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Topic: Northern Ireland citizen - finance, accommodation & Irish port of entry  (Read 605 times)

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Hello All,

New member to the website here. Apologies in advance if this particular scenario has been posted before, I tried using the search tool but couldn't find anything relevant to all of my queries, so here we go...

I was born and currently live in Northern Ireland (27 years old), and I have dual British/Irish citizenship. I currently possess an Irish passport. My American wife & I got married one month ago in USA after 7 beautiful years of long distance dating! Since then we have obtained an apostille for the American marriage certificate, and we're now ready to begin the UK spouse visa application, with the intent for her to move to Northern Ireland in August 2019.

We have sought guidance from the UK Gov website, and also the Spouse UK Visa guide from migrate.org.uk which has proven very useful.

Financial Requirements

I will be sponsoring my wife's application. As per the financial requirements, I have an annual income above the £18,600 amount, from a permanent full time salaried employment under an engineering company. I've been employed for 3 years.

My concern is this: The Home Office calculates the sponsor's gross annual income via two possible methods -

Method 1
If the UK partner receives their salary monthly, they multiply the lowest payment received in the 6 months prior to the application by 12.

This is the income from salaried employment that can be counted towards the financial requirement.

Method 2
With this method, the financial requirement must be met and evidenced in two parts.

Part 1: The gross annual salary will be as it is on the date of application
If the UK partner receives their salary every month, they multiply the last salary received by 12.

Part 2: The UK partner must have received in the past 12 months prior to the date of application more than the financial requirement that applies to them.
This is the income from salaried employment that can be counted towards the financial requirement.


While my monthly gross salary is above the required amount for an annual £18,600, I took 3 weeks of unpaid leave in November (within the last 6 months) for a holiday trip. Consequently, the monthly payslip for that time was well below the monthly amount to have an annual £18,600 gross salary in accordance with Method 1. Can someone please confirm that if I provide 12 months of payslips, that the Home Office will use Method 2 and therefore satisfy the financial requirement?

Accommodation Requirements

My wife & I will be living at my parents' home for the first 6 months of her arrival to the UK.

From some online reading, it appears that we will need to produce:
   • a signed letter from the property owner that we are permitted to stay,
   • evidence that the home-owner actually owns the home (e.g. title deeds),
   • a Housing Report for the property to satisfy that the home isn't overcrowded.

Can someone please confirm that a Housing Report (and subsequently a chartered surveyor inspection) is required for the visa application?

Alternatively, I currently give a monthly standing order payment to my parents as a contribution toward household costs/rent; while I haven't signed a contract of rental agreement, would it be simpler, and could it be easier to pursue the accommodation requirements under rental terms, and therefore only require a letter from the landlord, i.e. my parents? My thought process is that this would remove the need for a Housing Report.

Application Form

The application form asks for the applicant to record the last 5 trips to the UK. For these trips, my then-girlfriend will have travelled to Belfast via entry from Dublin airport, and therefore have an Irish stamp on her US passport. I have assumed that due to the common travel agreement between the UK and Republic of Ireland, that these trips are considered as applicable for UK trips within this part of the application form and should be recorded. Is this a sensible assumption?

Supporting Documents for Submittal

My wife will be completing the visa application from outside the UK, and therefore attending an appointment in the US in due course to complete the identification processes for the Biometric Residence Permit, followed by submitting the application and scanned supporting documents.

Can someone clarify that with the exception of the applicant's passport, all other supporting documentation can be scanned and isn't required to be an original document? Examples are letters from home-owner/landlord, proof of accommodation ownership, payslips, letters of support.

Any other watch-it's or tips relevant to a Northern Irish resident with British/Irish dual nationality will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much everyone, this forum looks like an incredible resource and full of wonderful help.

Best wishes,
Keith


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Hello All,

New member to the website here.

Best wishes,
Keith
Welcome .. congratulations on your marriage. Best of luck with your visa process. This is a wonderful forum to be on


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Found My Soulmate 12/2017
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Hello All,

New member to the website here. Apologies in advance if this particular scenario has been posted before, I tried using the search tool but couldn't find anything relevant to all of my queries, so here we go...

I was born and currently live in Northern Ireland (27 years old), and I have dual British/Irish citizenship. I currently possess an Irish passport. My American wife & I got married one month ago in USA after 7 beautiful years of long distance dating! Since then we have obtained an apostille for the American marriage certificate, and we're now ready to begin the UK spouse visa application, with the intent for her to move to Northern Ireland in August 2019.

