Reassurance/advice for a stressed wife dealing with FLR (M) please!

Hi all,

I have written a more detailed introduction in the welcome section of the forum. I have used this site previously and it has provided me with some good advice when applying for my husband's initial spouse visa.

I have registered as I have some questions regarding our upcoming FLR (M) application and it's causing me a lot of worry and upset. I have asked these same questions on other forums but haven't received much advice so I'm hoping I can get some more replies here. Appreciate it in advance!

Husband arrived in UK on 27/01/2018 and initial visa expires on 19/10/2020. Originally, we were planning to apply in September but have decided to try and apply asap due to delays and being told by husband's employer (Amazon) that we need to get the new Right to work documents as soon as we can.

These are the areas I would be grateful if anyone could help with:

1. Husband is paid weekly, a week in hand. His basic wage is £380 a week, however, for one of the weeks his salary was £342 due to coming home a few hours earlier, so I understand it is the lowest wage that is multiplied by 52, bringing the total to £17, 784. My husband regularly works overtime and when including this, (total amount of overtime divided by no of weeks multiplied by 52) the amount reaches almost £22,000. My question is as well as these overtime payments, Amazon pay holiday premium on overtime hours as well as some additional payments and bonuses during May/June due to Covid-19, can I include these payments when working out the total amount of overtime?

2. The payslips we will be using start from 14/02/2020 and I will wait for the 14/08/2020 payslip to arrive. This means exactly 27 payslips will be used. Is this okay?

3. Can I use the same UK Naric certificates that I used last time for the English requirement. We have the Statement of Comparability and the English language assessment level of B1. I don't need to apply for new certificates do I?

4. Items of correspondence- Can I double check that I only need to provide correspondence from the last 2 years, (Aug 2018-Aug 2020) or do the letters need to cover the full 2.5 years? I have read conflicting information online. If the former, this is our provisional list:

Aug 2018
Natwest Current Account Statement- Joint

Nov 2018
NEST Pension letter- Husband
HMRC Tax calculation- Me

Mar 2019
Natwest Current Account Statement- Joint

Jul 2019
HMRC Tax calculation- Husband
DBS Certficate- Me

Nov 2019 (was posted in Nov but has Dec election date- is this an issue?)
Polling Card- Husband
Polling Card- Me

Mar 2020
Natwest Savings Account Statement- Joint (Online version- do I need to get this stamped from the bank?)

Jul 2020
Lloyds Current Account statement- Husband
Talk Talk Bill- Me

I understand the months are not exactly spaced out...this is the best we can come up with so far!

5. When scanning documents, do I need to include our son's passport and birth certificate? He was born in the UK in Oct 2018.

6. What are the latest updates with the visa centres and appointments? Can we opt for the priority/super priority service or is it just the standard service for all now?

Thank you very much.

Husband arrived in UK on 27/01/2018 and initial visa expires on 19/10/2020. Originally, we were planning to apply in September but have decided to try and apply asap due to delays and being told by husband's employer (Amazon) that we need to get the new Right to work documents as soon as we can.

As long as he applies online before 19th October 2020, his right to work will not be affected, as he will be protected under 3C leave if his visa expires before his FLR(M) is issued.

Amazon can check his right to work by using the Employer Checking Service on the UKVI website: https://www.gov.uk/employee-immigration-employment-status

Bear in mind that even if you apply now, he still may not receive his new FLR(M) visa before October 19th... since no new visa applications were processed between March and June due to the biometrics centres being closed because of Covid. Therefore there is likely to be a backlog of applications, as they are only allowing people to book biometrics (or in some cases, have their biometrics waived) in order of application date, and so they will have 5 months' worth of applications to get through before they can start processing your husband's visa.

