Unpaid maternity leave and document submission from dubai

[Umar92]

Hi everyone

I need help with deciding when to apply for my initial spouse visa as we have our 6 month pay slips and all other documents ready but we've just had a baby and one of the solicitors we spoke to said it's better to wait and include 1 month of maternity pay slip as well as that can have a positive impact on the application. (My wife had to work up until her due date to meet the financial requirement as the maternity pay would've been less than the threshold)

So my question is, is the solicitors advice any good or has anyone been in this situation before who can advice what the best decision would be right now, whether to apply now or wait another month for the maternity pay slip. I wanted to apply in March to avoid paying the fee increase. Many thanks

[seagul]

Your solicitor has given you a bad advise. As you said to have the required 6 months payslips which meets the financial threshold then why is there any need to wait another month by which the fee might be increased as well. Preferably ignore that solicitor and take help from board.
But one thing strictly follow that all these documents must not be older than 28 days from date of application.

[Umar92]

Thanks for your reply seagul. So if I understand correctly adding a month of maternity payslip wouldn't have any positive impact on the result of the application?
And do we submit the midwifes letter (maternity leave letter) to prove maternity leave if we apply in the month of March? I believe we can also write in our cover letler that she's on maternity leave and that we have a child now, would that be enough if we apply now without submitting the maternity pay slip for the month of March?
The qualifying pay slips are from the period of Sept-Feb.
Lastly does the home office care or are more stringent if the sponsor has worked in an organisation for only 6 months and using the 6 payslips from that period?

[seagul]

HO don't care about annual leave/maternity/paternity leave but only care whether required financial threshold be met. For this purposes usually 6 months of payslips with corresponding bank statements and employer letter confirming wages, date of job joining, working pattern, role etc. As earlier advised that importantly these documents shouldn't be older than 28 days. Waiting for getting maternity leave pay & it's payslip is not wise as it won't influence positively.

[Umar92]

Thanks once again for your help. I'll get back if I require any further help.

[Umar92]

Hi everyone
Before I ask for help I wanna take a moment and thank everyone who's helping the group members in their journey to be with their spouses.
My situation: my wife started her job in September 2017. She's had 2 weeks unpaid maternity leave in March but the solicitor her and family are consulting said she doesn't need to submit March payslip as it includes the unpaid leave. So basically he said submit Sept-Feb payslips. To my understanding that is not right i.e. submitting September to Feb payslips
She gets paid 1550 after tax each month and got paid 849 for the month of March. To my understanding we need to submit payslips upto march and explain in the cover letter the unpaid leave. Is that right?
And how would the calculation be done to show we meet the financial requirements.
Lastly the solicitor is hellbent that the supporting documents will be sent to Sheffield whereas I've read theyre to be submitted at the VAC in dubai. Do I have the right information. TIA

[seagul]

Hi everyone
Before I ask for help I wanna take a moment and thank everyone who's helping the group members in their journey to be with their spouses.
My situation: my wife started her job in September 2017. She's had 2 weeks unpaid maternity leave in March but the solicitor her and family are consulting said she doesn't need to submit March payslip as it includes the unpaid leave. So basically he said submit Sept-Feb payslips. To my understanding that is not right i.e. submitting September to Feb payslips
She gets paid 1550 after tax each month and got paid 849 for the month of March. To my understanding we need to submit payslips upto march and explain in the cover letter the unpaid leave. Is that right?
And how would the calculation be done to show we meet the financial requirements.
Lastly the solicitor is hellbent that the supporting documents will be sent to Sheffield whereas I've read theyre to be submitted at the VAC in dubai. Do I have the right information. TIA

The wages before tax (Gross wages) are being used to calculate the threshold instead after tax (net wages ). Try to check whether the total of gross wages of last 6 months is about £9300. Also remember that if you don't attach March payslips then you can't meet threshold because last payslip shouldn't be older than 28 days from date of application.
Regarding application submission you must ask authorities there as where exactly the documents be sent.

[Umar92]

Thanks for your reply
For salaried category A the calculation is the lowest pay x 12 but since we have a valid unpaid leave I'm confused as to how that would be calculated. Also do we need to show the calculation in the cover letter or is it not required?
For dubai the documents are submitted in VAC Dubai but the lawyer said you can do both an in country application or an out country one that doesn't make sense to me does such a thing actually exist?

Many thanks for your time again

[seagul]

Thanks for your reply
For salaried category A the calculation is the lowest pay x 12 but since we have a valid unpaid leave I'm confused as to how that would be calculated. Also do we need to show the calculation in the cover letter or is it not required?
For dubai the documents are submitted in VAC Dubai but the lawyer said you can do both an in country application or an out country one that doesn't make sense to me does such a thing actually exist?

Many thanks for your time again

Unpaid maternity/paternity doesn't break the continuity of time under which the wages is required. That unpaid paternity/maternity you can exclude and add subsequent months wages. I think you can still add March even April wages.

[Umar92]

Hi seagul,
Thanks for the reply, we're in the final stages of gathering the documents and just want you to kindly tell me if we'd need to show the annualised average income and how to do it if we need to show.
My wife is salaried whereas the below example is for non salaried so would the same rules apply to us.

The applicant’s partner is relying on Category A non-salaried employment but had 2 weeks’
unpaid sick leave 2 months prior to the date of application. This 2 week period will be
discounted for the purposes of the application and it will not break the 6 month period of
continuous employment required. So the applicant’s partner can show that they meet the
annualised average income required over a period of 6 months and 2 weeks prior to the date of application

Her salary
September-Feb
1625 x 6= 9750
March pay: 874.42

[seagul]

See official example

The applicant’s partner is in the UK, has recently had a baby and returned to work from
maternity leave 2 months prior to the date of application. Her contracted salary is £19,400 a
year. She has been with her current employer for 2 years but, as she has not been earning
the required level of income for all of the last 6 months because of her maternity leave, the
period to be assessed can be the 6 months before she began her maternity leave.

Also see

Where the applicant’s partner (and/or the applicant if they are in the UK with permission
to work) is in receipt of maternity, paternity, adoption or sick pay, or has been so in the 6
months prior to the date of application, the relevant date for considering the length of
employment and the income from the employment can be either:
 The date of application; or
 The date of commencement of the maternity, paternity, adoption or sick leave.

In the light of light of above maybe your income before maternity be considered.

[Umar92]

So what's the best way to explain the 2 week unpaid maternity leave in our cover letter since we'll be submitting March payslips with half the wage, I'm afraid they might do the normal salaried calculation with the lowest wage (874) x 12.

[seagul]

So what's the best way to explain the 2 week unpaid maternity leave in our cover letter since we'll be submitting March payslips with half the wage, I'm afraid they might do the normal salaried calculation with the lowest wage (874) x 12.

In cover letter you can indicate them their own guideline and your calculation in the light of such guideline to avoid confusion.

[Umar92]

I'm very grateful to you for your help. Sorry I'm slightly confused about showing the calculation in the cover letter as you suggested, how do I show it and from which month to which, can you show the actual calculation that I can use in the cover letter because I've been trying all day today to figure it out but just can't get my head around it. Thanks once again

[seagul]

In my opinion the guideline is really tricky and unpaid maternity leave in relation of salaried person is missing from guideline but still as per the second quotation as above you can make base although there the person is in receipt of maternity leave. I think as per that quote your september-February payslips might work because it saying that the relevant months either be from date of application or date of commencement of maternity leave.