Financial Requirement (cash savings)

[John Green]

I have £70,000 in an instant access bank account in the UK. This is more than enough, I understand, to satisfy the Financial Requirement to bring my non-EU spouse into the country under a "join a family member" visa this summer. (My income is insufficient.) The account is in my name and has been opened for over 6 months.

I am reading: "Immigration Directorate Instruction Family Migration: Appendix FM Section 1.7 Appendix Armed Forces Financial Requirement, " dated August 2015.

QUERIES:
How many bank statements on official bank stationery are required for me to show the UKIV? I would have imagined only one, being the most recent one to the date of the visa application, but it does say "statements." Page 50 of the guidance refers to the requirement that "Regular bank statements are provided," which may mean they want over one statement, even for the same bank account. What do they mean by "regular"?

Secondly, like most bank accounts, the amount of money deposited in my account somewhat fluctuates. It never goes below about the £70,000 level but it obviously moves up and down. So long as the deposit figure, for the 6 months period, is always above the level of the Requirement, is this a problem?

Thank you.

[CR001]

6 months bank statements is required.

Savings should not dip below £62,500.

[Casa]

If you only submit one bank statement, how are you going to prove that the savings have been in the account for at least 6 months. i.e 6 months of statements are required.

Edit: Beaten once again by Miss Speedy Finger, CR001

[John Green]

You mean one statement each month for the 6 months? A statement at the end of 6 months will show the transactions for that 6 months period without having to give them 6 separate statement? In other words, it will cover the full 6 months (and cover more), so what's the point?

This is a nuisance since my account is an internet one. Normally, you just get the account displayed online. I can print it out, but I believe they then require me to take the printout to the bank for them to say it's genuine. If I have to show them 6 separate statements (for 6 months) they may consider (as I do) they are being messed about to no purpose and if they charge, it will cost more.

And whether the internet based account people would be willing to supply such 6 statements may be a problem also.

[ohara]

Your bank should be able to print statements and stamp them for you at no cost.

For one of my applications I submitted 6 months worth of bank statements (1 full month for each of 6 years) which I had to get my bank to print for me as I don't receive paper statements. It came to about 100 pages in total which arrived in 6 different letters.

They didn't charge me anything for this.

[CR001]

You are over thinking. Just print a statement with dates of 6 months, stamped by bank and submit. The latest date on the statement cannot be older than 28 days at the point of visa submission.

[John Green]

Thanks again. One statement dated under 28 days from the date of application and that covers the whole 6 months period, and that it stamped by the bank, etc. is sufficient.

[CR001]

Thanks again. One statement dated under 28 days from the date of application and that covers the whole 6 months period, and that it stamped by the bank, etc. is sufficient.

Correct yes.

[John Green]

And my spouse living outside the European Union? To her to apply for the "join a family member" visa, to start the settlement process to reside in the UK with me this year.

Does she have to also show UKVI her bank statement, indicating the money she has in her name in a bank over there? Perhaps contained in an official statement from her bank covering the same 6 months period?

Or is it only my money here in the UK they are interested in knowing about (ie for the "cash savings" requirement)?

[CR001]

Does she have to also show UKVI her bank statement, indicating the money she has in her name in a bank over there? Perhaps contained in an official statement from her bank covering the same 6 months period?

No

Or is it only my money here in the UK they are interested in knowing about (ie for the "cash savings" requirement)?

Yes, only you need to meet the financial requirement and show evidence of it.

[John Green]

She has a UK visitor visa that she wants to use before it expires in early June. Then, because she cannot have two visas running at the same time, she will shortly thereafter apply for the "join a family member" visa.

Are the supporting documents she has to supply the same for both visas? I imagine that if the supporting documents she showed for the visitor visa were fine with UKVI, there is a good chance they will also pass muster for the "join a family member" visa?

[CR001]

She won't be able to travel once she submits the spouse visa application as she has to submit her passport.

Which documents are you referring to re visitor vs spouse visa? They are two different completely different visa categories with different requirements.

[John Green]

Thanks.

I would have to check the other query, no problem.

One complication is that her passport is still in her maiden name, since she's not had the chance to change her last name to mine, which we eventually want her to do. We only married a short time ago over there. She filled out the visitor visa form she is using in her maiden name.

Then we have to decide when she returns home if she wants to keep her maiden name on her passport when she applies for the "join a family member" visa (after the visitor visa expires). Or whether it could confuse them at UKVI if she gives them a different last name on the "join a family member" application form. For one thing, her file at UKVI might be categorised under her maiden name from the time she applied for the visitor visa.

The other point is that if she wants to apply for the "join a family" visa shortly after returning, I am not sure there is enough time for her to be able to change her maiden (last) name in her home country to my last name. So this may be something she can do (change the passport name) once she comes here with the "join a family visa."

What's your opinion?

[CR001]

The marriage certificate will clearly show her maiden name and be proof of marriage and there is no requirement that she has to take on your name. She can change her passport when she wishes but if she does it in the UK, she will have to update HO and there might be a cost involved to get a replacement BRP visa card with her new name.

