Income threshold

[lastlid]

MY annual salary is around £20,000 a year now gross. Since april end the end of this month i will have earned £10.000 gross, september end would be £12,000 ,october just under £14,000 ans so on. My p60 for last april states that i earned just under 16,000, Mainly because i did not start this job until end of may 2011. I have taken on since july, 2 extra shifts a month so it would take me well over the required threshold by the year end mark. my employer will confirm those earnings. Actually it works out a lot more than £20,000 a year cos i have to cover holidays etc.

when would you suggest i make my application, or should i wait until i break the £18600 barrier. would be around jan/feb.

If they want 6 months worth of proof, then a P60 is out of date after 6 months has elapsed from its issue. And would cease to be relevant. That's my way of thinking. So right now the last P60 is out of date for all of us that are applying for Spouse visas.

[Iani]

MY annual salary is around £20,000 a year now gross. Since april end the end of this month i will have earned £10.000 gross, september end would be £12,000 ,october just under £14,000 ans so on. My p60 for last april states that i earned just under 16,000, Mainly because i did not start this job until end of may 2011. I have taken on since july, 2 extra shifts a month so it would take me well over the required threshold by the year end mark. my employer will confirm those earnings. Actually it works out a lot more than £20,000 a year cos i have to cover holidays etc.

when would you suggest i make my application, or should i wait until i break the £18600 barrier. would be around jan/feb.

Right, to prove you have the earning requirement, you need to do one of a number of things

a. One year showing all your earnings came to over £18,600. This is really the one where the P60 is most useful.

b. Six months salary slips in a job (or jobs) which over the course of a year is on target to earn over £18,600. All those salary slips must be consecutive in earning, ie you can't have one month where you earned less.

c. Have earned over £18,600 in the last 12 months. This one is useful if say your earnings suddenly increase drastically, or you were very near the threshold but then had an increase, loads of overtime etc.

So, if you took on the new job paying around 20k in May 2011, you should definitely have 6 months worth of salary slips which will show you are on target to earn over £18,600. Go for it now if you want.

OR, get all your salary slips for the last 12 months, starting with this months and work backwards, get out a calculator and add up the salary shown on those slips (before tax remember). I would be extremely surprised if this didn't come to over £18,600, so you can again submit it now if you want.

You just don't have to wait until you have earned over £18,600 THIS financial year, because it doesn't go by financial years, it goes by calendar years - if you earned £18,600 or above in the last 12 months, you have met the requirement, simple as that.

So really, it's up to you when you apply. You might not want to apply until January to get more evidence of chats together perhaps.

[lastlid]

(b) The P60 for the relevant period or periods (if issued).

(c) Wage slips covering:
(i) a period of 6 months prior to the date of application if the applicant has been employed by their current employer for at least 6 months;

This is it..from Joe Bloggs post 14, above, quoting from the book.

[joebloggs]

Whether UKBA will insist on all of the above documents I posted being provided for the application, we don't yet know.

also from the guidance notes .

The UK Border Agency caseworker should normally refuse an application which does not provide the evidence specified in this Appendix. However, where document(s) have been submitted, but not as specified, and the caseworker considers that, if the specified document(s) were submitted, it would result in a grant of leave, they should contact the applicant or their representative in writing or otherwise to request the document(s) be submitted within a reasonable timeframe. Examples of documents submitted not as specified include:

a) A document missing from a series, e.g. a bank statement;
b) A document in the wrong format; or
c) A document that is a copy rather than the original.

If the applicant does not submit the document(s) as requested, the caseworker may refuse the application. Where the specified document(s) cannot be supplied (e.g. because they are not available in a particular country or have been permanently lost), the caseworker has discretion not to apply the requirement for the specified document(s) or to request alternative or additional information or documents be submitted by the applicant."

[lastlid]

This thread reminds about the police officer that stops a speeding motorist for driving at 100mph on the motorway and the driver responds by saying that it was impossible as he had only been driving for 5 minutes....

