Refusal on spouse visa on financial exemption rule.please help.

[Exempt]

SPOUSE VISA REFUSED :
CAN ANYONE GIVE ME ADVICE.
I NOW have a job for 5 hours a week earning £150 approx per month which started a week ago.
I was not working at time of submitting spouse visa.
My DLA is £392.00 per month with savings of approx £4000.
Rent is free provided by my parents.
And I am pregnant and due in 11 weeks time.
Could I appeal with my new job as I am short of only £90.95 per month from the Income Support Rate ??????

I would appreciate any feedback or advice.

REASON GIVEN BELOW AS WORDED ON REFUSAL OF ENTRY CLEARANCE :

Your sponsor is exempt from meeting the requirements of paragraph E-ECP.3.1 as they are in receipt of DLA.
In order to meet requirements of these Rules you and your sponsor must be able to maintain and accommodate yourselves and any dependents adequately in the UK without recourse to public funds.
I note that your sponsor is in receipt of £392.00 per month benefits.
I am not able to take into account any potential employment you have available to you in the UK or any offers of of financial support from third parties.
You propose to live with your sponsor at her parents' home and you provide evidence that they own a property in the UK.
However the Income Support for a family with no children is £482.95 per month excluding rent.
Therefore your sponsor's income does not meet the Income Support rate.
I am not satisfied that you and your sponsor are able to maintain yourselves and any dependents adequately in the UK without recourse to public funds.
I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1 (d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. ( E-ECP.3.3 (b)).

[grahamw48]

Confusing.

Is the sponsor a male or a female.

Are you the sponsor or the applicant ?

Is the sponsor receiving DLA, or yourself ?

The income does sound extremely low.

I'm not surprised the visa was refused...sorry to say.

[Exempt]

I am the sponsor and I am female.
Could you please let me know if my DLA income of £392 will go towards the required amount of £482.95 per month ?
When I applied my only income was £392 for DLA.
So I am/was thinking 482.95 Minus 392 = £90.95 SHORTFALL
I am now employed and will be getting approx £150 per month for my job combined with my DLA(if allowed by the rules)
I would be getting £542 approx per month.
So if I met the Income Support Level ( please advise me if dla is allowed to be counted)
and if so How many wage slips would I need to re-apply spouse visa ? or would a letter suffice from my employer regarding new employment to submit a fresh application ??
Your time and help is very much appreciated.

[imagine]

if you dont get all the advice you need tonight, keep returning there will be more knowledgable members on tomorrow who will read your post,
i dont have the answer for you im afraid,
good luck and welcome to the forum

[andy222]

Where did you apply for your visa?

[Terpe]

SPOUSE VISA REFUSED :
CAN ANYONE GIVE ME ADVICE.
I NOW have a job for 5 hours a week earning £150 approx per month which started a week ago.
I was not working at time of submitting spouse visa.
My DLA is £392.00 per month with savings of approx £4000.
Rent is free provided by my parents.
And I am pregnant and due in 11 weeks time.
Could I appeal with my new job as I am short of only £90.95 per month from the Income Support Rate ??????

I would appreciate any feedback or advice.

REASON GIVEN BELOW AS WORDED ON REFUSAL OF ENTRY CLEARANCE :

Your sponsor is exempt from meeting the requirements of paragraph E-ECP.3.1 as they are in receipt of DLA.
In order to meet requirements of these Rules you and your sponsor must be able to maintain and accommodate yourselves and any dependents adequately in the UK without recourse to public funds.
I note that your sponsor is in receipt of £392.00 per month benefits.
I am not able to take into account any potential employment you have available to you in the UK or any offers of of financial support from third parties.
You propose to live with your sponsor at her parents' home and you provide evidence that they own a property in the UK.
However the Income Support for a family with no children is £482.95 per month excluding rent.
Therefore your sponsor's income does not meet the Income Support rate.
I am not satisfied that you and your sponsor are able to maintain yourselves and any dependents adequately in the UK without recourse to public funds.
I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1 (d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. ( E-ECP.3.3 (b)).

