Demystifying the Financial Requirement

[crispy]

Hello Everyone.

I find the document relating to the financial requirement completely unreadable. I cannot begin to understand it.

My Canadian wife and I (I am a British Citizen) have very small incomes but a combined savings of about £21,000.

To all practical ends, how much savings do we need to meet the financial requirement? At first I thought it was £18,600 and that we'd make the grade with our £21,000. But I've read things online to suggest there's a more complicated equation for working out the financial requirement and that we might actually need something like £65,000. I don't understand this.

Can anyone explain in simple terms how much we actually need in savings to meet the financial requirement?

Thanks so much for anyone who can help.

[MPH80]

Yes.

The income threshold is 18,600 (assuming there are no children).

If you are short on the income you can make up the threshold using savings.

You do this using this calculation:

16000 + (shortfall * 2.5)

So - let's imagine you have NO income at all:

16000 + (18600 * 2.5) = £62,500.

But we can reverse this to work out how much income is required if you want to rely on your 21,000 of savings:

(62,500-21,000)/2.5 = £16,600.

So you'll need an income of £16,600 PLUS savings of £21,000 to qualify.

Be aware that for your income to be taken into account (assuming you're in Canada) you will require to a) have earnt that amount over the last 12 months and b) have a confirmed job offer starting in the UK within 3 months which pays as much or more than that.

If you are in the UK - you should have worked for the same employer for 6 months or more to make life simple, or if you haven't, you have to show your current income and your income over the last 12 months.

If your wife is outside the UK her income level cannot contribute. If she's inside the UK and working legally - it can.

[crispy]

Thank you very much for clearing that up. I understand it now.

It's terrible though and pretty much leaves my wife and me--both decent and well-educated people--stranded in Canada. Here's hoping the High Court throws this requirement in the bin!

[Casa]

Regrettably, if the judgement goes against the Home Office they will almost certainly take this to the Supreme Court. This means that we're a long way off having a resolution.

[MPH80]

You should keep another thing in mind too - the original judgement said there was no problem with having a financial test - just how it was being applied in VERY specific circumstances.

The application of savings is actually very logical by the home office:

*Assumption - person is earning below the threshold of benefits
*Assumption - it is in the public benefit to prevent someone coming here and claiming

Therefore:

*Ensure they have more than enough savings to prevent them claiming benefits
*Then ensure that if they are going to use their savings over the time period of the visa - they have enough to cover themselves against the income we would otherwise require of someone

There are seven solutions to your problem I can see:

1) You come back to the UK and get a job here earning over the threshold. Apply for your wife once you qualify. This will probably mean 12 months separated from your wife (3 to find a job, 6 to be working in it to qualify, 3 months waiting on a visa).

2) You both move to another European country and live there for 6-12 months and THEN return to the UK under EU rules (which has no financial test)

3) Remain in Canada

4) Wait and hope the rules change

5) Get higher paying jobs in Canada and wait 12 months

6) Find someone to give you the additional savings required. They will need to be in your account for 6 months prior to the application

7) Bring your wife on something other than a spouse visa - in practicality that means a tier 2 visa or a student visa - be here a year to gain the income threshold and convert. Note: you can't do this from a visitor visa.

Before complaining too much about the UK system - You should also look at the systems in other parts of the world for complexity and difficulty.

You can, indeed, look at the system Canada has where it had to suspend processing of ALL points based visas for a while just to sort the system out. Or the fact that citizenship applications in Canada currently have a year backlog - and indeed - a spouse visa is 11 months in processing (after the initial 56 day time to check the validity of the sponsor!). Not to mention the additional complexity of all the different province work sponsorship schemes.

The UK might have some "interesting" rules - but the system is working a little more smoothly than that.

[crispy]

Thank you very much, MPH80. That's an extraordinary help. I see all of our options now.

My wife is 28 (while I'm 31) so she actually qualifies for a visa on the Tier 5 Youth Mobility scheme. I understand she won't be able to switch from that visa to a more permanent one, but it will give us two years (ample time) for me to enact your "Option 1" without even being separated. (Obviously she'll have to return to Canada towards the end of that two-year period in order to apply for a spousal visa with my sponsorship).

Anyway, thank you very much indeed for the detailed (and politically balanced) advice. Much obliged.

[Casa]

The Home Office guidance is misleading, as with most of their information. She can switch to spouse from a Tier-5 YMS visa from within the UK. She is unable to switch to another points-based system.