1. Husband is paid weekly, a week in hand. His basic wage is £380 a week, however, for one of the weeks his salary was £342 due to coming home a few hours earlier, so I understand it is the lowest wage that is multiplied by 52, bringing the total to £17, 784. My husband regularly works overtime and when including this, (total amount of overtime divided by no of weeks multiplied by 52) the amount reaches almost £22,000. My question is as well as these overtime payments, Amazon pay holiday premium on overtime hours as well as some additional payments and bonuses during May/June due to Covid-19, can I include these payments when working out the total amount of overtime?

Is he salaried (fixed annual salary) or is he non-salaried (earning an hourly wage for a contracted number of hours per week)?

This will affect how his income is calculated.

If he is non-salaried and he has been employed by Amazon for at least 6 months, they will take his last 6 months of payslips, add them all together (before tax), divide by the number of weekly payslips and multiply by 52 weeks, to get his average annual income.

Overtime and bonuses can be considered for his previous 6 months of income, but cannot be considered toward future income... UNLESS Amazon can confirm in writing that he is guaranteed to earn enough in overtime/bonuses to make his income at least £18,600 per year every year in the future.
 

2. The payslips we will be using start from 14/02/2020 and I will wait for the 14/08/2020 payslip to arrive. This means exactly 27 payslips will be used. Is this okay?

If his latest payslip is 14/08/2020, then the 6 months you must cover is 14/02/2020 to 14/08/2020.

As long as they cover every single day between and including 14/02/2020 and 14/08/2020, this will be fine, but if they cover even 1 day less than this, the payslips won't meet the requirement.

It's probably a good idea to include the 07/02/2020 payslip as well, just in case.

And you will need corresponding bank statements showing the deposit of every single payslip, and covering the same period.

3. Can I use the same UK Naric certificates that I used last time for the English requirement. We have the Statement of Comparability and the English language assessment level of B1. I don't need to apply for new certificates do I?

I'm not sure, since we mainly deal with US citizen applicants here, who don't need to meet the English requirement - you'd have to check how long the certificates are valid for and whether they need to be renewed for the new application.

4. Items of correspondence- Can I double check that I only need to provide correspondence from the last 2 years, (Aug 2018-Aug 2020) or do the letters need to cover the full 2.5 years? I have read conflicting information online.

You cover 2 years for FLR(M) applications and 2.5 years for ILR applications... so, if he is applying for FLR(M), it's only 2 years.

If the former, this is our provisional list:

Aug 2018
Natwest Current Account Statement- Joint

Nov 2018
NEST Pension letter- Husband
HMRC Tax calculation- Me

Mar 2019
Natwest Current Account Statement- Joint

Jul 2019
HMRC Tax calculation- Husband
DBS Certficate- Me

Nov 2019 (was posted in Nov but has Dec election date- is this an issue?)
Polling Card- Husband
Polling Card- Me

Mar 2020
Natwest Savings Account Statement- Joint (Online version- do I need to get this stamped from the bank?)

Jul 2020
Lloyds Current Account statement- Husband
Talk Talk Bill- Me

I understand the months are not exactly spaced out...this is the best we can come up with so far!

Your spacing isn't too bad. However, you can't use any online statements, because the entire point is to provide evidence of mail that was POSTED to you in those months and years... to prove you were physically in the house to receive it on those dates.

So, you will need to find something else to use for March 2020. Also, you really need something from July 2018, rather than August 2018.

5. When scanning documents, do I need to include our son's passport and birth certificate? He was born in the UK in Oct 2018

You must include:
- his passport
- his birth certificate
- a letter dated in the last 90 days confirming his address (i.e. from his GP)

6. What are the latest updates with the visa centres and appointments? Can we opt for the priority/super priority service or is it just the standard service for all now?

The Super Priority service is not currently being offered, or at least, it hasn't been offered since March because of Covid. If it is available, it will be offered at the end of the online application, but I haven't seen anyone say that it is being offered yet.

As I mentioned in the post above, they are still working through all the applications from March, April, May, June and July... so I wouldn't expect this to be a quick process... I would allow up to a few months for the visa to be processed.

Once you have applied, you can register an account with UKVCAS, and you can upload your documents to the site if you like.