[Terpe]

Right, to prove you have the earning requirement, you need to do one of a number of things

a. One year showing all your earnings came to over £18,600. This is really the one where the P60 is most useful.

b. Six months salary slips in a job (or jobs) which over the course of a year is on target to earn over £18,600. All those salary slips must be consecutive in earning, ie you can't have one month where you earned less.

c. Have earned over £18,600 in the last 12 months. This one is useful if say your earnings suddenly increase drastically, or you were very near the threshold but then had an increase, loads of overtime etc.

So, if you took on the new job paying around 20k in May 2011, you should definitely have 6 months worth of salary slips which will show you are on target to earn over £18,600. Go for it now if you want.

OR, get all your salary slips for the last 12 months, starting with this months and work backwards, get out a calculator and add up the salary shown on those slips (before tax remember). I would be extremely surprised if this didn't come to over £18,600, so you can again submit it now if you want.

You just don't have to wait until you have earned over £18,600 THIS financial year, because it doesn't go by financial years, it goes by calendar years - if you earned £18,600 or above in the last 12 months, you have met the requirement, simple as that.

So really, it's up to you when you apply. You might not want to apply until January to get more evidence of chats together perhaps.

Nice effort in trying to put forward the options.
Just that some key parts may be misleading.

For me, I don't understand the new financial requirements to be quite like that.

The UKBA are clear about how to meet the financial requirements.

There are a number of specific categories and the one that is applicable needs to be declared.

For applications that will be based on salaried employment there are two different categories

Category A is for salaried employment for the last 6 months

Category B is for salaried employment for less than the last 6 months

Under the rules for Category A, the applicant’s partner should be in salaried employment at the point of application and have been with the same employer for at least the last 6 months.
The applicant can count the gross annual salary (at its lowest level in those 6 months) towards the financial requirement.

If necessary to meet the level of the financial requirement applicable to the application, the applicant can add to this:-

- the gross amount of any specified non-employment income received by the applicant in the 12 months prior to the application, provided they continue to own the relevant asset (e.g. property, shares) at the date of application.

- Any savings above £16000 (subject to the 2.5 modifying factor)

- The gross annual income received by the applicant’s partner from any pension.


Under the rules for Category B the financial requirement must be evidenced in two parts.

First Part
Where the applicant’s partner is in salaried employment at the date of application and has been with the same employer for less than the last 6 months, the applicant can count the gross annual salary at the date of application towards the financial requirement.

If necessary to meet the level of the financial requirement applicable to the application, the applicant can add to this:-

- the gross amount of any specified non-employment income received by the applicant in the 12 months prior to the application, provided they continue to own the relevant asset (e.g. property, shares) at the date of application.

- Any savings above £16000 (subject to the 2.5 modifying factor)

- The gross annual income received by the applicant’s partner from any pension.


Second Part
The applicants partner must in addition have received in the 12 months prior to the application the level of income required to meet the financial requirement applicable to it, based on:-

- The gross salaried employment income of the applicant’s partner

- The gross amount of any specified non-employment income received by the applicant’s partner

- The gross amount of any pension received by the applicant’s partner

- The gross amount of any UK Maternity Allowance, Bereavement Allowance, Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance received by the applicant’s partner.


There does not seem (to me) to be any flexibility in basing the compliance of income on 12 months evidence in the case where you have been working for the same employer for more than 6 months.

UKBA goes on to state that

Moving to another position with the same employer does not restart the 6-month period over which employment at the required salary level can be demonstrated, provided the employment is paid at at least the level of salary on which the application relies throughout that period. That period will restart where the applicant’s partner or the applicant changes employer

.

Just felt it was needed to provide that important clarification.

[joebloggs]

Nice effort in trying to put forward the options.
Just that some key parts may be misleading.

For me, I don't understand the new financial requirements to be quite like that.

The UKBA are clear about how to meet the financial requirements.

There are a number of specific categories and the one that is applicable needs to be declared.

For applications that will be based on salaried employment there are two different categories

Category A is for salaried employment for the last 6 months

Category B is for salaried employment for less than the last 6 months

Under the rules for Category A, the applicant’s partner should be in salaried employment at the point of application and have been with the same employer for at least the last 6 months.
The applicant can count the gross annual salary (at its lowest level in those 6 months) towards the financial requirement.