We have sought guidance from the UK Gov website, and also the Spouse UK Visa guide from migrate.org.uk which has proven very useful.

Financial Requirements

I will be sponsoring my wife's application. As per the financial requirements, I have an annual income above the £18,600 amount, from a permanent full time salaried employment under an engineering company. I've been employed for 3 years.

My concern is this: The Home Office calculates the sponsor's gross annual income via two possible methods -

Method 1
If the UK partner receives their salary monthly, they multiply the lowest payment received in the 6 months prior to the application by 12.

This is the income from salaried employment that can be counted towards the financial requirement.

Method 2
With this method, the financial requirement must be met and evidenced in two parts.

Part 1: The gross annual salary will be as it is on the date of application
If the UK partner receives their salary every month, they multiply the last salary received by 12.

Part 2: The UK partner must have received in the past 12 months prior to the date of application more than the financial requirement that applies to them.
This is the income from salaried employment that can be counted towards the financial requirement.


While my monthly gross salary is above the required amount for an annual £18,600, I took 3 weeks of unpaid leave in November (within the last 6 months) for a holiday trip. Consequently, the monthly payslip for that time was well below the monthly amount to have an annual £18,600 gross salary in accordance with Method 1. Can someone please confirm that if I provide 12 months of payslips, that the Home Office will use Method 2 and therefore satisfy the financial requirement?

Accommodation Requirements

My wife & I will be living at my parents' home for the first 6 months of her arrival to the UK.

From some online reading, it appears that we will need to produce:
   • a signed letter from the property owner that we are permitted to stay,
   • evidence that the home-owner actually owns the home (e.g. title deeds),
   • a Housing Report for the property to satisfy that the home isn't overcrowded.

Can someone please confirm that a Housing Report (and subsequently a chartered surveyor inspection) is required for the visa application?

Alternatively, I currently give a monthly standing order payment to my parents as a contribution toward household costs/rent; while I haven't signed a contract of rental agreement, would it be simpler, and could it be easier to pursue the accommodation requirements under rental terms, and therefore only require a letter from the landlord, i.e. my parents? My thought process is that this would remove the need for a Housing Report.

Application Form

The application form asks for the applicant to record the last 5 trips to the UK. For these trips, my then-girlfriend will have travelled to Belfast via entry from Dublin airport, and therefore have an Irish stamp on her US passport. I have assumed that due to the common travel agreement between the UK and Republic of Ireland, that these trips are considered as applicable for UK trips within this part of the application form and should be recorded. Is this a sensible assumption?

Supporting Documents for Submittal

My wife will be completing the visa application from outside the UK, and therefore attending an appointment in the US in due course to complete the identification processes for the Biometric Residence Permit, followed by submitting the application and scanned supporting documents.

Can someone clarify that with the exception of the applicant's passport, all other supporting documentation can be scanned and isn't required to be an original document? Examples are letters from home-owner/landlord, proof of accommodation ownership, payslips, letters of support.

Any other watch-it's or tips relevant to a Northern Irish resident with British/Irish dual nationality will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much everyone, this forum looks like an incredible resource and full of wonderful help.

Best wishes,
Keith

Yes, if your income in the last six months does not appear to meet the threshold (because of the unpaid holiday), you can apply under Category B and show that you have made at least £18,600 in the 12 months prior to your application.  You would need to provide 12 FULL months of payslips and 12 FULL months of bank statements showing the pay going into your account.  You will also need a letter from your employer dated within 28 days of your wife's application date, verifying the type of employment and pay.  You can also optionally include a copy of your employment contract and latest P60 (recommended).  Indicate in the application that you are applying under Category B.

For accommodation, you will need the land registry document (obtained here for Northern Ireland:  https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/searching-the-land-registry), and a letter from the owner stating that it is okay for the applicant and sponsor to live there.  You do not need a housing report, but your mother could state in her letter how many non-kitchen/non-bathroom rooms there are in the house and how many adults/children will be living there.  This is also a question in the application, so I don't think it needs to be in her letter.

For travel to the UK, she should just list when she has traveled.  She can include the fact that she flew in through Dublin to go to NI in a cover letter, but they'll see her passport stamps and figure it out.

