10 Common Mistakes - Financial Requirement for UK Spouse Visa - #5 misunderstanding Category B (again) and waiting unnecessarily for 12 months.
For some reason, it is Category B that seems to be causing most of the problems we see applicants make.
If you changed your job and can’t apply under Category A because you haven’t worked for your new (ie current) employer for 6 months yet, you’d have to use Category B. The 1st part would be your current salary being £18600 per year.
The 2nd part is total earnings for the last 12 months in both current and previous jobs. Or several previous jobs, as you can combine any number of jobs in the 12 months prior to the visa application.
The question is: do you actually have to have worked for the whole 12 months before applying? Or to wait for the whole 12 months if you didn’t work that long?
The answer is No - if you can meet the total £18600 in earnings in a shorter period than 12 months. Of course, you need a salary much higher than £18600!
For example, if you only worked for 5 months for Employer 1 and then for 1 month for the current Employer 2 but your salary has been, say, £40000, you would have earned £20000 in just 6 months and can apply under Category B! No need to wait for 12 months. No need to supply documents for the job(s) before these two employments. You still need to tick a Category B, not A, because you haven’t worked for your current employer for 6 months.
In our real case, we had a British spouse starting a job in the UK as a headmaster of a school on a salary of £200000 pa (after returning from abroad). We only needed 2 months worth of earnings to qualify! Didn’t need to use Category A and wait for 6 months. Didn’t need to add prior overseas earnings either to cover last 12 months.
All the posts of our original series 10 Common Mistakes - Financial Requirement for UK Spouse Visa see link
We also have posts “advising” Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on her UK visa. It’s fun to read but legally accurate and the cover the same Rules as would apply to an ordinary British-foreign couple, including the author of this blog, who had been through this process in 2003 and worked in immigration law since.
For individual advice or to make an application, please visit our website, Spouse Visa page: or contact us: info@1st4immigration.com. We respond emails on the same working day.
1st 4Immigration Ltd, authorised by the OISC, ref 200800152. We operate at the highest Level 3 of expertise. Office address: 68 King William Street, City of London, London, EC4M 7DZ.
If you changed your job and can’t apply under Category A because you haven’t worked for your new (ie current) employer for 6 months yet, you’d have to use Category B. The 1st part would be your current salary being £18600 per year.
The 2nd part is total earnings for the last 12 months in both current and previous jobs. Or several previous jobs, as you can combine any number of jobs in the 12 months prior to the visa application.
The question is: do you actually have to have worked for the whole 12 months before applying? Or to wait for the whole 12 months if you didn’t work that long?
The answer is No - if you can meet the total £18600 in earnings in a shorter period than 12 months. Of course, you need a salary much higher than £18600!
For example, if you only worked for 5 months for Employer 1 and then for 1 month for the current Employer 2 but your salary has been, say, £40000, you would have earned £20000 in just 6 months and can apply under Category B! No need to wait for 12 months. No need to supply documents for the job(s) before these two employments. You still need to tick a Category B, not A, because you haven’t worked for your current employer for 6 months.
In our real case, we had a British spouse starting a job in the UK as a headmaster of a school on a salary of £200000 pa (after returning from abroad). We only needed 2 months worth of earnings to qualify! Didn’t need to use Category A and wait for 6 months. Didn’t need to add prior overseas earnings either to cover last 12 months.
All the posts of our original series 10 Common Mistakes - Financial Requirement for UK Spouse Visa see link
We also have posts “advising” Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on her UK visa. It’s fun to read but legally accurate and the cover the same Rules as would apply to an ordinary British-foreign couple, including the author of this blog, who had been through this process in 2003 and worked in immigration law since.
For individual advice or to make an application, please visit our website, Spouse Visa page: or contact us: info@1st4immigration.com. We respond emails on the same working day.
1st 4Immigration Ltd, authorised by the OISC, ref 200800152. We operate at the highest Level 3 of expertise. Office address: 68 King William Street, City of London, London, EC4M 7DZ.