If necessary to meet the level of the financial requirement applicable to the application, the applicant can add to this:-

- the gross amount of any specified non-employment income received by the applicant in the 12 months prior to the application, provided they continue to own the relevant asset (e.g. property, shares) at the date of application.

- Any savings above £16000 (subject to the 2.5 modifying factor)

- The gross annual income received by the applicant’s partner from any pension.


Under the rules for Category B the financial requirement must be evidenced in two parts.

First Part
Where the applicant’s partner is in salaried employment at the date of application and has been with the same employer for less than the last 6 months, the applicant can count the gross annual salary at the date of application towards the financial requirement.

If necessary to meet the level of the financial requirement applicable to the application, the applicant can add to this:-

- the gross amount of any specified non-employment income received by the applicant in the 12 months prior to the application, provided they continue to own the relevant asset (e.g. property, shares) at the date of application.

- Any savings above £16000 (subject to the 2.5 modifying factor)

- The gross annual income received by the applicant’s partner from any pension.


Second Part
The applicants partner must in addition have received in the 12 months prior to the application the level of income required to meet the financial requirement applicable to it, based on:-

- The gross salaried employment income of the applicant’s partner

- The gross amount of any specified non-employment income received by the applicant’s partner

- The gross amount of any pension received by the applicant’s partner

- The gross amount of any UK Maternity Allowance, Bereavement Allowance, Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance received by the applicant’s partner.


There does not seem (to me) to be any flexibility in basing the compliance of income on 12 months evidence in the case where you have been working for the same employer for more than 6 months.

UKBA goes on to state that .

Just felt it was needed to provide that important clarification.

i think some people should be careful of what i've hi-lighted in red, as there is NO discretion regarding the £18,600.

[Iani]

Thanks for putting in the correction/clarification, maybe I'm trying to make things too simplistic

[songz777]

May I ask what is the national average for a couple to live on per week? £105 was mentioned. I need to work out how much I have of living salary after my statuory obligations if that makes sense?

Many thanks John

[Terpe]

May I ask what is the national average for a couple to live on per week? £105 was mentioned. I need to work out how much I have of living salary after my statuory obligations if that makes sense?

Many thanks John

John,
May I suggest you review the Forum guides on how to apply for a Spouse or Fiance(e) visa

Here for Spouse

and

Here for Fiance(e)

You will see that it makes no difference whatsoever what your living salary is or what your disposable income is or what your outgoings are or even whether you can actually afford an additional consuming adult in the household.

The ONLY financial requirement (excluding exemptions) is that the sponsor has an income of £18600 per year minimum (more if dependents are included)

John, if you don't make £18600 per year you need to think about how to meet that rule.

I strongly suggest you read the above links and follow all the contained UKBA links. It will greatly increase your understanding.

Those guides will also clarify exactly what exemptions are eligible.
Under the exemptions your disposable income (living wage) does become important as you need to prove adequate funding. Currently this is based on income support levels and means you must have £111.45 per week available from your gross income after deduction of housing costs/council tax/secured loans etc.

Do please read the information linked above and don't be shy to ask any specific questions you need clarification on.

[songz777]

John,
May I suggest you review the Forum guides on how to apply for a Spouse or Fiance(e) visa

Here for Spouse

and

Here for Fiance(e)

You will see that it makes no difference whatsoever what your living salary is or what your disposable income is or what your outgoings are or even whether you can actually afford an additional consuming adult in the household.

The ONLY financial requirement (excluding exemptions) is that the sponsor has an income of £18600 per year minimum (more if dependents are included)

John, if you don't make £18600 per year you need to think about how to meet that rule.

I strongly suggest you read the above links and follow all the contained UKBA links. It will greatly increase your understanding.

Those guides will also clarify exactly what exemptions are eligible.
Under the exemptions your disposable income (living wage) does become important as you need to prove adequate funding. Currently this is based on income support levels and means you must have £111.45 per week available from your gross income after deduction of housing costs/council tax/secured loans etc.

Do please read the information linked above and don't be shy to ask any specific questions you need clarification on.

Many thanks Terpe I am within the required annual gross salary so thats good, as alwasy apprectiate all your input.

Many thanks John