...

It's might be easier if you used the same thread to help people see what you have already said.

 

Are you using your spouses income of adequate maintenance to qualify or your employment income?

It’s very unclear...

From froregon's other threads, she hasn't been on visas that allow her to work in the UK. just to volunteer, and her sponsor has had their licence suspended. Nor do they have savings. It's reading like it will have to be the "adequate maintenance" way.

Are you using your spouses income of adequate maintenance to qualify or your employment income?

It’s very unclear...

My spouse's benefits is what we're using, but I'm including my volunteer living allowance just to make sure we clear it by plenty. Since I've been working there over six months, it should be taken into account, right? You can combine income when you're applying with earned income, right?

My spouse's benefits is what we're using, but I'm including my volunteer living allowance just to make sure we clear it by plenty. Since I've been working there over six months, it should be taken into account, right? You can combine income when you're applying with earned income, right?

I don't know how it works if claiming in the income exemption, honestly.  I don't think we've had anyone in that situation before.

If your spouse passes the adequate maintenance without your income, do NOT include your income for the application.  Have you items with you at the appointment, but don't hand them over.  They want as little to review as possible.  Remember, it's a tick box visa.  You don't get a bigger tick or a better tick for meeting the requirement in more than one way.  Pick the category you are applying under and stick with it. 

I don't know how it works if claiming in the income exemption, honestly.  I don't think we've had anyone in that situation before.

Plus, can an "allowance" be counted as earned income? The Charity Worker visa that  froregon seems to have been using, states-


You can’t:

    receive any payment for work

https://www.gov.uk/tier-5-temporary-worker-charity-worker-visa



ksand knows the formula to work out if a spouse has "adequate maintenance" to sponsor.

ksand knows the formula to work out if a spouse has "adequate maintenance" to sponsor.

Yep, in order to meet the 'adequate maintenance' requirement, your sponsor has to show that they have at least as much left over each week after paying rent and council tax as a UK couple would receive in income support from the government.

The current amount that a UK couple receives in income support each week is = £114.85.

So you have to be able to show that:

Your spouse's weekly income from benefits and any employment - (any rent and council tax they pay) = £114.85 or more

How much do they receive in benefits and do they pay any rent or council tax?

They will need to provide:
- their Personal Independence Payment letter with weekly rate
- their Employment and Support Allowance Letter with 2-weekly rate
- their Housing Benefit letter from council with weekly rate
- at least 1 of their bank statements from the last 12 months showing the money being paid in

I would not recommend that you provide any payslips or bank statements, especially considering that you are not allowed to undertake any paid employment in the UK on your Tier 5 visa, so you cannot contribute to 'employment income', and as far as I can see your allowance cannot be considered non-employment income either.

Yep, in order to meet the 'adequate maintenance' requirement, your sponsor has to show that they have at least as much left over each week after paying rent and council tax as a UK couple would receive in income support from the government.

The current amount that a UK couple receives in income support each week is = £114.85.

So you have to be able to show that:

Your spouse's weekly income from benefits and any employment - (any rent and council tax they pay) = £114.85 or more

How much do they receive in benefits and do they pay any rent or council tax?

They will need to provide:
- their Personal Independence Payment letter with weekly rate
- their Employment and Support Allowance Letter with 2-weekly rate
- their Housing Benefit letter from council with weekly rate
- at least 1 of their bank statements from the last 12 months showing the money being paid in

I would not recommend that you provide any payslips or bank statements, especially considering that you are not allowed to undertake any paid employment in the UK on your Tier 5 visa, so you cannot contribute to 'employment income', and as far as I can see your allowance cannot be considered non-employment income either.

All of this!

Plus, can an "allowance" be counted as earned income? The Charity Worker visa that  froregon seems to have been using, states-


You can’t:

    receive any payment for work

https://www.gov.uk/tier-5-temporary-worker-charity-worker-visa

This is what's bothering me.  I don't see how just calling it an "allowance" would deem it not to be payment for the work carried out?

This is what's bothering me.  I don't see how just calling it an "allowance" would deem it not to be payment for the work carried out?