NOTE:  When she has her visa and enters the UK (NI) on her visa for the first time, she should NOT enter via Dublin for that entry only.  She needs to enter the UK through a port that will give her a UK entry stamp on her visa vignette (a sticker she'll get in her passport when her visa is approved), and (at least currently) the UK and Ireland are part of a common travel area, so she would not get that stamp... (this could change if Brexit occurs before she arrives, but assume she should not enter for the first time via Dublin), so she'll need to enter through some non-ROI port.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2019, 04:15:08 PM by jfkimberly »
9/1/2013 - "fiancée" (marriage) visa issued
4/6/2013 - married (certificate issued same-day)
5/6/2013 - FLR(M)#1 in person -- approved!
8/1/2016 - FLR(M)#2 by post -- approved!
8/5/2018 - ILR in person -- approved!
22/11/2018 - Citizenship (online, with NDRS+JCAP) -- approved!
14/12/2018 - I became a British citizen.  :)


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Many thanks for your help so far! I did read the sticky post which talks about avoiding first-time entry via Dublin, a very useful piece of information!!

My wife & I have been gathering our supporting documents in advance of clicking the big submit button for her visa application - we hope to submit beginning of April!

I've drafted a checklist below of what we aim to provide. Could you please critique it and offer guidance?
I've added some queries below the checklist too.

Cover pages (as below)
• Applicant's Documents
• Sponsor's Documents
• Supporting Evidence - Financial
• Supporting Evidence - Accommodation
• Supporting Evidence - Relationship

Applicant's Documents
• Return shipping label
• Cover letter
• Printed Visa4UK online application
• VAF4a Appendix 2 (completed under Category B)
• Applicant's current US passport & previous passport
• 1 passport-sized photo
• Visa Application Payment Receipt
• Immigration Health Surcharge Payment Receipt
• Stamped Biometrics Receipt (after visit to USCIS Centre)

Sponsor's Documents
• Sponsor's letter of support
• [Irish] passport photo page (uncertified photocopy)
• [UK] full birth certificate (uncertified photocopy)

Supporting Evidence - Financial (Category B)
Note: All latest pay/bank statement documents are to be within 28 days of submitting application.
• Sponsor's Employer letter (dated & signed)
• 12 full months of payslips (certified via employer letter)
• 12 full months of bank statements (certified via bank stamps)
• P60 form for 2017/18
• Sponsor's initial employment contract (dated December 2014)

Supporting Evidence - Accommodation
• Letter from property owner (i.e. my parents)
• Uncertified title deeds photocopy (note: there is no land registry document available for the property)
• Latest mortgage statement

Supporting Evidence - Relationship
• USA marriage certificate + apostilled certificate
• 2 photos of us together (our first photo together & a wedding photo)
• Skype log, WhatsApp log, Facebook Messenger log
• Print outs of flight bookings/travel bookings

Photocopies of all original documents we wish to be returned
• Marriage certificate + apostilled certificate
• Certified title deeds (if I need to obtain a certified version)

My Questions
• I receive my pay on the 15th of every month. Rather than wait until end of the month to receive the automated bank statement for March, is it acceptable to print off a statement for 01-23 March 2019 which shows incoming salary, and get this certified?
• Is an uncertified title deeds photocopy (i.e. without an official seal) acceptable for accommodation requirements? Note that there is no land registry registration for this property.
• I've read elsewhere for 2 pages each per WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Email evidence. I wanted to confirm that 2 pages is for each social platform, and not 2 pages total?
• Print outs of flight bookings - if we include all, that will be in excess of 20 flight bookings… is that too many?
• Should we include additional relationship evidence such as cards and letters to one another?
• Does the applicant only need to mail the items listed under "Applicant's Documents"? Therefore all other supporting documents can be uploaded? I wasn't able to find where this information is posted on government/official webpages. (Regardless we do plan to have all documents with my spouse in the US, should hard copies be requested by the ECO)

Letter Templates - please advise if these are correct

Cover letter stating -
   • Contents list of documents included within application

Sponsor's letter of support (dated & signed) stating -
   • How the financial requirement is met
   • How the accommodation requirement is met
   • How the relationship requirement is met
   • The development of the applicant and UK partner’s relationship
   • That the UK partner promises to support the applicant in regards to finances and accommodation

Sponsor Employer letter (dated & signed) stating -
   • the person’s employment and gross annual salary;
   • the length of their employment;
   • the period over which they have been paid the level of salary relied upon in the application;
   • the type of employment (permanent, fixed-term contract or agency);
   • electronic copies of payslips & P60 form are authentic.