You will be emailed by UKVI when they get to the August applications, telling you when you will be allowed to book an appointment, or if you are eligible to have biometrics waived, meaning you can just submit a photo via an app (and upload the documents yourself) instead of attending an appointment. I don't believe the app has been launched yet though.

Thank you very much for all your replies ksand24, I have read so many of your posts to other users and they have been a great source of advice for me so I feel honoured that you have replied to all my queries. I will respond to your points now.

I fully understand that we probably won't hear anything before 19/10 because of the huge delay. It's just I've read some threads where users have said they had their employment terminated despite making a visa application, so I was just worried about that. Apparently, there is sometimes a delay between submitting a new application and having updated details on the link you sent above so the right to work checks come back as negative? But as you rightly said, how long the Home Office take is not in my hands so all I can do is pray for the best and hope Amazon are understanding.

Regarding salaried/non-salaried, at first I assumed husband was non-salaried as he works 40 hours a week and is paid £9.50 per hour. However, on the employment letter provided by Amazon they wrote that husband is on a permanent contract and earns £19700 annual salary. This letter is automatically generated on the Amazon portal as the majority of the workforce are not British and in the UK on some sort of visa system so I'm assuming that they are classing all workers as salaried. A few of my husband's colleagues applied for their FLR (M) last year and used Cat A salaried route. So I'm hoping I can do the same?

Payslips- Husband worked at Amazon since July 2019, first through an agency, then in Feb 2020 was offered a permanent contract direct from Amazon. As they pay a week in hand, his first ever payslip from Amazon is dated 14/02/2020. Payslips previous to this are all from the agency. Hopefully I should be okay with 14/02/20 to 14/08/20. I do have all corresponding bank statements, I will just need a print out from 1 Aug-14 Aug and get that stamped from the bank otherwise I will have to wait until September to receive it in the post.

UK Naric- I think I will probably have to get in touch with them to see if their certificates expire.

Correspondence- Thank you for your feedback on this. I have been pulling my hair out! Okay for March 2020, the only other correspondence we have is the Natwest joint bank statement but we are also using this for the financial requirements? Can I use it again for correspondence purposes? Otherwise I am stuck with nothing until June 2020.

I can substitute the Aug 2018 bank statement with July 2018.

Thanks again for all the information about the process etc, really appreciate it. I was planning on scanning all documents onto my laptop in the next week just to be as prepared as I can be!

Is he salaried (fixed annual salary) or is he non-salaried (earning an hourly wage for a contracted number of hours per week)?

This will affect how his income is calculated.

If he is non-salaried and he has been employed by Amazon for at least 6 months, they will take his last 6 months of payslips, add them all together (before tax), divide by the number of weekly payslips and multiply by 52 weeks, to get his average annual income.

Overtime and bonuses can be considered for his previous 6 months of income, but cannot be considered toward future income... UNLESS Amazon can confirm in writing that he is guaranteed to earn enough in overtime/bonuses to make his income at least £18,600 per year every year in the future.
 
If his latest payslip is 14/08/2020, then the 6 months you must cover is 14/02/2020 to 14/08/2020.

As long as they cover every single day between and including 14/02/2020 and 14/08/2020, this will be fine, but if they cover even 1 day less than this, the payslips won't meet the requirement.

It's probably a good idea to include the 07/02/2020 payslip as well, just in case.

And you will need corresponding bank statements showing the deposit of every single payslip, and covering the same period.

I'm not sure, since we mainly deal with US citizen applicants here, who don't need to meet the English requirement - you'd have to check how long the certificates are valid for and whether they need to be renewed for the new application.

You cover 2 years for FLR(M) applications and 2.5 years for ILR applications... so, if he is applying for FLR(M), it's only 2 years.

Your spacing isn't too bad. However, you can't use any online statements, because the entire point is to provide evidence of mail that was POSTED to you in those months and years... to prove you were physically in the house to receive it on those dates.

So, you will need to find something else to use for March 2020. Also, you really need something from July 2018, rather than August 2018.

