meinkl

Hi everyone,
Having read through the 91 pages of this thread I realise I am not alone. Nice to know so many in the same boat, but that doesn't ease the situation.

I think most of my questions have been answered by other replies but seek some specifics that some people may have encountered whist applying. I don’t want to waste the visa fee by missing out on just one small item, and there is nobody “official” to ask advice from…. not even the local High Commission, who just don't want to help.

Briefly:
• Left UK for Malaysia in 1996 for work, till 2001 then freelance consultant
• Met my wife in 2006
• Recently semi retired (now 60 and only doing part time work)
• Minor health mobility issues have forced me to rethink staying out here so now want to return to the UK with my wife.

Doing it the visas route...

The savings requirement....
• Does it have to be in one name or can both my wife's and my savings be combined ?
• Can it have been moved around between accounts during the 6 months prior to application ?

If returning to the UK to start a business, rather than get a job (not easy getting one when you are 60+)..
• Can the savings be used for starting that business ?
• Do the savings have to be kept in the UK ?
• Can the savings be used as house/property deposit ?
• If so is that property value counted as savings ?

What happens at the 2 1/2 year reapply...
• What’s the level of savings required?
• If you can show you have been directors of a (hopefully) successful business does that count as being employed... or do you have to be "working for a company", because the "computer says so" ?

Any help greatly appreciated so we can fill in the form with some degree of hope.

Either that or we head to a suitable (sunny) area of the EU for 3 months.... before the UK pulls out of the EU!

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

I have moved your post into a thread of its own...that way it won't ge lost in an existing thread. Good luck.

SanDiegogirl

1. Both you and your wife's savings can be used
2. The monies must be in accounts which have not been touched for 6 months, so no, don't move the money around from account to account.
3. Yes, once the visa has been issued, the savings can be used to start a business and/or purchase property
4. The savings do not need to remain in the UK
5. Once the savings have been used for property they are not regarded as cash savings for second visa which must be obtained 2.5 years after the initial one.
The property would need to be sold if no other income can be used to achieve this second visa.
6. The level of savings you need for the second visa are directly proportional to the amount of OTHER income you might have. If no other income you need 62,500 GBP

Read the following document carefully to obtain details of financial requirements:

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

7. You can be either employed or self employed to qualify for the visa. However, being self employed has more onerous requirements than being employed. Again read the above document.

meinkl

Thank you both for starting as a new thread and the answers..... Some good news some bad.The "untouched savings" issue means that we'll have to now wait for 6 months before applying, as the funds have been moved recently, which means that the business opportunities in the UK dissappear, so screws up the "master plan". If I go back on my own to buy the business then I will need to use the savings that would be part of the application.If my wife comes with me on a visitor visa while i set things uo, then she looses her current job so cant use that income (but i suppose we cant use her current income anyway can we?)IF we pass the 75% chance of getting past stage 1, then, by the time the 2nd application goes through, the business has to be providing sufficient income as all capital will be tied up. Any small business goes through a low profit start up stage, so unlikely to get sufficient income unless I overpay myself for the final 6 months of the first period.Then, by the 5 year period I will be at pension age, yet during all that 5 year period unable to get any NHS care for either of us, should we need it.... so the EU route becomes more attractive albeit not a prefered path.It's not that we dont satisfy the savings requirments, its just so hit and miss and painfully drawn out over 5 years. I can't see the rationale as to why the UK wishes to discourage its own citizens from returning, with their wife, to work honestly.The document on financial considerations means that small busness owners find it even more difficult to succeed, yet by the 5 year assement point I would have retired by then and so not earning. It would be a real depressing state of affairs if after 5 years and countless fees to UKBA, we found ourselves being thrown out of my own country just as I become a pensioner, just because we may fail one small part of the financial requirments by maybe a few pounds. Then would only be able to get a fixed (capped forever) pension.What a way to treat your own citizens.