Well, the Tier 5 policy guidance does state they can be given expenses for subsistence and accommodation... however, this is not considered to be ‘income’, and therefore cannot be counted as such to meet the requirements for a spousal visa/FLR(M).

So the issue here is not that the OP is receiving the money in the first place, it’s that they cannot use that money as ‘income’ towards the adequate maintenance requirement for FLR(M)... because they are not ‘employed’ by their sponsor (in the sense of paid employment) and the money they receive is not a salary or payment for work done.

Not to mention that, in order to use either employment or non-employment income for the FLR(M) requirements, you have to show that it will continue for the foreseeable future... however, this will not be possible, because as soon as the FLR(M) is issued, the Tier 5 visa will be cancelled and the OP will presumably no longer be able to receive that allowance.

From the policy guidance:

Charity workers
116. This category is for those wanting to undertake unpaid voluntary fieldwork
which contributes directly to the achievement or advancement of the sponsor’s charitable purpose in the UK.

117. Voluntary field work ”is defined as activities which would not normally be offered at a waged or salaried rate and which contribute directly to the achievement or advancement of the sponsor’s charitable purpose. It does not include work ancillary to the sponsor’s charitable purpose including, for example, routine back office administrative roles, retail or other sales roles, fund-raising roles and roles involved in the maintenance of the sponsor’s offices and other assets.

118. This category cannot be used to temporarily fill a position which is required on a permanent basis.

119. In assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship, the sponsor will have guaranteed that you:
- will be undertaking voluntary fieldwork which contributes directly to the achievement or advancement of the sponsor’s charitable purpose
- will not receive any form of payment of remuneration, including benefits in kind, (except reasonable expenses outlined in section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act at www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/39/section/44A)
- will not be filling a permanent position, including on a temporary basis
- will comply with the conditions of your permission to stay and leave the United Kingdom when it expires.

And Section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act states:

44 Voluntary workers.

(1)A worker employed by a charity, a voluntary organisation, an associated fund-raising body or a statutory body does not qualify for the national minimum wage in respect of that employment if he receives, and under the terms of his employment (apart from this Act) is entitled to,—

(a)no monetary payments of any description, or no monetary payments except in respect of expenses—
(i)actually incurred in the performance of his duties; or
(ii)reasonably estimated as likely to be or to have been so incurred;
and
(b)no benefits in kind of any description, or no benefits in kind other than the provision of some or all of his subsistence or of such accommodation as is reasonable in the circumstances of the employment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh man. OK, I have to pull out and reprint a bunch of stuff for the application then. My spouse also got an adjustment on their ESA this month, so we have to print/copy that out again. That's the page I kept screwing up and having to reprint 1000 times because I kept writing the numbers in the wrong box.

This is what's bothering me.  I don't see how just calling it an "allowance" would deem it not to be payment for the work carried out?

We don't know what it was that triggered the visit from UKVI to the sponsor, or what they saw that made them suspend their licence, pending further investiagions.

What triggered the investigation was likely that the job that I do is equal to a paid job, not the fact that I get compensation (equal to 2.40 per hour). I work 40 hours, do personal care, get training.

The allowance is a living allowance. So I can get the bus, buy toiletries, replace worn shoes, save up for a meager holiday on the days I'm given off. If you brought someone from another country to work for you and gave them a place to stay and food, but they couldn't afford to take a bus to get away from community living for a while, that would be too mentally taxing and you'd have a bunch of high strung foreigners on your hands.

I'm not here in this forum to defend my sponsor though, I'm here to make my spouse my sponsor.

If I have two bank statements with both our names on them, but they are in the "financial" section, will they be clever enough to recognize them as doubling as correspondence or should I make copies and list 2 more pieces of correspondence?

If I have two bank statements with both our names on them, but they are in the "financial" section, will they be clever enough to recognize them as doubling as correspondence or should I make copies and list 2 more pieces of correspondence?

When you hand your documents over tell them they are also part of your correspondence.  Or put a post it on them.