Nsh

Hi everyone,

I want to start off by saying thank you to all the members on the Forum for providing us with much needed support and guidance.

Me and my husband are planning to submit our application and all supporting documents for his spouse visa in the first week of December. We actually tried to apply for a visa back in April but everything became a mess so we didn't put in the application and decided to start all over again.

A bit of background- I got married in December 2016 in Pakistan and went back to see my husband in April and August. I am working two jobs to meet the £18,600 requirement.

Main question is this 1) Can I visit my husband after applying? My main job is in a school so I will have holidays from Dec 23-Jan 7 and I would really love to spend these two weeks with him. Is it a good idea or not? Do I have to stay here in the UK and not even think about visiting again until I get an answer? My concern is my second job as I know sometimes the Home Office calls the sponsor to ask questions. What if I'm in Pakistan and they call? Will our application be refused?

Other worries:

2) Back in April when I started filling out the application form online as if I was my husband, I mistakenly and stupidly selected the option- 'I am applying on behalf of someone else'- Can I change this? Is it a major error? To be honest since then, I haven't visited the site again to check if it can be changed or not.

3) Mortgage Statement- If everything goes well with the application, we will be living with my parents. I have the current annual mortgage statement which is dated December 2016- so the next one will be sent in December too- Can I send the December 2016 one with my supporting documents? I want to apply as soon as I can in the first week of December- don't really want to be sitting around waiting for a mortgage statement to be sent.

4) I have the certificates from UK NARIC confirming my husband meets the English language requirement and that his Masters is equivalent to a British honours degree. Does he need to send me his original degree certificates too so I can include them in the supporting documents or are the UK NARIC certificates enough on their own?

5) What about the TB certificate? Does he need to send me the original of this or keep it with himself for his biometrics?

6) Does every one of the 6 months have to be £1550 minimum? Or is it okay for one of the months to be less than £1550 as long as the average across the 6 months reaches £9300? What about overtime? With overtime, does each month have to be £1550 or can it be less? I think I read in the financial appendix that overtime is calculated a bit differently or am I imagining things?

7) How do members cope with the separation? I am finding it so so difficult and stressful to be 4000 miles away from my husband. I know I am lucky than most because I've been able to go back twice after our wedding and a lot of people who get married to Pakistani citizens simply can't afford to travel there more than once a year. But I am finding it really really tough ultimately because I'm a pessimist. I hear all the stories about how the Home Office view Pakistani applicants as high risk and scrutinise the applications much more than with other applicants. The pain of not seeing my husband everyday coupled with the stress of applying is seriously starting to affect my well being and health and I am worrying my husband and parents who really struggle to see me down all the time. How do you stay strong through the application process? I'm scared I'm going to end up being clinically depressed.

Thank you for your time.

quiltman

I cannot answer most of your questions other than 6. YES each month has to be £1550 or above. They take the lowest month x 12 to give the annual amount. The thinking is if you have one month below the minimum required, you may well have others this low but not shown in the last 6 months statements. I don't think overtime is counted unless it is in your contract that you do overtime on a regular, fixed basis. Again, this is because overtime is not guaranteed income.
I'm sure others will be along with answers to your other questions.
I appreciate your feelings in being separated but this is normal for many countries when applying to bring over your spouse. Some BE members have waited a year or more before their visa has been approved. In the long term , it is a very short time to wait. Yes, Pakistan is on the list of suspect countries due to the ease in obtaIning forged documents etc , but do everything as per the application documents and eventually everything should work out.

Nsh

Thank you for your reply. Appreciate it. I have an official letter from my school saying that I am entitied to an extra hour of overtime every day but haven’t been given a new contract.

Could anyone help with my main question please? Can I visit my spouse in the school Christmas holidays while I’m waiting for a reply from the Home Office?

SanDiegogirl

Yes, you can visit.

Nsh

Thanks for your response SanDiegogirl. That makes me feel a lot less down.

Do you have any information about overtime? Does each one of the 6 months have to be £1550 inclusive of overtime? It’s just that I remember reading somewhere that the Home Office use the average overtime earned throughout the 6 months and then multiply it by 12? For instance this month in my main school job I earned £1490 with overtime but hopefully next month it should be near £1700 also with overtime. Is this okay that one of my months is just shor of £1550?

Thanks a lot.

leemur

So sorry you guys are going through this!!

Nsh

I’m sorry to hear about your situation too. I saw your posts in another thread and I pray that you can also be reunited with your spouse very very soon.

Could someone please help me out with my other questions?

Can I change the mistake I made on the online application form?
Does my husband have to send me his degree certificates or is the NARIC certificate enough?
Do I have to wait for the new Mortgage statement to come through?
What happens with the TB certificate?

