Saigon456

Hi,

My name is Peter, I am a British citizen and circumstances have meant that after 15 years in Vietnam our family is now looking to move back to the UK. I have a Vietnamese wife (married for 12 years) and 2 children (who both have UK passports).

Just checking to see how we can meet the financial requirements.

We have an apartment we bought here that is worth around 68,000 pounds. It's in my wife's name, can be sold very quickly.

I'm thinking of coming over first with my eldest child in around 2 months time, staying with family and looking for employment.

What's the most painless way to get everyone over to the UK in the shortest time-frame? We would rather not spend too much time apart as I'm sure many here can relate to.

Would I need to have the savings in my own name in the UK or can the savings be in the wife's name and the funds kept abroad? What's the easiest way to get funds over to the UK if that's whats needed?

Thanks in advance.
Peter.

BritInParis

Selling your apartment in Vietnam and using the proceeds to meet the financial requirements through savings would be the quickest and painless way to proceed. Ordinarily savings need to be held above the threshold of £62,500 for at least six months before the date of application but if the money are the proceeds of a property sale, then so long as you had owned the property for at least six months before the sale, you can apply using those funds immediately. You will need to provide evidence of your length of ownership to qualify.

The savings can be held in your name, your wife's name or jointly. They can be held in an UK or overseas account. If in a foreign currency then the Home Office will use the rate of exchange as it appeared on oanda.com on the date of application.

If your application is successful then you and your family can move together to the UK. There needs to be no period of separation.

Saigon456

Thank you for your help BritInParis.

Problem....the property we have in Vietnam is not yet built...we got in on the ground level so to speak, it will be finished in December 2017. In fact, we are still paying installments until a final chunk at completion. The first payment was June 2016. I'm guessing that doesn't count as "owning" the property for more than 6 months.

So this is not going to work for us correct? We need to go the 6 month salary route?

Thanks again for any advice you can give it's most appreciated.

Saigon456

I was also interested to know the exact qualifications needed by my wife in terms of settling in the UK. She has mentioned that friends of hers needed a certain English language minimum certification of IELTS level 4. Is this true?

SanDiegogirl

If the property is not yet built and you are still paying in installments until completion, then this asset is not going to be able to be used for the financial requirements.

You will have to go the income route.

Saigon456

OK thanks. What if we had £31,250 savings in our bank account now, then I started working in the UK in 3 months time and got 3 further months salary at the required minimum? Is it possible to mix it up like that so we can shorten the time-frame we'll be separated (3 months apart total)?

So to summarize....

1) The bank account would have minimum £31,250 after 6 months.
2) I would have 3 months salary at £18,600 annual rate.

Would that work?

SanDiegogirl

Not from what you describe above. If you move to the UK, then get a job, you need to be in that job for 6 months before you can apply for the visa.

If you have a CURRENT job which earns over 18,600 AND you have a job to go to in the UK starting within three months of your return, which, also, earns over 18,600 then you can apply now for the visa.

Savings can be used to make up shortfall if you don't earn 18,600 per annum



Read the following document to see how you can qualify;

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...equirement.pdf

Pulaski

Note, the savings requirement is non-linear - it is only the amount of savings in excess of £16,000 that counts as "savings" e.g. £16,100 counts as £100 of savings.

Saigon456

OK thanks. I was also interested to know the exact qualifications needed by my wife in terms of settling in the UK. She has mentioned that friends of hers needed a certain English language minimum certification of IELTS level 4. Is this true?

BritInParis

https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk...dge-of-english

Novocastrian

[pedantmode] It's perfectly linear but doesn't pass through the origin [/pendantmode]

Saigon456

Let me give the members here a hypothetical situation and see if you can give me a thumbs up.

1) I move back to the UK and start in a new job earning £11,600 per annum starting July 1st.
2) At the same time we have £33,000 in savings in my wife's Viet account.

(at this point we are good for the financial requirements 6 months later right?)

BUT....

3) On December 1st we need to pay the final chunk on the apartment we've been paying for, which is the whole £33,000 savings.
4) We sell the apartment for £60,000 only a few days later and put the cash back in the bank.
5) Come January 1st (6 months after I started working) we start the application process.

Is this going to be acceptable as meeting the financial requirement or will the movement of funds out and then back into the account totally scupper the plans?

SanDiegogirl

If you start the new job on 1 July 2017 you can only apply for the spouse visa on 1st January 2018, when you have 6 months of payslips.

If you earn 11,600 per annum you need 33,500 GBP in savings.

If you remove the savings in December to finally pay for the apartment you start the clock again with regard to savings in the bank. The savings must be untouched for the application.

The other issue you have not thought about is that you need to have officially OWNED the property you are selling for at least 6 months prior to the sale.

This aspect you have not fulfilled.

Saigon456

OK so, revised plan...Obviously I would hope to get a job with enough salary where I don't need to use savings...I'm just thinking of bad case scenario....

1) I move back to the UK and start in a new job earning £11,800 per annum starting July 1st.
2) At the same time we have £33,000 in savings in my wife's Viet account.
3) On December 1st we need to pay the final chunk on the apartment we've been paying, for which we borrow the £33,000 we need (either from bank or family) and leave the original £33,000 untouched in our savings account.
4) We sell the apartment for £60,000 shortly after it's paid off, pay back the loan, put the rest of the proceeds in the bank. (This is an irrelevant step right? I'm just talking aloud).
5) Come January 1st (6 months after I started working) we start the application process.

Can I get an amen on that?

SanDiegogirl

Your plan is:

- You move to UK and get job paying 11,800 GBP from July 1 2017.
- on July 1st 2017 you have 33,000 GBP in savings in bank
- you apply for spouse visa Jan 2018 using the 33K you have had in bank for 6 months, plus your income.

Yes, that would be OK.