You must include:
- his passport
- his birth certificate
- a letter dated in the last 90 days confirming his address (i.e. from his GP)

The Super Priority service is not currently being offered, or at least, it hasn't been offered since March because of Covid. If it is available, it will be offered at the end of the online application, but I haven't seen anyone say that it is being offered yet.

As I mentioned in the post above, they are still working through all the applications from March, April, May, June and July... so I wouldn't expect this to be a quick process... I would allow up to a few months for the visa to be processed.

Once you have applied, you can register an account with UKVCAS, and you can upload your documents to the site if you like.

You will be emailed by UKVI when they get to the August applications, telling you when you will be allowed to book an appointment, or if you are eligible to have biometrics waived, meaning you can just submit a photo via an app (and upload the documents yourself) instead of attending an appointment. I don't believe the app has been launched yet though.

This may sound silly but what you said made a lightbulb go off. When scanning documents do I need to scan the envelope with the post Mark as well as the documents? First time doing the fully electronic method. Thank you as always!x

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I fully understand that we probably won't hear anything before 19/10 because of the huge delay. It's just I've read some threads where users have said they had their employment terminated despite making a visa application, so I was just worried about that. Apparently, there is sometimes a delay between submitting a new application and having updated details on the link you sent above so the right to work checks come back as negative? But as you rightly said, how long the Home Office take is not in my hands so all I can do is pray for the best and hope Amazon are understanding.

I don't know the ins and outs of how they update the employer checking system, but government guidelines state that as long as he makes an in-time application, his immigration status and right to work is unaffected while his visa is processing.

Now, if people have had employment terminated, that's on the individual company - it shouldn't happen, because the government regulations protect an applicant's immigration status, but I guess it does in some cases.

If they ask questions, your husband could also show Amazon the official 3C Leave guidance which states that he can continue to work while his visa is processing:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/771652/3C-3D-Leave-v9.0ext.pdf

Regarding salaried/non-salaried, at first I assumed husband was non-salaried as he works 40 hours a week and is paid £9.50 per hour. However, on the employment letter provided by Amazon they wrote that husband is on a permanent contract and earns £19700 annual salary. This letter is automatically generated on the Amazon portal as the majority of the workforce are not British and in the UK on some sort of visa system so I'm assuming that they are classing all workers as salaried. A few of my husband's colleagues applied for their FLR (M) last year and used Cat A salaried route. So I'm hoping I can do the same?

Okay, here's the thing:

You really need to confirm with Amazon whether he is on an annual fixed contract of £19,700 per year, or if he is on an hourly wage with no fixed contracted annual salary/

This is extremely important because someone here on the forum had their visa refused a couple of years ago, because they were non-salaried but their employer stated in their letter that they were salaried. UKVI therefore calculated their income using the salaried calculation, which meant their annual income was calculated as less than £18,600... and the visa was refused, despite them meeting the requirements under the non-salaried income calculation.

In order for your husband to be classed as salaried, his official contract must state that he is on a fixed annual salary of £19,760, and every single payslip should show the same fixed base pay of £380 every week, regardless of how many hours he has worked.

If he was only paid £342 in one week because he worked less hours, then he is not salaried... because salaried employees get paid the same each week, even if they worked more or less hours in that week.

In order to meet the requirements as a salaried employee, only his lowest weekly payslip will be considered and will be multiplied by 52 to get the annual income that can be considered. This means that in order to qualify for the visa as a salaried employee, his lowest payslip must be at least £357.69 (£18,600/52 weeks).

Correspondence- Thank you for your feedback on this. I have been pulling my hair out! Okay for March 2020, the only other correspondence we have is the Natwest joint bank statement but we are also using this for the financial requirements? Can I use it again for correspondence purposes? Otherwise I am stuck with nothing until June 2020.

It cannot be used for correspondence, because you did not receive it in the post. If it is printed and stamped, then mailed to you, it can only count for the date it was stamped, NOT the date of the statement.

