Fiance Visa Financial Requirement Issues

My partner and I have decided the next step in our life is marriage after my non-visa visit of six months. We meet all basic requirements for the fiance visa except for the financial part. The minimum is £18,600 a year, but we do not need to meet this income requirement due to my partner taking care of his grandmother on carer's allowance/universal credit. However, for the adequate maintenance and accommodation financial requirement, we need £114.85 according to Income Support. We do not meet this financial requirement either, so we have thought of other ways to meet the adequate maintenance and accommodation financial requirement.

With carer's allowance/universal credit we get £94.50 each week. I also had a savings account prior to my visit with money for more than six months, I now have $430 left of that, which can get us to around £107. Can that be used to get us closer to the requirement? My boyfriend is also a streamer on twitch as an independent contractor (not self employed according to twitch terms and conditions, but many say it is technically self employed) since May 11th, 2018, which we started to earn money from that could make us meet the income requirement. Since the service requires you to withdraw $100 or more at a time, this means we have not been paid out for all of the months we have been streaming, but, the money was still stored and has been getting paid out since August 17th, 2018 due to it's 45 day processing time. Can this be counted as a source of income as well?

A couple of last questions I have:

If we cannot meet either of the financial requirements, what happens then? The .gov.uk site suggests: "If you do not meet the requirement, you may be able to settle in 10 years." Does this mean the visa can still be issued, I would just have to keep applying over and over again?

How can I show proof of his carer's allowance/universal credit? All I have are the payslip print out pages from online universal credit login on the .gov.uk website. Can these just be printed out? Or do I have to print bank statements to show that proof and have it stamped by the bank?

How would I show that my savings have been held for 6 months or longer? How do they calculate this?

What would you recommend so that we can stay together as much as possible?

I've also noted that here: newcomer link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636618/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_Final.pdf [nonactive] exceptional circumstances can be applied, but does that work for the adequate maintenance and accommodation requirement too? Or does this just mean that the exceptional circumstances money would have to make up the £18,600?

Welcome to the forum hanako. 

Something else to take into consideration is the actual cost of the visas themselves plus the mandatory healthcare surcharge.
We've been advising people to budget  £10,000 + over the 5 years to citizenship.

I understand that your fiancé looks after his grandmother but if alternative arrangements could be made for her care, the better option might be for him to join you in the US where the process is cheaper and the financial requirements easier to meet.

Is he able to reduce the costs of his living situation to boost the adequate maintenance calculation?

The 10 year path is only approved when there is a UK citizen child involved.  And we have yet to even see someone with a UKC child approved if not already in the UK on a visa.

Welcome to the forum hanako. 

Something else to take into consideration is the actual cost of the visas themselves plus the mandatory healthcare surcharge.
We've been advising people to budget  £10,000 + over the 5 years to citizenship.

I understand that your fiancé looks after his grandmother but if alternative arrangements could be made for her care, the better option might be for him to join you in the US where the process is cheaper and the financial requirements easier to meet.

This is a silly advice to give.
If the applicant meets the requirements for the 10 year route, which we simply do not know if she does or not from this post, as there is not enough info,  she would be able to waive FLR FP and IHS fees.

***
Disclaimer: I am a Level 3 OISC advisor and so my opinions are informed by knowledge of the law and years of practice. Yet, no opinion given without detailed review of an individual case should be taken or treated as competent legal advice.

I've also noted that here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636618/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_Final.pdf exceptional circumstances can be applied, but does that work for the adequate maintenance and accommodation requirement too? Or does this just mean that the exceptional circumstances money would have to make up the £18,600?

(SIGH)

you have it am a bit mixed up.

1) you need to meet smth called Adequate maintenance requirement so read guidance called "adequate maintenance and accommodation". 114 per week doesnt sound right, I think for a childless couple it is about 133 or so, because there is a couple premium.
This is AFTER housing costs and council tax (although most of the sponsors in this situation will be on housing benefit and council tax support).
The only other thing you can throw in would be some non-employment income or obviously your own income if you legally work.

2) 10-year route. This is sort of hard. To put it very briefly, there is very little chance to meet a requirements of being able to apply on a 10-year route for you, because you need to meet requirements of apendix EX.1. either a british child under 18 OR sponsor unable to leave the UK for compelling reasons. It is very hard to imagine reasons sponsor is unable to move to the UK as far as HO sees it. BUT depending on teh nature of your mother'in-law's condition, maybe if it is so unique that her needs cannot be met in any other way than him caring for her or he possesses some special skills and there arent any other family members.... you can try. If you meet para EX.1 of appendix FM there is no financial requirement and no adequate maintenance requirement.

In my practice of 5 years I have never seen a case where I judged that appendix EX1 could be evoked where there was no British child, but theoretically it is a possibility but please do not take it for granted.

***
Disclaimer: I am a Level 3 OISC advisor and so my opinions are informed by knowledge of the law and years of practice. Yet, no opinion given without detailed review of an individual case should be taken or treated as competent legal advice.

This is a silly advice to give.
If the applicant meets the requirements for the 10 year route, which we simply do not know if she does or not from this post, as there is not enough info,  she would be able to waive FLR FP and IHS fees.

***
Disclaimer: I am a Level 3 OISC advisor and so my opinions are informed by knowledge of the law and years of practice. Yet, no opinion given without detailed review of an individual case should be taken or treated as competent legal advice.

I don't think it's silly at all to point out the reality of the situation and provide alternative suggestions for hanako to consider.

I think that suggesting that they may have free access to the 10 year route is unrealistic and likely to get their hopes up in vain.