rebeccajo

The money you have doesn't have to be untouched for six months. That's not real life. But with that being said, you WILL need to explain the movement of the cash. Such as "I transferred xx from Bank A to Bank B on such and such date" or "I sold an asset on such and such date and put the money in Bank A", etc.

spouse of scouse

Meinkl, as a UK citizen returning to live permanently in the UK, you would be eligible for full NHS care from day one. Your wife entering on a spouse visa would also be eligible for NHS thoughout the five years, but she'd need to pay a 200 pound per year National Health Surcharge. This fee is collected at the same time you pay for each visa - Initial Leave to Enter and 2.5 years later when applying for Further Leave to Remain. I wish you and your wife the best of luck.

spouse of scouse

That's good news for the OP. Also OP (Meinkl), you need to make sure that the amount of savings doesn't dip below the required sum at any time during those 6 months (you probably know this already, but just in case!).

SanDiegogirl

If you meet the financial requirements for the initial spouse visa and enter the UK, you and your wife will be eligible for the NHS.

meinkl

Thanks everyone. that puts my mind at rest as I could actually be worse off in UK, if without NHS, than I am currently with medical cover here (where all the surgeons are UK or Aussie trained!)UKP 200 year is about the same my wife pays for private medical cover here so fair enough.We don't want to scrounge.. we just want to come back, work and have a health safety net if something unexpected happens.

meinkl

Thanks.. i suppose as long as there is a summarised balance sheet they cant dispute i stand a chance.Any idea what counts as savings.. bank accounts and fixed deposits obviously buy what about bonds, insurances, pensions etc .... stuff that can be accessed if need be butat a loss of interest

rebeccajo

I don't have time at the moment to peruse the link that was given to you earlier. But do take a look at it. There is written guidance as to what qualifies as a cash asset. It may be in the link given you already.

meinkl

Been through all the bits at the end detailing the pension etc and it's a lot clearer now. It'll take ages to calculate but hopefully they can be combined to be enough, especially when it comes to the final 5 year one.Thanks for all your help.

rebeccajo

Well, one has to make a plan. But don't worry too much about the next two visas right now. No one can see into the future. They could change the rules (either for ya or again ya) between now and then. So just do what you can right now.Your wife's income can be counted also once she's legally employed in the UK. So you have that in your favor for future visas.

spouse of scouse

I can understand it if your partner hasn't reached his preservation age, as the savings have to be 'cash', ie you need to be able to withdraw them. You can't do that with preserved super. I do think though that if you have reached the age where you can withdraw money from your super account, then that is as good as cash in the bank and should be included. As I said though, the rules are the rules (as all of us applying for visas know!) :-)

meinkl

I am still trying to get to grips with the financial directive contents (as per previous link). Discussing this with my finance consultant here we are under the impression that funds need to be “available for use”.. i.e. can be cashed at any time. If this is the case then any funds held as investments under fund management and can be turned into cash within a couple of days should be allowable in the savings section. The whole directive document requires toing and froing between sections trying to interpret each part. A simple spreadsheet calculator would help! (I am working on it!) Those expats with QROPS pension schemes usually have their pension fund managed plus invested what they received as the tax free cash allowance in other funds. The main pension fund capital cannot be touched but the “cashed” section could be included in the cash savings, provided the fund manager can get a statement showing the current and past 6 months cash value of same. (as I see it**) Has anyone tried and succeeded in using these funds within the cash savings criteria? I suspect that such successful applicants are not likely to still be on this forum though. Obviously actual income derived from the draw down from the pension fund can also be counted as income but only if the annual payment has been made in the last 6 months, although I expect they would only accrue half of the annual figure in calculating. AFAIK.. Those expats with SSIPs funds can make use of the encashment option for up to 150,000, but dont have experience of this.
This is all a bit of guesswork at the moment, so would be grateful if anyone has used such fund assessments as savings criteria in a submission. There are few local British expats that are married to locals that are blissfully unaware (as I was till recently) that the rules changed in 2012, so they are equally interested in this.