FLR(M) Documentation & Questions

In terms of gifts, how far back do I need to go in terms of detailing it? I think I asked this before, but I'm just wary that I had support with buying a house (back in 2018), so would something like that need to be covered, or are they only really interested in the 6/7 month period detailed by the supporting bank statements?

Does the support you got for buying the house make up any part of the savings you are using for the visa, or has that money been spent now? If you no longer have that money in your savings then it does not need to be mentioned.

In terms of detailing gifts, if any of the money in your current savings was a monetary gift from someone else (at any point in time), then you need to get them to write a letter detailing the amount they gave you, when they gave it to you, and stating that it was a gift, not a loan, and therefore does not need to be paid back.

This is to prove that the money is yours to keep and live off, and that it hasn’t just been transferred to your account temporarily in order to qualify for the visa.


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Thank you - I thought I was probably overthinking it!

In terms of gifts, how far back do I need to go in terms of detailing it? I think I asked this before, but I'm just wary that I had support with buying a house (back in 2018), so would something like that need to be covered, or are they only really interested in the 6/7 month period detailed by the supporting bank statements?

Well, they are really looking to see if you've been loaned money or perhaps obtained it illegally, although I can't imagine anyone actually owning up to that!
Loans are allowed, as you know. I'd keep it as simple as you can. If you were gifted money for the house, presumably it's been spent so not part of the savings. But if you didn't spend it all, you could say that some is made up of money gifted at the time of your house purchase in 2018. They will be able to tell a genuine statement from someone trying to hide something a mile off.

Thanks both.

In terms of the financial support, it will have all been spent, with us building our savings back up mostly organically post-house deposit.

I have decided to go down the 'better to be safe than sorry' route, and have traced back any monetary gifts we have received (since the house purchase) and ask for letters from the gift senders outlining each transaction.

Thanks again, both of you, we really appreciate it!

I have been able to identify all of the monetary gifts we have received since we paid for our house and the letters are in progress.

Since we paid for the house, we have also had some investments (e.g. ISAs) mature. Since these are in my name and legitimately my money, do these need to be called out at all? I have called them out for complete transparency, but I have been able to locate the paper statement for only one of these, with the other two in the form of online (but branded and official) statements. Will this be a problem?

Since we paid for the house, we have also had some investments (e.g. ISAs) mature. Since these are in my name and legitimately my money, do these need to be called out at all? I have called them out for complete transparency, but I have been able to locate the paper statement for only one of these, with the other two in the form of online (but branded and official) statements. Will this be a problem?

Do those investments make up any of the £62,500 of cash savings you are using for the visa? If not, you SHOULD NOT mention them at all as they are completely irrelevant.

I feel like you are overthinking this...cash savings is a really simple category to use, and you don't want to complicate it by mentioning other funds that have nothing to do with meeting the visa requirements.

All you need for the requirement is:
- 6 full months of bank statements showing an account balance of £62,500 or more, held in full for the entire period
Plus:
- a statement of the source of the savings
- if any of the savings have been gifted, you need a letter from each gift source stating that the money was a gift and will not be repaid

If you start mentioning other investments that are separate from the £62,500 in your bank account, all you will do is complicate the application and confuse the immigration officer processing it.

It's a tick-box visa... all they need to do is tick a box that you have held £62,500 in your bank account for 6 months and that the source of the savings is legitimate. That's it.

Do those investments make up any of the £62,500 of cash savings you are using for the visa? If not, you SHOULD NOT mention them at all as they are completely irrelevant.

I feel like you are overthinking this...cash savings is a really simple category to use, and you don't want to complicate it by mentioning other funds that have nothing to do with meeting the visa requirements.

All you need for the requirement is:
- 6 full months of bank statements showing an account balance of £62,500 or more, held in full for the entire period
Plus:
- a statement of the source of the savings
- if any of the savings have been gifted, you need a letter from each gift source stating that the money was a gift and will not be repaid

If you start mentioning other investments that are separate from the £62,500 in your bank account, all you will do is complicate the application and confuse the immigration officer processing it.

It's a tick-box visa... all they need to do is tick a box that you have held £62,500 in your bank account for 6 months and that the source of the savings is legitimate. That's it.

Yes they do - those investments have all matured (over the last three years) and I have pulled them into one account to use for the visa, which is why I mentioned them.

I completely agree with you though, I am overthinking it. Because those matured investments contribute towards the account balance, I wanted to ask the question so as not to exclude any evidence that may be required. For information, two of the investments matured in 2018 (so way before the six month period - in which case it's unnecessary to mention them?), whilst the other one matured in July of this year.

Yes they do - those investments have all matured (over the last three years) and I have pulled them into one account to use for the visa, which is why I mentioned them.

Okay, so in that case, you do need to mention them.

