What Evidence is Needed to Prove I Meet the Spouse Visa Financial Requirement on Income?
When our Immigration Solicitors help a visa applicant hoping to reunite with a loved one in the UK, we carefully prepare their Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa application. We spend just as much time checking that the Family Visa paperwork meets the requirements of Appendix FM-SE.
In this article, our Immigration Solicitors answer your questions on Appendix FM-SE and the evidence needed to prove you meet the Spouse Visa income financial requirement.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Lawyers and Spouse Visa Solicitors
For Family Visa and immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi
What is the income financial requirement for a Family Visa?
The income financial requirement for a UK Family Visa is now £29,000. The government plans to increase the financial requirement to £34,500 in mid-2024 and to £38,700 in early 2025.
Proving that you meet the financial requirement is critical to the success of your Family Visa application. If you don’t send the correct paperwork in support of your visa application then however compelling your case your request for a visa will be refused. You will then have to either submit a fresh Spouse Visa application or consider an appeal – both involve delay in getting you reunited with your sponsoring partner if you are applying for your Family Visa from outside the UK.
What is Appendix FM-SE?
Spouse Visa Solicitors say that it shows just how important paperwork is when the Home Office devotes a whole Appendix to detailing the evidence you need to supply to prove you meet the Family Visa financial requirement.
Appendix FM-SE sets out the evidence Family Visa applicants need to provide to meet the requirements of the rules in Appendix FM. The Appendix FM-SE rules cover:
- Permitted sources of income and savings
- The time periods for qualifying income sources
- Evidence required for each permitted income source
Although Appendix FM-SE says that Home Office officials can request a missing document from you (for example one missing bank statement) or exercise discretion if a document is lost or not available in your country of application, Spouse Visa Solicitors say that it is unwise to rely on a Home Office caseworker asking for extra documents or missing pages as the Home Office official may simply refuse your application meaning you probably have to make a fresh application.
What is classed as employed income to meet the Spouse Visa financial requirement?
Employed income for the Family Visa falls into 2 categories:
- Category A – if you or your sponsoring partner has been working for an employer for at least 6 months
- Category B - if you or your sponsoring partner has been working for an employer for less than 6 months or where there is a variable income. For example, your sponsoring partner is on a zero-hours contract of employment or a major proportion of their income is commission payments
Whether a visa applicant can rely on their employed income to meet the financial requirement depends on whether they are applying for entry clearance by making a first Family Visa application or if they are applying to extend their Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa or apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
If you are uncertain if your income can be taken into account to meet the financial requirement it's best to take specialist Spouse Visa legal advice.
If your sponsoring partner is a company director then there are different rules on the paperwork needed to evidence that you meet the financial requirement. Some types of company director income don’t fall into category A or B so again it is best to speak to Spouse Visa Solicitors about your sponsoring partner’s income and circumstances.
What payslips do I have to provide to meet the Spouse Visa income financial requirement?
Unless your sponsoring partner falls within the company director rules, you will need to provide evidence of their income by producing pay slips, a letter from their employer and bank statements. If your income can be taken into account you will need to supply the same evidence for your salary.
The pay slips will need to be for 6 or 12 months from before the date of application depending on whether your sponsoring partner is relying on category A or B employment.
The Appendix FM-SE says the pay slips must be:
- Formal payslips issued by the employer and showing the employer’s name or
- Accompanied by a letter from the employer. The letter must be on the employer’s headed paper and signed by a senior official. The letter must say the payslips are genuine
Why do I need a letter from my sponsoring partner’s employer for my Spouse Visa application?
Even if your sponsoring partner gets formal payslips, they will still need to obtain a letter from their employer to enable you to comply with the requirements of Appendix FM-SE.
The letter from the employer must cover your sponsoring partner’s:
- Employment and gross annual salary
- Length of their employment
- Period over which they have been or were paid the salary you are relying on in your Family Visa application
- Type of employment. For example, if their employment contract is permanent or a fixed-term contract
A letter is necessary under the rules to try to weed out applications where a sponsoring partner is employed by their family and had a massive pay rise 6 months ago to coincide with the evidence requirements even though the nature of their job does not appear to warrant such a large pay rise. Those situations are rare but the letter is required whether your sponsoring partner works for a PLC or their family business.
Why do I need to supply bank statements from my sponsoring partner in addition to payslips?
Appendix FM-SE says that if you are relying on your sponsoring partner’s salaried income to meet the Family Visa financial requirement you need your visa application to be accompanied by their personal bank statements.
The personal bank statements need to be for the same period as your sponsoring partner’s payslips (either 6 or 12 months). The bank statements need to show that their salary has been paid into a bank account in their name or your joint names.
Bank statements are necessary under the rules to try to spot Family Visa applications where a sponsoring partner has obtained sham wage slips and a letter from a sham employer or where the employer has overstated the salary in a letter. This situation is also rare but the same rules apply whether your sponsoring partner is employed by a friend or family or by a household name multinational corporation.
Bank statements must be from a regulated financial institution and must be in an acceptable format to the Home Office. They can either be:
- Printed by the bank for you or
- Electronic statements supported by a letter from the bank on headed stationery confirming the bank statements are genuine or officially stamped on each page by a bank official
How can our Spouse Visa Solicitors help you with your Family Visa application?
Our specialist Spouse Visa Solicitors are experts in Family Visa, Spouse Visa and Unmarried Partner Visa applications. We can help you get the contents of your application and the supporting paperwork right to give you the best chance of successfully securing your visa.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Lawyers and Spouse Visa Solicitors
For Family Visa and immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi
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