Did you not receive ANY other mail at all in the month of March 2019?

What about a council tax statement? Those are usually mailed in March each year.

Otherwise, what about a phone/broadband bill? Utility bill? Anything else at all?

This may sound silly but what you said made a lightbulb go off. When scanning documents do I need to scan the envelope with the post Mark as well as the documents? First time doing the fully electronic method. Thank you as always!x

No. You should not include any envelopes. The date of each document MUST be printed on the document itself, otherwise it cannot be used as evidence.

Also, please could you keep any questions about your application in your own thread, as we don't want to clog up Nebula's application thread with questions about someone else's application. It's best if you can make just one topic for all your application questions so that we can keep everything together - it makes it much easier for us to help if all your questions and the advice you are given are all posted on the same page, specific to your personal application.

Thank you once again ksand24.

The link your provided re:right to work is really useful and I shall print it out and send a copy to Amazon should they cause any problems!

Right, this salary issue is giving me a lot to think about. Husband is calling HR right now to get some more info and I shall update as soon as.

The £342 payslip that is causing the issue is dated 28/02/20 so I'm thinking perhaps it would be better to start the 6 months from the next payslip dated 06/03/20 all the way to 11/09/20 instead and apply in September as we originally planned? Because then the lowest weekly amount will be £380 so hopefully will meet the requirement from both salaried/non-salaried routes. And as there is a massive delay anyway regardless of when I apply, it might be better for us to wait a few weeks and use the payslips that are more 'smoother' to calculate? What would you advise?

The Mar 2020 correspondence. The only joint letter that was posted to us in that month was our Natwest current account statement. This is the same account that we will be using to show deposit of wages for the financial requirement. Could I also use the same statement for correspondence purposes? I do have a utility bill from that month but its only in my name and again an electronic version. I switched to paper statements from May onwards and tried to add my husband's name but I was told it cannot be done and bills can only be in one person's name only. Council tax bills are addressed to my father so that can't be used either. Feeling stuck now!

Just wanted to give an update. My husband called the HR line and they couldn't give a useful response re:salaried or non salaried, just referred him to the employer letter section on the portal which I have discussed above.

Husband is back at work today so will try to speak to someone at the in house HR department to seeif he can get any more information.

But I am swaying towards applying in September to cover all bases.

The only other issue on my mind now is the March correspondence other than using the same bank statement as we are using for financial requirement, I can't see any other option.

I was hoping to start scanning the documents I do have on to my laptop. Would I need to include expired passports for both husband and me? And do I need every single page of the passports including blank ones?

Thanks again.

Just wanted to give an update. My husband called the HR line and they couldn't give a useful response re:salaried or non salaried, just referred him to the employer letter section on the portal which I have discussed above.

Husband is back at work today so will try to speak to someone at the in house HR department to seeif he can get any more information.

But I am swaying towards applying in September to cover all bases.

Honestly, waiting until September sounds like it might be your best option, because you'll have all bases covered that way... whereas if you apply now, you might just end up spending the whole processing time worrying that the visa might be refused because of the income calculation.

The only other issue on my mind now is the March correspondence other than using the same bank statement as we are using for financial requirement, I can't see any other option.

If you do wait until September, it won't matter about the March correspondence anymore, because you will need to change the months that you use... as July 2018 to July 2020 will now be too far away from the application date.

So instead, you would either need to use mail from the following months:
Aug 2018
Dec 2018
Apr 2019
Aug 2019
Dec 2019
Apr 2020
Aug 2020

Or from:
Sept 2018
Jan 2019
May 2019
Sept 2018
Jan 2020
May 2020
Sep 2020

I was hoping to start scanning the documents I do have on to my laptop. Would I need to include expired passports for both husband and me? And do I need every single page of the passports including blank ones?