Thank you very much.

gaja00

2) So long as you haven’t submitted the application then yes you can. I can’t remember off the top of my head where in the application form that question comes in and whether you can simply click back to that section and make the change. Worst case scenario - and I’d actually suggest you do this if you’re planning to submit your application in December - cancel the application in progress and start again from scratch.

3) Yes you can send this but maybe also add the statement from the previous year and also send more recent utility bills (less than 3 months old). Also make sure you send a supporting letter from your parents confirming you and your husband are able to stay there.

4) You should send the original certificate but also send a copy with that so they return the original.

5) My wife took the original to submit at her biometric appointment but they rejected it and said it should be sent with her supporting documents which is what we did.

7) I sort of understand what you’re going through. My wife is also a pessimist and fears that for some reason or another her application will get rejected and she’s always down as a result. I don’t think there’s any perfect medicine for it. You just have to find what works for you to help ease the pain. Some examples, if you don’t already, make more video calls with your husband so while he’s not there you at least get to see his face, keep active whenever you can e.g. sports, exercise, to keep your mind busy, pray and, while I know it’s easier said than done, think positive thoughts. Try not to focus on the situation now or the visa application but on your future together - getting your own place, starting your family. I wish there was more I could say to help. Just stay strong, you will get there.

Nsh

Thank you so much for your kindness in replying to my questions and apologies for getting back so late. I’ve spent the last few weeks alternating between rushing around for documents and crying my eyes out because of all the stress and uncertainty.

I have got almost everything. Just waiting for this month’s pay slips and bank statments. I have filled out the online application ( I took your advice and cancelled the previous one and started again so thank you very much) and my husband has also sent me his documents. I’m hoping that once I get the pay slips and bank statements and fill out the financial appendix form I can start submitting the application and booking the biometric appointment for my husband.

I am planning to pay extra for priority service, I have read how some people say it’s not worth it because of the delays but I still would like to go through with it. Do you pay online when you pay the standard fee and the NHS surcharge or does my husband have to pay for the priority service separately when he goes for the biometric appointment?

Thanks a lot.

asadq7

He pays the priority fee when he goes for his Biometrics

I'd also advise to do the ILets English test and not use the NARIC route.

I did the NARIC route but my solicitor advised to do the ILETS test instead. I've also read of several rejections where the case officer hasn't taken into consideration the Naric Exemption and people have had to appeal.

You need to submit his TB cert with the supporting documents to Sheffield. It is of no use at the Biometrics Appointment.

gaja00

Not a problem. Sorry to hear you’ve been so stressed and crying. I can appreciate how bad it can get. My wife’s state got so bad due to the uncertainty and other issues, I had to drop everything and fly over to spend a week with her.

Looking at some of the posts on here, it does seem the timelines are improving so might be worth paying the extra for priority for a quicker return. My wife paid online through TLScontact after she completed her application. Not sure if it’s the same in all countries though.

Nsh

Oh dear, really? I can just about afford to pay for all the fees including priority and my husband isn’t working at the moment so don’t think I’d be able to pay for the IELTS too! Last time I checked it cost nearly 30 thousand rupees for the test which is quite a lot after I’ve paid almost £200 for the NARIC certificates. Sometimes it just seems like they make it harder just for the sake of making it harder and not for any common sense reason.

Thanks for all your advice.

Nsh

Oh goodness that’s very sad and I can understand what your wife must have been thinking and feeling at the time. Is everything sorted with your application now?

Yeah I’m a bit confused about how to pay the fee. Some people have said the applicant pays at Islamabad during biometrics and others are saying they have paid online.

Another question I have- can I send the supporting documents before my husband’a appointment or does it have to be done after?

Thanks again for all your help.

gaja00

She got an email on Friday confirming a decision has been made but we're still waiting for the collection email/message. The suspense is nerve-racking. Don't think we'd be able to handle going through this whole thing again.

I don't think either group is wrong as it's probably dependent on location. In my wife's case, she found out through the online application that she had to pay online before her biometrics appointment. I'm sure you'll be advised while completing the online application.

Yes you can send the supporting documents once the online application has been submitted as you need to add the application number provided to the envelope when posting.

Nsh

I sincerely pray that you and wife receive very good news. Yes I’ve said the same thing to my husband, I really don’t think I could do this again. There’s been too much tension and worry. So I’ve come to the decision that we will try one time and hopefully it will all work out. If it doesn’t then we have to think of another place to live, even if it means living in Pakistan. I have a lot of respect for those who can pick themselves up after hearing the worst news and go through the whole procedure again- not sure if I have that much strength of character.

So I’m getting everything together and filling in Appendix 2. For my main job I get paid £1415.76 monthly which works out to £16,989.12. However after checking my letter from my employer I’ve noticed she has written my salary as £16988, so now I’ve got to go and get this changed again! It’s these little things which grate me.

Thanks again for all your help.