Bonus payments on top of normal salary

[beatboy]

Hi all

I´m sponsoring my wife from Ecuador for a spouse visa (we plan to come back together to live in the UK). We had originally thought to apply for the visa in January 2015 from Ecuador when we had enough savings in our account for a a 6 month period to meet the threshold but unfortunately it looks like I may be losing my job in Ecuador, possibly as early as November.

We are now looking at Plan B and I have gone through my last 12 month payslips to see if we make the threshold just with salary. I say 12 months because my standard salary, once converted, of 1385 GBP per month only comes out 16,620 GBP. However, I did receive bonuses last December and January of around an added monthly salary on top of my standard monthly salary which just scrapes me over the 18,600 threshold although that is with today's currency exchange. So this is what 12 months of my payslip look like (converted from dollars into pounds):

Oct-13 1,385
Nov-13 1,385.00
Dec-13 2,385.00
Jan-14 2,519.00
Feb-14 1,385
Mar-14 1,385
Apr-14 1,385
May-14 1,385
Jun-14 1,385
Jul-14 1,385
Aug-14 1,385
Sep-14 1,385
TOTAL 18,754 GBP

So my questions are 1) will bonuses be accepted even though my contract states I only receive 1,385 monthly?
2) Am I right in saying that on the day we submit the completed application form and supporting documents I need to have the most recent payslip included? So for example if I got a date for December 20th, I would need November's payslip?

Many thanks everyone

[Lucapooka]

I think you are probably fine but what about your continued employment? Do you have a job lined up in the UK or will your current income stream continue?

[beatboy]

Thanks for your reply Lucapooka. Yes I have a job lined up, at least in the interim starting from January 2015 and the employer appears to be flexible with the starting date. Am I right in saying I just need to submit job offer letter as part of the application?

[MPH80]

Thanks for your reply Lucapooka. Yes I have a job lined up, at least in the interim starting from January 2015 and the employer appears to be flexible with the starting date. Am I right in saying I just need to submit job offer letter as part of the application?

Yes - although you should make sure the job offer letter has all the relevant details in as they specify in Appendix FM-SE.

[beatboy]

Thanks - I checked out the details of the job offer letter last week and I think it all fits within their prerequisites.

One other thing....if I have 12 months pay slips and 12 months bank statements to match the payslips, does it matter when the payslips were issued? For example, it may be that November is the last payslip I receive but I may have to apply for the visa before I receive it (I´m often paid 2 weeks late due to liquidity issues). If I apply say the end of November, submit my supporting documents at the start of December, would they accept October's payslip as the last payslip or would I better wait to include November's?

[SoHopeful]

The final payslip must be no more than 28 days old when you apply.

[beatboy]

The final payslip must be no more than 28 days old when you apply.

Thanks for your reply. To be clear about the 28 days, does that mean the date when we actually apply (i.e hitting "submit" on the application form) or the date when we hand over our supporting documents combined with having our interview and my wife's biometrics taken? Sorry for the questions but because of the sudden risk of losing my job means we are now 3 months ahead of where we had planned to be at this stage and dates for documents are now becoming really important