Every page of the passports must be scanned

You need to include the following passports:
- his current US passport
- your current UK passport
- any previous US passports he has held since moving to the UK (i.e. if he entered on a different passport and has renewed it since arriving)
- your son's UK passport (plus his birth certificate and letter confirming his address)

Dearest ksand24, you are an absolute star! Thank you very much for all of your help and support. Honestly I can't thank you enough for all the advice you've given to me and I'm just a stranger on the internet! It really means a lot.

Thank you for reminding me that the months of correspondence will change now. I will be back to update with a new list and any other developments.

Have a great day.

Hi all,

A quick update for anyone who is in a similar situation regarding right to work, etc. Husband asked in house HR department about it all and they said should be fine as long as we can provide some sort of proof that we have applied before BRP expires, this could be an email confirming application or something along those lines.

Also, ksand24, if I can refer to your expertise once again (apologies),  about holiday pay? During the 6 months husband has taken a few days off here and there, all have been paid. Amazon refer to this in their payslips, e.g for a week in May, the payslip states:

Basic Pay: £190.00
Holiday Pay: £190.00

As far as I understand, holiday pay is included in the gross calculation for the week which would be £380? And is not calculated in the same way as overtime? Just looking for some confirmation, it's amazing what this visa process does to your mind at this time of night!


I started scanning documents in today, it took longer than I expected and have saved them all as PDF documents? Is that okay? Are there any other requirements I need to be aware of regarding format, etc?

Thanks once again!

Hi all,

A quick update for anyone who is in a similar situation regarding right to work, etc. Husband asked in house HR department about it all and they said should be fine as long as we can provide some sort of proof that we have applied before BRP expires, this could be an email confirming application or something along those lines.

Also, ksand24, if I can refer to your expertise once again (apologies),  about holiday pay? During the 6 months husband has taken a few days off here and there, all have been paid. Amazon refer to this in their payslips, e.g for a week in May, the payslip states:

Basic Pay: £190.00
Holiday Pay: £190.00

As far as I understand, holiday pay is included in the gross calculation for the week which would be £380? And is not calculated in the same way as overtime? Just looking for some confirmation, it's amazing what this visa process does to your mind at this time of night!

That’s right - holiday pay is part of his legal entitlement and is not treated any differently to normal pay.

In fact, I think this is the first time I’ve seen a situation where the holiday pay was listed separately to the normal pay on a payslip.

Usually, the full basic pay is listed as standard, even if some of it was actually taken as holiday or as sick pay... at least that’s how it works with my payslips - same base pay every month, regardless of whether I’ve been at work or on paid holiday.

started scanning documents in today, it took longer than I expected and have saved them all as PDF documents? Is that okay? Are there any other requirements I need to be aware of regarding format, etc?

Yep, PDF documents is the required format.

Each document must be 6MB or less in size and they need to be named in the following format:

bank-statement-july-2020.pdf

With dashes between the words, no spaces, and no special characters or extra dots.

The UKVCAS FAQ has a section on how to scan/upload the documents:
https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/soprasteria-ukvi-prd-ukvcas/FAQ.pdf


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That's brilliant, really grateful for your swift reply.

It's not something I'm used to either, always had just one basic wage listed but Amazon do the same thing with sick pay too, it's all listed separately.

Oh wow okay so no spaces between words, I will have to go back and rename some of the documents I scanned in today, thank God I only did a few just to test the process.

Thank you ksand24, I can't tell you how helpful and reassuring your posts have been. I'm just praying that everything goes well and I can venture on to some of the other sections of the forum as it looks like a great place. Right now all I have is FLR M on my mind!

Hi all,

 I decided to order a reprint of the UK Naric certificates just in case more recent copies were needed. It cost £14.00 for a reprint. However due to Covid restrictions they are not sending out certificates via post. Instead they are providing PDF versions.

I have just receieved the PDF today and there is a massive watermark kind of thing on each page stating 'This is a temporary document issued during a period of disruption caused by Covid-19.'

Apparently I will receive the paper copies as soon as restrictions have ended but there is no telling if this will be done before we apply for the visa.

Do members think this temporary document will be acceptable? I still have the old documents dated from 2017, should I upload them as well?