UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Old Sep 1st 2015, 10:13 am
  #1  
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Default UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Hello,

My British husband and I are thinking about moving to the UK, and I have a question in relation to meeting the financial requirements for my spouse visa. We have owned a home in Australia for several years. Instead of having the pressure of a job offer, we would like to go down the route where we can show that we have savings in excess of 64k. I have read somewhere that as from 2014, any funds arising from the sale of a property did not have to be put into cash for 6 months in a bank account , as long as we had owned the property, 6 months prior to application, and as long as the 64 k was available , in cash, in a bank account on the day of application of my British visa.
My question is : Given this new law, can we (instead of selling the property to raise the 64k), use equity in the property by re-mortgaging and have the 64k available as a cash in a bank account on the day of my application?

I have sent this question to the Home Office's email address and I received a reply saying : "you need to speak to your solicitor about your mortgage' huh??
Can anyone help with this question please?
Second question: does my husband have to go to the UK ahead of me while i wait for my application to be processed?

I would appreciate any light to be shed on this matter.

Thanks in advance.
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Old Sep 1st 2015, 4:11 pm
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Originally Posted by rimaha
Hello,

My British husband and I are thinking about moving to the UK, and I have a question in relation to meeting the financial requirements for my spouse visa. We have owned a home in Australia for several years. Instead of having the pressure of a job offer, we would like to go down the route where we can show that we have savings in excess of 64k. I have read somewhere that as from 2014, any funds arising from the sale of a property did not have to be put into cash for 6 months in a bank account , as long as we had owned the property, 6 months prior to application, and as long as the 64 k was available , in cash, in a bank account on the day of application of my British visa.
My question is : Given this new law, can we (instead of selling the property to raise the 64k), use equity in the property by re-mortgaging and have the 64k available as a cash in a bank account on the day of my application?

I


Thanks in advance.
No, you cannot re-mortgage and use that equity to qualify for the financial requirements.

That re-mortgage money in your account is a 'loan' (or lien against the property until such time as it is sold) and not acceptable.

The money used to meet the financial requirements must be "free and clear", readily available and yours alone.
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Old Sep 1st 2015, 9:50 pm
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Thank you for your reply SanDiegoGirl.
What about using savings that were put directly into the mortgage as an over-payment and which are available to withdraw at any time, with no penalty?
These savings show as a positive balance on the mortgage account.
Many families put their savings on a mortgage , rather than a savings account because you save/earn more interest that way.
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Old Sep 1st 2015, 10:02 pm
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Originally Posted by rimaha
Thank you for your reply SanDiegoGirl.
What about using savings that were put directly into the mortgage as an over-payment and which are available to withdraw at any time, with no penalty?
These savings show as a positive balance on the mortgage account.
Many families put their savings on a mortgage , rather than a savings account because you save/earn more interest that way.
Have vaguely heard of this scheme, but don't know of anyone who has been successful with this type of saving.

Can it be construed as cash savings/investments? can you produce bank statements to show balance each month?
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Old Sep 1st 2015, 10:36 pm
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Yes we can produce bank statements that show balance every month. The only problem is that, while the statement will show the over-payments as a positive balance, (and as a saving as such), the statement will also show the mortgage amount as a negative amount.
I think that, unless there has been a precedent where the mortgage account itself was accepted as a account to include savings, I'm not too sure that the Home Office staff will bother to understand or have the expertise to read the statement.

Has anyone been successful in this? I would have imagined this to be a rather common scenario, no?

Otherwise, we would have to move the money from the mortgage account to the mortgage 'offset account', (for which statements read as any normal bank account), and then wait 6 months. Seems rather silly.

If not, it is rather difficult to line up a job before entering the country. Most agents don't really want to look at the application until we're in the UK. Once in the UK, I don't envisage it to be too difficult to get jobs. So the other option is to go to the UK, wait for my husband to get a job there and then apply for my visa, then wait for my visa to be approved before I can start applying for jobs. Seems rather wasteful because we both earn good income here and all this idle time -- with me waiting for my husband to get a job then for my visa to be approved -- will be lost income for me. ...which is not in the Home Office's best interest really.
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Old Sep 1st 2015, 11:41 pm
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Your husband can go to the UK and get a job. Once he has held the job for 6 months then you can apply for the visa.

You can't apply for the visa in the UK - has to be done from your home country.
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 12:28 am
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

I was under the impression that he needed to have a job offer in the UK offering to pay him 18 k a year or more...and he needed to prove that he made above a certain amount for the last 6 months, regardless of whether the job he held for the last 6 months was in the UK or Australia....Am I mistaken?
Furthermore, there seems to be 2 options on the Home Office website: to apply for the spouse visa from within the Uk or from outside it, so I thought both options were available?
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 12:55 am
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

No you can't apply from in the UK. My sister thought that was also an option and was told she can't when she went Sheffield. She then came back home an applied. This happened this year.
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 1:42 am
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Originally Posted by rimaha
I was under the impression that he needed to have a job offer in the UK offering to pay him 18 k a year or more...and he needed to prove that he made above a certain amount for the last 6 months, regardless of whether the job he held for the last 6 months was in the UK or Australia....Am I mistaken?
Furthermore, there seems to be 2 options on the Home Office website: to apply for the spouse visa from within the Uk or from outside it, so I thought both options were available?
If one is already in the UK under another visa and is a legal resident then, yes, one could apply from within the UK for a spouse visa. This is not the case with you. You are applying for a spouse visa in order to enter the country.

Very basically, to qualify under the income categories:

- If your husband is currently earning 18,600 GBP minimum AND he has a job offer starting within three months of your return,at the date of application, then you can apply for the visa now and travel together to the UK

- if your husband has to return to the UK to obtain a job earning 18,600 GBP minimum he has to be in the job for 6 months before applying for the visa. The non British spouse must apply for the visa from the home country.

There is Cat A and Cat B categories under which to qualify.

Read the following document carefully to see the rules for the financial requirements:

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...ugust_2015.pdf

Last edited by SanDiegogirl; Sep 2nd 2015 at 1:48 am.
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 4:09 am
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Thank you SanDiegoGirl, you have been very helpful.
I am an Australian citizen so I can enter the UK legally and stay for 6 months, without a visa, as long as I don't work.
My husband is currently making more than the equivalent of 18,600 k so I guess our choices is to we will either wait for him to get a UK job offer, or we transfer the 64k savings to the offset account and wait 6 months.
Thanks again.
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Old Sep 2nd 2015, 3:34 pm
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Originally Posted by rimaha
I am an Australian citizen so I can enter the UK legally and stay for 6 months, without a visa, as long as I don't work.
.
Just to clarify, say husband had to return to the UK and get a job, you could enter the UK as a visitor during that period, but you would need to return to Australia before you could apply for the spouse visa.

..... and you would need to have proof that you were returning to Australia upon entering the UK with a returning British husband - immigration might think you would be a risk of non returner or overstayer.
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Old Jun 17th 2016, 4:40 am
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Default Re: UK spouse visa: financial requirements

Hi all

I'm in the same situation except that my husband is the main earner and the Australian. I'm wondering how you got on with the homeloan redraw plan? I'm hoping to do the same with the offset.

Rachel
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