UK Visas and British Citizenship

Ah, if only it were as easy as that! The visa officers have also thought of that. They don’t want people to secure employment, apply for a Spouse visa and resign the day the visa has been issued. There are 2 ways to “use” employment income from (not counting combinations with other sources), both can be found in Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules . Category A: based on your current employment in the UK. Here you need to have for this employer for the last 6 months before the date of visa application. You can still secure a job just for the Financial Requirement and can still resign the day after the visa has been approved. But you have to work for this company for 6 months! Also, you need to have a salary of £18600 (ie based on £18600 per year) for the whole 6 months. If you had a lower salary during the probationary period (usually 3 months) and then had a rise to £18600, you can’t apply for a visa until you have had 6 months of salary based on £18600 (ie have to wait until 9

This is one of the most common scenarios in our practice, which leads to one of the most common misunderstandings of the Immigration Rules. A typical situation: both husband and wife are residing outside the UK, let’s say in the USA or Australia or the Philippines (all very common in our work).  At some point, they decide to come back to the UK for good. The foreign partner has to apply for a UK Spouse visa, which means meeting the Financial Requirement and £18600 threshold. There is a lot of confusion on what kind of income can be used and who (which spouse) has to have that income. Getting it wrong leads to many visa refusals. If you are trying to use savings or non-employment income (pension, rent from property etc), such income/savings can be originating from anywhere in the world and can be in the name of either spouse or in their joint names. For example, a husband may have savings in the USA and the wife – in the UK. One may have the pension from the UK, the other from Au

You think it’s not possible? Yet it is. All it takes is a Home Office official making a mistake when applying their own complex UK Immigration Rules. Does it happen? Yes, and fairly often. Is it easy to put right even though it’s the mistake of the authorities’? It can be put right but it won’t be easy and quick. We came across this interesting, very emotional article on Huffington Post: As Meghan Markle Chooses To Become A British Citizen I Just Wait For My Wife To Be Able To Come Home . Written by a Chief Executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), a most prominent organisation that campaigns for the foreign citizens - who come here legally and abide by the UK law - to be treated fairly. His own wife’s entry clearance application was refused by the Home Office, only for the officials to admit later they had made a mistake. Mr Singh, the author, doesn't go into technical details why it was refused but the point is the Home Office later admitted they h

In this series we will address the common mistakes the applicants make when applying to come or to remind in the UK with their British partner. We will put the most common one - by far - at the end in Week 10. So, the UK Immigration Rules require to have income of £18600 or savings of ... how much? There is so much confusion! The mistake people make here is assuming that they need savings of also £18600.  Then they may spot a requirement of “savings over £16000”. Both amounts are wrong, the correct answer is the whopping amount of £62500! The threshold of £18600 applies to income, not savings. The amount of savings is calculated using a specific formula. The first £16000 aren’t taken into account at all. This part of the calculation is often taken out of context, so many wrongly thing they are OK as long as they have £16000, but it’s only the 1st part. Then the target amount £18600 is multiplied by 2.5 to reflect the Spouse visa length of 2.5 years. We get: £18600 x 2.5 +

We have been planning to clarify the issue of savings for a Spouse visa for some time now - there’s so Michu confusion! We have been also “advising” Meghan and Prince Harry on a UK Spouse visa in this blog. Then we saw her wearing a £56000 designer dress on the official photos: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/style/celebrity-fashion/meghan-markle-official-engagement-dress-11732777 . We couldn’t help thinking “That’s almost the amount of savings to meet the Financial Requirement of the Immigration Rules !” Time to clarify the Savings rule. (Perhaps when Meghan bought THAT  dress she didn’t realise it would have “bought” her a Spouse visa - Meghan, you need a good immigration law firm like 1st 4Immigration !) So, there’s a lot of confusion. Do I need £18609 in savings? Or maybe £16000? The correct answer is the whopping amount of £62500! (We did say the cost of that dress was close.) The threshold of £18600 applies to income, not savings. The amount of savings is calculated using

We are often asked whether the Sponsor, usually a British citizen, has to meet the Financial Requirement on his/her own. The answer is no, sometimes it can be combined with the Applicant’s income (the person’s who needs a visa). Sometimes it can be only the Applicant’s income, on its own. Example 1: if the Applicant has a UK visa which allows to work, such as a Tier 1 or 2 work visa, Tier 4 Student visa or a Tier 5 visa then the Applicant’s earnings from employment or self-employment in the UK would be sufficient, without the need of the Sponsor’s income (assuming there is enough to meet the Financial Requirement). If both partners are working legally in the UK it can be a combination of both of their earnings, although there is no much point of that if one, ie either partner, can meet the Financial Requirement on his/her own (apart from the double amount of paperwork and a satisfying feeling of exceeding the Financial Requirement). Example 2: if the Financial Requirement is b