Sorry, starting the day with a load of questions! But really appreciate all the help with this!
Ok all seems straight forward so far, we will be applying under category A for the financials. So for this I’m assuming bank statements and a letter from my employer to show my annual salary? - is a work contract good enough for this?
Okay, so the requirements are extremely specific and each document must meet the requirements exactly, including the formatting of the document.
You MUST include ALL of the following:
- 6 FULL months of ORIGINAL payslips showing at least £1,550 per month before tax (if you are salaried)... the latest must be dated no more than 28 days before your online application date
- 6 FULL months of ORIGINAL bank statements showing the deposit of every single payslip... the latest must be dated no more than 28 days before your online application date
- A letter from your employer dated no more than 28 days before your online application date, stating ALL of the following:
i) current employment and salary
ii) length of employment
iii) length of time earning current salary
iv) type of employment
The following are optional but recommended as they may ask for them:
- original job contract
- latest P60
Notes:
- most people find they have to include 7 months of payslips and bank statements in order to cover every single day of the 6 months
- if the bank statements are printed from online banking they MUST either be stamped by the bank on EVERY page or accompanied by a letter from the bank on headed paper confirming their authenticity
- if the payslips are issued online, they MUST be accompanied by a letter from a senior official confirming their authenticity... this can be combined with the mandatory letter above
- if there are any discrepancies between the payslips and bank statements, like the payslip being deposited into your bank on a different date to the payslip date, or the amount is different, this MUST be explained in the letter.
So 8 documents would be required total, in each of our names. If documents are in joint name do we need to have 2 for the same period, and also are you able to use say a electricity bill more than once, or do they need to be from different sources for different time periods (if that makes sense)
No, you include between 6 and 12 documents total, depending on whether they are in joint names or individual names. If the documents are joint, you use one for that period. If they are individual, you need 1 each for that period.
So you would use either:
- 6 joint documents
- 12 individual documents (6 in each name)
- a combination of both, to make 6 in each name (i.e. 4 joint, and 4 individual, or 1 joint and 10 individual etc.)
You need at least 3 sources total. So if they are all in joint names, you might use 2 electricity bills, 2 council tax statements, and 2 bank statements. Or if they are all individual, you might use 1 electricity bill, 1 council tax bill, 3 water bills and 7 bank statements.
They must be spaced every 4 months and for each month you are using you must both have a document issued in that month. I.e. if you have one for January 2020, your husband must also have one for January 2020.
If you are applying in, say, April 2020, you will want 1 document in each name from each of the following months:
April 2018
August 2018
December 2018
April 2019
August 2019
December 2019
Optional extra: April 2020
Also, the mortgage and land registry are in my maiden name, as I purchased the property before I had officially changed my name, will this cause a problem or do I need to send proof of some sort?
Nope. You will be including your marriage certificate which will have both names on it so they will know it's you.
Do I need to have scans of every page of both our passports?
I believe so.
The solicitor previously had me have witness statements from all family members, photos of us together, email, texts, call logs between the two of us. I’m assuming none of this is needed.
No, that was only for the initial spousal visa. For FLR(M) all of that is replaced by your 6 documents from the last 2 years.
Witness statements have never been required and cannot even be considered, so your solicitor should NOT have told you to include them. They will not have even been looked at.