Spouse Visa - Accommodation

[vtaneja]

Dear Friends,

I am a British National and my wife has an Indian passport. We both stayed in London till June 2015 (I got my citizenship in early 2015 and my wife was on a PBS dependant visa at that point). We left UK in June 2015 to work remotely (most of our work is online so we have been travelling around the world and working online). My wife's dependant visa expired in Mar 2016).

Now we want to move back to London and will be applying for my wife's spouse visa in the next few weeks. We will be using the cash savings option and show savings from my UK account, my wife's UK account, and my India account.

Given that we both are planning to go back together once she gets her visa, do we need to show that we have a house/apartment in our name(s) in London?

I see on the forum that most of the spouse visas are submitted where one partner is in UK and the other overseas, but in our case we are both out of UK. Of course I could go to UK first and then we apply for her visa, but I'd like to avoid staying apart for months at end.

Please advise if there are any issues or problems that we can anticipate in our application.

Thank you so much

[CR001]

Yes, you need to provide proof of accommodation.

[vtaneja]

Does this accommodation need to be in our name?

[Gnanasekar]

Yes, you need to provide proof of accommodation.

How is this possible when both are travelling together? This is assuming that the British citizen has been living in UK or expected to hold accommodation in the UK although he is not living here which doesn't make sense.

The only possibility I could see is a temporary accommodation like hotel or airbnb.

[CR001]

Family, friends, hotel etc. Also evidence of contact with letting agents will also help.

[vtaneja]

Thanks a lot for your reply

In terms of finances, is it ok to show three different savings accounts (1 of mine from UK, 1 of mine from India, and 1 of my wife from UK).

If I convert the savings in the Indian account to GBP and add the funds in the 2 UK accounts, the sum meets the financial requirements if going solely through the savings route. Is it acceptable to meet the savings criteria in this way (i.e. 3 different accounts and 1 of them an Indian account)? The funds have been in place in all 3 accounts for 6 months at least.

Thanks a lot

[SimonS]

My understanding of the rules is that this would be fine. See Appendix FM-SE - The Rules

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... d-evidence

(e) Savings must be held in cash.
(f) Income or cash savings in a foreign currency will be converted to pounds sterling using the closing spot exchange rate which appears on www.oanda.com* on the date of application.
(g) Where there is income or cash savings in different foreign currencies, each will be converted into pounds sterling before being added together, and then added to any UK income or savings to give a total amount.
(h) All documentary evidence must be original, unless otherwise stated.

Also

11. In respect of cash savings the following must be provided:
(a) personal bank statements showing that at least the level of cash savings relied upon in the application has been held in an account(s) in the name of the person or of the person and their partner jointly throughout the period of 6 months prior to the date of application.
(b) A declaration by the account holder(s) of the source(s) of the cash savings.
11A. In respect of cash savings:
(a) The savings may be held in any form of bank/savings account (whether a current, deposit or investment account, provided by a financial institution regulated by the appropriate regulatory body for the country in which that institution is operating), provided that the account allows the savings to be accessed immediately (with or without a penalty for withdrawing funds without notice). This can include savings held in a pension savings account which can be immediately withdrawn.

Hope this helps
Simon

[Casa]

Thanks a lot for your reply

In terms of finances, is it ok to show three different savings accounts (1 of mine from UK, 1 of mine from India, and 1 of my wife from UK).

If I convert the savings in the Indian account to GBP and add the funds in the 2 UK accounts, the sum meets the financial requirements if going solely through the savings route. Is it acceptable to meet the savings criteria in this way (i.e. 3 different accounts and 1 of them an Indian account)? The funds have been in place in all 3 accounts for 6 months at least.

Thanks a lot

Yes, you are able to combine savings from all accessible accounts. If transferring to one single account you will need to submit evidence of the trail.

[vtaneja]

Dear Simon, Casa,

Thanks a lot for your prompt response - really appreciate it

Apologies but I'd like to ask another question regarding the accommodation. One of my very close friends owns a flat (3 bedrooms) in London and he lives there alone. I spoke to him and he said he'd be happy to write a letter saying that my wife and I can stay in one of the spare rooms until we find our own accommodation. In this case (where the friend is the landlord and we'll be staying with him), does there need to be a survey report? Or are there any other documents that my friend can provide to satisfy the officer that there will be no overcrowding?

Thank you so much once again

[mb7891]

You should not need a survey or an inspection report.

A Letter from your friend confirming confirming the accommodation and details should suffice. You could include a copy of land registry documents for the place with the letter.

Below is a sticky on the forum that references overcrowding

immigration-for-family-members/guidance ... t6227.html

NO OF ROOMS ..... PERMITTED NO OF PERSONS
.......... 1 ................................. 2
.......... 2 ................................. 3
.......... 3 ................................. 5
.......... 4 ................................. 7.5
.......... 5 ............................... 10

[vtaneja]

Hey thanks for that

Is it ok for my friend to write in the letter that we will be staying in his apartment only temporarily until we finalise accommodation of our own?

Or does it have to say that we'll be staying in his apartment for X months?

Our plan is to reach London, stay with our friend for a couple of weeks and in that time find an apartment to rent.

Thanks

[CR001]

Is it ok for my friend to write in the letter that we will be staying in his apartment only temporarily until we finalise accommodation of our own?

Yes, it is fine. You must provide his tenancy or land registry documents and a utility or council tax bill too.

Or does it have to say that we'll be staying in his apartment for X months?

No

Our plan is to reach London, stay with our friend for a couple of weeks and in that time find an apartment to rent.

Good luck with this, it has become tough out there renting in London and incredibly expensive.

[vtaneja]

Thanks a lot CR001!

Yes, renting in London is expensive, but I guess no way around it. The good thing is we stayed in London for 8 years and have a good idea of where we want to rent again. Also, we might just rent the same apartment we had for 8 years since we know the landlord, so that might make it easy

In so far as the savings are concerned, I believe we need to show the source of those savings. We have savings in 2 of the UK accounts from the time we were in London (2008-2015) and in the 3rd account (Indian), the savings are from a few years ago when I deposited my Provident Fund withdrawal from Singapore (I lived and worked in Singapore for 8 years) into the Indian account. If these savings have been maintained for more than 2 years, even then do we have to show the source of funds?

And what would be the source of funds for the UK accounts - salary from employment? Can we just mention the source or do we need to show the proof e.g. salary slips from the last year of employment in London in 2015?

Thanks a lot

[vtaneja]

Hi All,

Any answers for the questions in my previous post?

Thanks a lot for your help