Might be simpler to change her passport before applying for her spouse visa. It makes no difference if she held a visa in her maiden name as HO knows that people get married and change their names. Her biomtrics will match what they have on file anyway.

[John Green]

Thanks again.

I will ask her how long it takes over there. She has bank accounts, a driving license and as few other things in her maiden name, so it depends on how long this would take to organise to change. But from the viewpoint of her application to the UKVI for a spouse visa, this name change presents no problems. (Presumably, the form will also ask if she had another last name).

Then she can arrange to change the passport in her home country, and not in the UK. On this, I suppose it depends on the relative costs of this operation and maybe how long the procedure takes.

What is a BRP visa card?

[CR001]

A BRP card is what she will be issued and has to collect once she arrives in the UK on her spouse visa. It is her visa. Her initial entry clearance visa will only be valid for 30 days and she must travel to the UK within the 30 days and collect her BRP card within 10 days of arriving.

It is similar looking to a drivers license.

[John Green]

Cheers.

I gather that a spousal visa is officially known as a Tier 1 (General) visa? Where I support her for 5 years and she has no job to come to the UK to do. Where her only "asset" is that she is married to me.

So the situation is this. The visa she receives in her country when she applies for the "join a family member" visa is only valid for 30 days. So when she receives the visa in the post, she has only 30 days in which to use it (ie to come to the UK)? (A UK visitor visa can be used at any time within the 6 months it is valid.).

During this 30 days period she has, she needs to get the BRP card within 10 days of her arriving to the UK. Where does she get it from? Presumably, this card would have to be issued quickly, to meet the 10 days criterion.

[Wanderer]

Cheers.

I gather that a spousal visa is officially known as a Tier 1 (General) visa? Where I support her for 5 years and she has no job to come to the UK to do. Where her only "asset" is that she is married to me.

You've definitely got that wrong! By a long way!

Tier 1 General no longer exists, and was for highly skilled folks to work in UK, in fact it was formerly called HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Program).

Your wife would come under a Spouse Visa, and is entitled to work.

[John Green]

Okay, I just added something else to the post thanks.

"So the situation is this. The visa she receives in her country when she applies for the "join a family member" visa is only valid for 30 days. So when she receives the visa in the post, she has only 30 days in which to use it (ie to come to the UK)? (A UK visitor visa can be used at any time within the 6 months it is valid.).

During this 30 days period she has, she needs to get the BRP card within 10 days of her arriving to the UK. Where does she get it from? Presumably, this card would have to be issued quickly, to meet the 10 days criterion."

[CR001]

Okay, I just added something else to the post thanks.

"So the situation is this. The visa she receives in her country when she applies for the "join a family member" visa is only valid for 30 days. So when she receives the visa in the post, she has only 30 days in which to use it (ie to come to the UK)? (A UK visitor visa can be used at any time within the 6 months it is valid.). Visitor visas and settlement (spouse) visas are TWO DIFFERENT things, not related in anyway. Forget about the visitor visa, it is not relevant to the spouse visa.

During this 30 days period she has, she needs to get the BRP card within 10 days of her arriving to the UK. Where does she get it from? Presumably, this card would have to be issued quickly, to meet the 10 days criterion." From a Post Office that she has to nominate in her application form.

[John Green]

Thanks again. I understand they are different creatures, the two visas.

But she needs to know that for the spouse visa, she cannot delay using it by much, since she needs to come here within 30 days of receiving it. So she has to be ready and prepared, as I do, once it comes.

With the visitor visa, because of her family circumstances, she has had to put off using it to April, even though it expires in June.

I imaging that the BRP is issued immediately at my local post office.

So I will Skype her to give her the information. To ask her to find out if it's better for her to change her last name in her own country before she applies for the spousal visa. And to remember she only has a short time once she gets the spousal visa, to use it.

Is there anything else important she needs to think about and remember as a UK immigration bureaucratic requirement please?

[Wanderer]

It's considered rude to high jack another member's thread and it also becomes confusing. Please post this in your own thread.

Is this not JG's thread?

[Casa]

It's considered rude to high jack another member's thread and it also becomes confusing. Please post this in your own thread.

Is this not JG's thread?

It is indeed...and it looks like another mod split the other member's post into their own thread, while I was posting. Now you see it...now you don't

[Wanderer]

It's considered rude to high jack another member's thread and it also becomes confusing. Please post this in your own thread.

Is this not JG's thread?

It is indeed...and it looks like another mod split the other member's post into their own thread, while I was posting. Now you see it...now you don't

And there was I think a mod's only duties are to lock posts that don't agree with their personal views

[CR001]

It's considered rude to high jack another member's thread and it also becomes confusing. Please post this in your own thread.

Is this not JG's thread?

It is indeed...and it looks like another mod split the other member's post into their own thread, while I was posting. Now you see it...now you don't

Ahhh, that would have been me..............Guilty as charged Your Honour