Very sorry to hear about your refusal. It's always upsetting no matter what the reasons.

You correctly understood the immigration rules in that those in receipt of DLA are exempt from the Financial Requirement relating to minimum Income Threshold.

However, somewhere along the way it seems you did not understand that instead of Financial Requirements you need to meet the exemption immigration rules under FM1.7a - Maintenance.
These rules state that there must be 'adequately maintenance'

In simple terms you must provide evidence that after housing costs have been deducted, there must be available to the family the level of gross income that would be available to them if the family was in receipt of income support.

For 2012-2013 tax year this amount is £111.45 per week for a couple with no children.

When the application was made this minimum income of £111.45 per week (£482.95 per month) was not reached.
The caseworkers and ECO's do not have any discretion at all on this. The only was for the application to fail and be refused.

Personally I can see no chance that any appeal would be successful.
Appeals usually take quite a long time to be worked. Usually expect 6 months.

I believe you would benefit from a short free consulation with an experienced immigration advisor.
Your circumstances are not stable since you are already pregnant. After the birth of your baby the needed level of 'adequate maintenance' will increase by £64.99 per week from £111.45 per week to £176.44 per week (£764.57 per month)

It looks like your best option would be to re-apply asap with your latest income figures since they do meet existing requirements. (if you can provide sufficient evidence)
Be aware there are still some risks involved especially looking into the future and that you will be expected to reach any new income levels for the next visa FLR(M) in 30 months time.

Please review the information and consider a brief update from an experienced advisor on your own personal options.

Strictly speaking although you only need to prove receipt of DLA, you would need to provide additional details of your new job which essentially means several months (maybe 3 - 6 months) of payslips and associated bank statements plus a letter from the employer (confirming the person’s employment and annual salary)
I can't give you precise info just now on just how many months but an experienced advisor will likely know.
If there's any doubt it must be 6 months.

Hope this will help you a little

[Exempt]

Very sorry to hear about your refusal. It's always upsetting no matter what the reasons.

You correctly understood the immigration rules in that those in receipt of DLA are exempt from the Financial Requirement relating to minimum Income Threshold.

However, somewhere along the way it seems you did not understand that instead of Financial Requirements you need to meet the exemption immigration rules under FM1.7a - Maintenance.
These rules state that there must be 'adequately maintenance'

In simple terms you must provide evidence that after housing costs have been deducted, there must be available to the family the level of gross income that would be available to them if the family was in receipt of income support.

For 2012-2013 tax year this amount is £111.45 per week for a couple with no children.

When the application was made this minimum income of £111.45 per week (£482.95 per month) was not reached.
The caseworkers and ECO's do not have any discretion at all on this. The only was for the application to fail and be refused.

Personally I can see no chance that any appeal would be successful.
Appeals usually take quite a long time to be worked. Usually expect 6 months.

I believe you would benefit from a short free consulation with an experienced immigration advisor.
Your circumstances are not stable since you are already pregnant. After the birth of your baby the needed level of 'adequate maintenance' will increase by £64.99 per week from £111.45 per week to £176.44 per week (£764.57 per month)

It looks like your best option would be to re-apply asap with your latest income figures since they do meet existing requirements. (if you can provide sufficient evidence)
Be aware there are still some risks involved especially looking into the future and that you will be expected to reach any new income levels for the next visa FLR(M) in 30 months time.

Please review the information and consider a brief update from an experienced advisor on your own personal options.

Strictly speaking although you only need to prove receipt of DLA, you would need to provide additional details of your new job which essentially means several months (maybe 3 - 6 months) of payslips and associated bank statements plus a letter from the employer (confirming the person’s employment and annual salary)
I can't give you precise info just now on just how many months but an experienced advisor will likely know.
If there's any doubt it must be 6 months.

Hope this will help you a little

IS my DLA income of £392 counted towards the £482.95 adequate maintenance figure ??????