Does the employer letter have to explicitly state which payslips are authentic, i.e. related to their pay period? Or the specific payslips and their respective pay totals? Currently I have a HR letter which says "I also certify that Employee Keith has got true copies of the payslips. The firm decide to roll out electronic payslips for all of the UK employees from April 2009 and therefore actual hardcopies were not provided to any employee after this date. "

Letter from property owner (i.e. my parents) stating -
   • we are permitted to stay in their house;
   • the number of bedrooms and number of adults/children living, and that the home will not be overcrowded.

Thank you again - this has proven to be the most helpful site of information for us, we wouldn't feel as at ease without you all!


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Spouse Visa Document Checklist and a few queries
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2019, 04:05:59 PM »
Hello all!

I was wondering if anyone is able to help with my previous post? Even to answer the section I labelled 'My questions' at this stage so that I can prepare for visits to the bank and other venues this upcoming week - I'm hoping to have everything ready to go by this time next week.

Thank you so much,
Keith


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My Questions
• I receive my pay on the 15th of every month. Rather than wait until end of the month to receive the automated bank statement for March, is it acceptable to print off a statement for 01-23 March 2019 which shows incoming salary, and get this certified?
• Is an uncertified title deeds photocopy (i.e. without an official seal) acceptable for accommodation requirements? Note that there is no land registry registration for this property.
• I've read elsewhere for 2 pages each per WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Email evidence. I wanted to confirm that 2 pages is for each social platform, and not 2 pages total?
• Print outs of flight bookings - if we include all, that will be in excess of 20 flight bookings… is that too many?
• Should we include additional relationship evidence such as cards and letters to one another?
• Does the applicant only need to mail the items listed under "Applicant's Documents"? Therefore all other supporting documents can be uploaded? I wasn't able to find where this information is posted on government/official webpages. (Regardless we do plan to have all documents with my spouse in the US, should hard copies be requested by the ECO)


Hi Kieth!

As a fellow N.Irish man, welcome to the forum and be comforted to know that we got approved :)

I'll try to answer any I can:

1. We did Category A, so we needed to show a full 6 months of regular payments entering your bank account. So my bank statements start on the 12th of every month as that is when I opened my account with Nationwide. I handed over 7 months for safety (12th April - 31st October). I got my October statement printed at the bank. I'll let @ksand24 or another senior member clarify this.
2. I rented, but from what I read from other stories you can purchase a land registry for the property online? I think this is necessary. It would be advisable to get a letter from your parents indicating that your wife will be living there and there will be no issue of overcrowding.
3. Did you guys communicate across all those platforms or was there a consistent platform yous used?
4.Our relationship period is shorter so I will let someone else answer this. It maybe too much, but with your wife inputting the periods of travel on her application, having those flight bookings (preferably the actually tickets) will aid your application. 
5. Yes include the original cards and letters. but if uploading them, scan them in.
6.Yes seemingly under the new system it is all uploaded. We were in the transition period of you could post them or uploaded them and we preferred the former.
Visa Type: Spouse Visa
Priority Service: Yes
Online app submitted: 8th Nov 2018
Biometrics & docs sent: 13th Nov 2018
Application delivered in NY: 14th Nov 2018
Application received email from Sheffield: 18th Nov 2018
Request for "documents": 13th Dec 2018
Decision made email: 18th Dec 2018
Passport received: 22nd Dec 2018 (APPROVED!)


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Hi Kieth!

As a fellow N.Irish man, welcome to the forum and be comforted to know that we got approved :)

I'll try to answer any I can:

1. We did Category A, so we needed to show a full 6 months of regular payments entering your bank account. So my bank statements start on the 12th of every month as that is when I opened my account with Nationwide. I handed over 7 months for safety (12th April - 31st October). I got my October statement printed at the bank. I'll let @ksand24 or another senior member clarify this.
2. I rented, but from what I read from other stories you can purchase a land registry for the property online? I think this is necessary. It would be advisable to get a letter from your parents indicating that your wife will be living there and there will be no issue of overcrowding.
3. Did you guys communicate across all those platforms or was there a consistent platform yous used?
4.Our relationship period is shorter so I will let someone else answer this. It maybe too much, but with your wife inputting the periods of travel on her application, having those flight bookings (preferably the actually tickets) will aid your application. 
5. Yes include the original cards and letters. but if uploading them, scan them in.
6.Yes seemingly under the new system it is all uploaded. We were in the transition period of you could post them or uploaded them and we preferred the former.

