Help with immigration financial requirements

[AmazingSully]

Hello all, I am absolutely confused at the moment and I really need your help to sort this out. I have been reading a lot about the financial requirement to apply for a family visa, and every time I think I have it sorted, I read something that contradicts it. I have read previously that potential future earnings could be considered for up to 3 months, however I have completely lost this information and cannot find anything mentioning it anymore. Anyway, here is my situation.

I am currently employed full time, and have been for 16 months. I have been given a raise April 1st from £16500 to £18000 per year, and I sell holiday which brings in another £20-25/month. So for the past 6 months I have been earning roughly £1525/month. I do earn overtime on occasion as well, but there are 2 or 3 months where no overtime is included. From what I have read I will fall under Category A, and I'm not sure if my overtime will be included or not. For instance, let's assume my 6 months were 1525, 1525, 1700, 1650, 1575, 1600. I am not sure if this would pass the income requirements or not, as it does say your salary is based off of the lowest month, but it's unclear if overtime is calculated separately or not.

In addition to all of this, I am looking at a potential job offer this week earning £22000/year. Accepting this job offer I thought was the solution to it all based on what I had read earlier, as my income would have been over the threshold, however now I'm thinking it's not, and will hurt me if anything, because then I'd fall to category B, which will require 12 months of the threshold... of which I definitely do not have (I think anyway).

Also, my partner is a self employed individual. She receives payments via paypal, and has only been doing it a short while, and not a full financial year, so I'm thinking her income can't be included. Is that right?

Can you please give me some clarification? I really don't want my family to be torn apart because of this. My visa expires in December.

[AmazingSully]

I've been going over my pay the past year and things seem a bit brighter than I thought, would just like a couple more clarifications.

Firstly, the part that is throwing me is:

5.5.7 - Overtime, [...], will be counted as income from employment where they have been received in the
relevant period(s) prior to the date of application. Sometimes the person will receive the same amount of income from overtime each month; sometimes overtime payments will vary, with different amounts (if
any) each month. All overtime in salaried employment will be calculated based on the approach to income from non-salaried employment. This will be an annualised 6-month average for the overtime which will be added to the level of the gross annual salary.

From the sound of this, any overtime on my pay would be annualised from 6 months, though this doesn't clarify if it is Category A, B, or both. So A would make sense, as the times are identical, but A also mentions they only take the lowest pay. B would make sense, but what confuses me is, if you're already submitting 12 months of pay, isn't overtime included in that?

Why does this have to be so damned confusing? Also, can I choose to apply under category B even if I'm salaried for more than 6 months?

[laicy515]

I saw it from HM website that

"...You may be able to use your savings instead of income.

How you prove you have the money depends on how you got the income...."

I also have been adviced that if i want to switch to 5 uears and i,'m a bit under the financial requirement i may use saving instead( as well as enployee contract pay roll etc) for my case is around 5000 in account, the problem is my case do not have the meet financial requirement as i have no intention to switch to 5 year route, i never did it

[AmazingSully]

Savings have to be in excess of £16000, I do not have this. My question is about overtime in the calculations.

[AmazingSully]

Hello,

I hate to bump this topic, but I really need assistance. I think I can make it a little clearer.

I am a salaried employee paid monthly with a company for well over a year. I have been earning £18000/year base salary for over 6 months and was hoping to make up the shortfall in overtime. My employer offers the option to buy and sell holiday as well at the beginning of the year with the value averaged and paid out over the year. I have sold 5 days holiday (leaving me with 29 remaining). My pays were as follows:

Apr - £1500 base salary + 29.23 in sold holiday
May - £1500 base salary + 29.23 in sold holiday
Jun - £1500 base salary + 29.23 in sold holiday + 159.23 in overtime
Jul - £1500 base salary + 29.23 in sold holiday + 152.30 in overtime
Aug - £1500 base salary + 29.23 in sold holiday
Sep - £1500 base salary + 29.23 in sold holiday + 127.30 in overtime

Based on Section 5.5.7 and 5.5.24 in the Appendix FM Section 1.7 Financial Requirement document on the gov.uk site, this leads me to believe my pay would be calculated as follows under Cat A:

Base Salary = £1500 x 12 = £18000
Overtime is then added as follows: ((£159.23+£152.30+£127.30) / 6) x 12 = ((£438.83) / 6) x 12 = £877.66
Total Gross Income = £18877.66.

