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Topic: Spouse Visa Questions  (Read 395 times)

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Spouse Visa Questions
« on: September 19, 2020, 09:42:47 PM »
I will add to this thread as our questions change, but for now, here are our immediate questions:
(My wife is a UKC and now also a USC, I'm a USC, planning to move to the UK in 2021)

  • I'm going to applying for a spouse visa when I retire soon and am planning on just using Category D: Cash Savings to satisfy the financial requirement.  We have a couple accounts which individually should satisfy the requirement, but we have some questions based on how the guidance reads:

    I  have a Roth IRA account which hasn't dropped below £62,500 for over 12 months prior to when I apply (I've had it for years) which sounds like by itself would satisfy the requirements.  But then I read this:

    "An example of an account that generally does not meet all of these requirements is a brokerage account in which funds are used by stockbrokers to purchase shares for the account holder. It does not meet the criteria of being a bank/savings account."

    (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/910644/appendix-fm-1-7-financial-requirement-v2.0-ext.pdf)

    In the case of that one Roth account I have, it is currently 'managed' by the brokerage. Would I have to change that to self-directed to meet the criteria?  Funds are more or less immediately available, etc. All the other requirements are met as far as I can tell.

  • We see the form VAF4A which was documented (historically) in several places as the form people used to use to apply for a spouse visa but this has now been deprecated and replaced by an online application process (the start of which is [https://www.gov.uk/apply-to-come-to-the-uk]).

    In fact the www.gov.uk says Form VAF4A is for people in North Korea only.
    [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-uk-visa-for-family- settlement-form-vaf4a]

    Even though the old vaf4a form is obsolete is that a fairly good guide of what to expect on the online form?
     
« Last Edit: September 19, 2020, 11:40:04 PM by blitzin »


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Re: Spouse Visa Questions
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2020, 05:34:47 PM »
Ok, since my question in (1) above went over like a lead balloon, let me ask this:

In Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence
(https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence )
at 11A: it says :

11A. In respect of cash savings:
(a) The savings may be held in any form of bank/savings account (whether a current, deposit or investment account, provided by a financial institution regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which that institution is operating), provided that the account allows the savings to be accessed immediately (with or without a penalty for withdrawing funds without notice). This can include savings held in a pension savings account which can be immediately withdrawn.

So, does that mean that a retirement account (IRA, Roth) in the US at some place like Fidelity or Schwab could be used to show cash savings as long as I could withdraw the money any time (ie, it's self directed)?
 
I'm reading this different ways.  Do they mean I have to take money out of the funds and put them in a bank account?


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