Thanks for your reply! Good to see a fellow Norn Irish on the board  :)
Regarding the land registry, the property was bought prior to the legislation which requires properties to register on the land registry, so such a document doesn't exist for the house. For this reason, the next best thing would be title deeds, however at present I only have an uncertified copy.

I've collated 2 pages of Skype logs from 2017-2019 (as the rest appears to have vanished!), and a page of emails showing the recipient and subject titles. Our primary platform is WhatsApp for messaging and voice calls, Skype for video calls, followed by Facebook Messenger for additional messaging.

I haven't been able to find any official or unofficial guidance regarding the uploading of documents when it comes time to submit the visa application. Can someone please point me in the right direction?


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Thanks for your reply! Good to see a fellow Norn Irish on the board  :)
Regarding the land registry, the property was bought prior to the legislation which requires properties to register on the land registry, so such a document doesn't exist for the house. For this reason, the next best thing would be title deeds, however at present I only have an uncertified copy.

I've collated 2 pages of Skype logs from 2017-2019 (as the rest appears to have vanished!), and a page of emails showing the recipient and subject titles. Our primary platform is WhatsApp for messaging and voice calls, Skype for video calls, followed by Facebook Messenger for additional messaging.

I haven't been able to find any official or unofficial guidance regarding the uploading of documents when it comes time to submit the visa application. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Hi Kieth,

1. Is there any way to get it certified? Basically to just legitimise your accommodation as much as you possibly can. More the better. In your parents letter I would maybe state that:  the property was bought prior to the legislation which requires properties to register on the land registry, so such a document doesn't exist for the house. For this reason, the next best thing would be title deeds.
But we did a rental agreement, so I am not the best to advise here. Hopefully @larrabee could advise better :)
2. You want to show the entire span of your relationship. Being you guys have been together for so long, you won't need 20 pages of messages. Here is what @ksand24 advised me:

So, for example:

- if you have only been together 6 months, you might send 2 messages per week (about 50 over 6 months).

- if you have been together 1 year, you might send 1 message per week (about 52 in total)

- for 2 years, maybe go with 2 per month (48 in total)

- for 5 years, perhaps 1 message every month (60 in total)

- for 10 years, maybe 6 messages per year (60 in total)

Across the platforms is fine, but you will need to show that the relationship has been running for that long.
Visa Type: Spouse Visa
Priority Service: Yes
Online app submitted: 8th Nov 2018
Biometrics & docs sent: 13th Nov 2018
Application delivered in NY: 14th Nov 2018
Application received email from Sheffield: 18th Nov 2018
Request for "documents": 13th Dec 2018
Decision made email: 18th Dec 2018
Passport received: 22nd Dec 2018 (APPROVED!)


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Yes, the title deeds are fine, that's what I used for the spouse visa. I had them certified, it's best to do that.


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Thank you thank you thank you! I hope to make a trip to the land registry offices tomorrow to go back and get a certified copy of the title deeds.

If I can ask two more questions please, everything's almost ready and coming together now! :)

1. I have printed off a bank statement for 01-26 March 2019, i.e. this is not one that the bank auto-creates at the end of the month. However it still shows my latest salary income on 15 March. Provided I get this certified/stamped by the bank, there should no reason why this isn't an accepted monthly statement? Note that I'm providing 12 full months of statements... the earliest one I'm providing is 01-31 March 2018, just to be safe.

2. I received an employer's letter back from my employer, which appears to fulfill all of the requirements of the letter. Part of the contents says:
"I also certify that Employee Keith has got true copies of the payslips. The firm decide to roll out electronic payslips for all of the UK employees from April 2009 and therefore actual hardcopies were not provided to any employee after this date. "
I wish to clarify if they need to explicitly state which payslips, and their amounts, are authentic? E.g. "The payslip for £X issued on 15 March 2019, £Y issued on 15 February 2019, £Z issued on January 2019, (etc...) are authentic." Or does their current wording satisfy the visa requirements?


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Re: Northern Ireland citizen - finance, accommodation & Irish port of entry
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2019, 09:15:16 AM »
1.  Correct, you just need them stamped and signed on each page of the partial statement.

2.  I would put the date and amount of each payslip on the letter.

Along the lines of:  I confirm that the following enclosed payslips are true and authentic copies:
January 1, 2019  - gross pay £2,000
February 1, 2019 - gross pay £2,200
March.....

And so on.


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