I am unsure if the sold holiday would count, but I have added it just in case (buffer room is nice).

Can you please clarify if my calculation is correct? I have read on here some conflicting information (and have received some conflicting information from an immigration advisor as well). I really need to understand this before I apply as I can't afford to apply and get rejected.

[CR001]

You need a minimum of £1550 per month to meet the financial requirement.

[AmazingSully]

You need a minimum of £1550 per month to meet the financial requirement.

You say that, however the sections I mentioned, 5.5.7 and 5.5.24 say that overtime is calculated like non-salaried income.

5.5.7.

Overtime, payments to cover travel time (e.g. for a care worker travelling between appointments), commission - based pay and bonuses (which can include tips and gratuities paid via a tronc scheme registered with HMRC) will be counted as income from employment where they have been received in the
relevant period(s) prior to the date of application. Sometimes the person will receive the same amount of income from overtime each month; sometimes overtime payments will vary, with different amounts (if
any) each month. All overtime in salaried employment will be calculated based on the approach to income from non-salaried employment. This will be an annualised 6-month average for the overtime which will be added to the level of the gross annual salary.

5.5.24.

(b) Overtime, payments to cover travel time, commission-based pay and bonuses (which can include tips and gratuities paid via a tronc scheme registered with HMRC) will be counted as income, where they have been received in the relevant period(s) of employment or self-employment relied upon in the application.

(bb) In respect of a person in salaried employment at the date of application, the amount of income in sub-paragraph (b) which may be added to their gross annual salary, and counted as part of that figure for the purposes of paragraph 13(a)(i) or 13(b)(i), is the annual equivalent of the person’s average gross monthly income from that income in their current employment in the 6 months prior to the date of application.

Finally the example in 5.5.9 would also suggest that my calculation is correct.

5.5.9. Case study – Calculation of commission-based pay

Example (a)
The applicant’s partner currently lives in Thailand and is returning to the UK with the applicant. The applicant’s partner is employed at the date of application and is relying on Category A. He works as a car salesman in Thailand in salaried employment. In the 6 months prior to the date of application his gross annual salary was £15,000. He also received commission based pay for each of the 6 months prior to the date of application which varied as follows: £500, £1000, £400, £200, £200, and £800. The income from commission based pay that can be added to the salaried employment
= (total commission earned over the last 6 months, divided by 6) multiplied by 12
= ((500+1000+400+200+250+800) ÷ 6) x 12
= (3150÷ 6) x 12
= £6,300

This annualised income from commission based pay can then be added to the salaried income of £15,000 to provide a gross annual salary at the date of application of £21,300.

This is why I would like clarification. You say (and have said in other threads as well), that you need a minimum of £1550 each month, however I have never seen a rebuttal to this from the appendix. Can you please clarify?

[AmazingSully]

Sorry to keep bumping this post, but I'd really like to get some clarification of the above sections. Can anybody please assist?

[seagul]

I think you have already given reply to yourself by reading official guide.

[AmazingSully]

I think you have already given reply to yourself by reading official guide.

Yes, the concern I have is that everyone keeps telling me I am wrong and I'm trying to understand why they are saying that. I've seen it stated across this board that if your pay ever drops below 1550/month then you are out of luck. I have also contacted a private immigration advisor (who has since stopped replying to me) who said the same thing. The documents really seem to support what I think, but I can't really find anyone who agrees with me or can confirm it.