For the accounts that matured in 2018, I believe you just need to mention them in the statement of the source of the savings, but you don't need to provide any evidence of the investments because the money was transferred into savings more than 6 months ago

For the account that matured in July 2021, you need to be able to prove that you held that money in the investment account at the beginning of the 6-month period that you are using. So, you need to provide evidence from the financial institution that the investments were held in.

From Appendix FM 1.7 regarding investment funds that were transferred to cash savings with the last 6 months:

Under paragraph 11A(c) funds held as cash savings by the applicant, their partner or both jointly at the date of application can have been transferred from investments (including funds liquidated from a pension pot), stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds within the period of 6 months prior to the date of application, provided that:

• the funds have been in the ownership and under the control of the applicant, their partner or both jointly for at least the period of 6 months prior to the date of application
• the ownership of the funds in the form of investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds; the cash value of the funds in that form at or before the beginning of the period of 6 months prior to the date of application; and the transfer of the funds into cash, are evidenced by a portfolio report or other relevant documentation from a financial institution regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which that institution is operating
• the requirements of Appendix FM-SE in respect of the cash savings held at the date of application are met, except that the period of 6 months prior to the date of application in paragraph 11(a) will be reduced by the amount of that period in which the relevant funds were held in the form of investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds
• for the purposes of sub-paragraph 11A(c), ‘investments’ includes funds held in an investment account which does not meet the requirements of paragraphs 11 and 11A(a)

This means that, where the cash savings have previously been held as investments (including where they have been held in an investment account which does not meet the requirements of paragraphs 11 and 11A(a)), stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds that were owned by and under the control of the applicant, their partner or both jointly, this ownership period can be counted towards the 6 month period. Money held as cash savings at the date of application can have been liquidated or transferred by the same owner(s) from investments and may have been held as investments for the first part of the period of 6 months prior to the date of application and as cash savings for the rest of that 6 month period (see the table on page 51 for a summary of the cash savings requirements).

Evidence must be provided showing that:
• the investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds were in the ownership and under the control of the applicant, their partner or both jointly for that part of the 6-month period prior to the date of application before they were liquidated into cash savings
• the value of the investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds at or before the beginning of that 6-month period was at least equivalent to the amount of the cash savings relied upon in the application
• the cash savings meet the requirements of Appendix FM-SE

If this evidence is not provided, the cash savings previously held as investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds cannot be counted towards the financial requirement.

Okay, so in that case, you do need to mention them.

For the accounts that matured in 2018, I believe you just need to mention them in the statement of the source of the savings, but you don't need to provide any evidence of the investments because the money was transferred into savings more than 6 months ago

For the account that matured in July 2021, you need to be able to prove that you held that money in the investment account at the beginning of the 6-month period that you are using. So, you need to provide evidence from the financial institution that the investments were held in.

From Appendix FM 1.7 regarding investment funds that were transferred to cash savings with the last 6 months:

Perfect, thanks so much for your help as always, ksand24 - and apologies for overthinking things!

We're hoping to finally submit our application either this week or next week, just waiting on that last bank statement! I remember for the financial requirement for the first (spouse) visa, the financial documents all had to be dated within a certain number of days (for some reason 28 days seems familiar) prior to the submission of the online application. I assume that this is still the case for the FLR(M) application - if so, would you mind please reminding me what that number of days is, just so I know how much time we have to play with?

We're hoping to finally submit our application either this week or next week, just waiting on that last bank statement! I remember for the financial requirement for the first (spouse) visa, the financial documents all had to be dated within a certain number of days (for some reason 28 days seems familiar) prior to the submission of the online application. I assume that this is still the case for the FLR(M) application - if so, would you mind please reminding me what that number of days is, just so I know how much time we have to play with?

Yes, the most recent of the bank statements, pay slips and the employers letter must be dated within the 28 days before the submission of the online application. It's the same for initial spouse visa, FLR and ILR.

Yes, the most recent of the bank statements, pay slips and the employers letter must be dated within the 28 days before the submission of the online application. It's the same for initial spouse visa, FLR and ILR.

28 days, got it - knew it rang a bell! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly 

Our final bank statement arrived today, so we've kickstarted the application process!

One of the questions is around visa start date - should this be:
a) The date of issue on the BRP?
b) The "valid from" date on the passport vignette?
c) The date my wife entered the UK?

Thanks!

We finally submitted the application (just need to upload our documents)! Thanks once again for all of your support.

The UKVI website mentions that we should expect to receive a decision within 8 weeks - judging by other people's experiences, does that seem about right in terms of processing times at the moment?

It's been quicker than that lately. Good luck!

The UKVI website mentions that we should expect to receive a decision within 8 weeks - judging by other people's experiences, does that seem about right in terms of processing times at the moment?

It can vary, but generally processing times recently have been much faster than 8 weeks... mostly within about 1-4 weeks of biometrics.

Yesterday someone even posted that they got their FLR(M) approval email just 5 working days after attending biometrics .