[Janedan0913]

I think you don't have. To use the public funds in order for your application to be valid. You need to prove to them that you can live in Uk without recourse to public funds. You need to submit at least 6 months payslip although you just have said you just got your job. Send them a proof of accomodation, payslip, employment agreement, bank statement that you can support him/her. You can also send an email to the ukba about your situation and they will give you an advice. Try citizens advice bureau, they can help as well. I don't know about immigration expert as they just read the ukba website or other forum and they are being paid for that. Good luck on your application.

[marksroomspain]

Yes your DLA can be included towards the adequate maintenance level as long as it comes to 50% of the minimum income support level of £111.45 so as you say your DLA is £392 monthly so £98 weekly which is more than 50% of the level of income support so that is fine plus with your extra income you should be fine....

[Exempt]

Yes your DLA can be included towards the adequate maintenance level as long as it comes to 50% of the minimum income support level of £111.45 so as you say your DLA is £392 monthly so £98 weekly which is more than 50% of the level of income support so that is fine plus with your extra income you should be fine....

Thank you for your reply.
May I ask your source of information.
Also I have been advised to claim IS as I am entitled to it and then reclaim for a spouse visa and I will meet the requirement along with my job for £150 a month as I can declare the new job and get IS.
What are your thoughts ?

[marksroomspain]

Hi there the information on this is documented on here somewhere by Terpe also information from an immigration lawyer to these facts, I am sure if you search then you will see what I mean, as regards to IS then yes if you are entitled to it then this can be used as means of support for yourself as in regards to DLA this can be used by yourself the sponsor as support for your spouse as case law states hope this helps and good luck...

[Exempt]

Hi there the information on this is documented on here somewhere by Terpe also information from an immigration lawyer to these facts, I am sure if you search then you will see what I mean, as regards to IS then yes if you are entitled to it then this can be used as means of support for yourself as in regards to DLA this can be used by yourself the sponsor as support for your spouse as case law states hope this helps and good luck...

Hi,
Thank you for your reply.
If I claimed IS (and declare £150 per month wages to IS) , and re apply for a spouse visa , How many Months wage slips would be sufficient to enclose with application as I would be applying under exemption rules again ???

[marksroomspain]

At least one bank statement with evidence of IS and DLA being paid in is required under the rules regarding exemption from financial requirement, if you can meet maintenance levels with these amounts alone then that is all that is required, please take a look on here and search for DLA sponsor I am sure there will be some information regarding others who have been down this route, once again good luck...

[Terpe]

IS my DLA income of £392 counted towards the £482.95 adequate maintenance figure ??????

Yes.
Income from benefits can be included as income towards adequate maintenance.

[Terpe]

.....If I claimed IS (and declare £150 per month wages to IS) , and re apply for a spouse visa , How many Months wage slips would be sufficient to enclose with application as I would be applying under exemption rules again ???

In principle you will need to evidence both the benefits you receive and your income from salaried employment.

1. Benefits

To evidence UK Maternity Allowance, Bereavement Allowance, Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent's Allowance (or any UK welfare benefit or tax credit relied upon:

(i) Department for Work and Pensions (or HMRC) documentation confirming the person or their partner is or was in receipt of the benefit in the 12-month period prior to the date of application.

(ii) personal bank statements for the 12-month period prior to the date of application showing the income was paid into the person's account.

2. Salaried Employment

Where the current salaried employment in the UK of the applicant or their partner, parent, parent's partner or sponsor is relied upon all of the following must be provided:

(a) A letter from the employer confirming the employment, the gross annual salary and the annual salary after income tax and National Insurance contributions have been paid, how long the employment has been held, and the type of employment (permanent, fixed-term contract or agency).

(b) Wage slips covering the period of 6 months prior to the date of application or such shorter period as the current employment has been held.

(c) Personal bank statements covering the same period as the wage slips, showing that the salary has been paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.

Source:-
Immigration Directorate Instructions - Chapter 8 Family - Section FM 1.7a - Maintenance - February 2013