Chances of Settlement Visa Approval?

[paulcarpy]

Hi. I'm British and my wife is Costa Rican. We got married almost a year ago in Costa Rica and have a child of 11 months. The child was born in Costa Rica but has a British passport.
We are currently in the UK. My wife has a tourist visa and she returns (with baby in tow) to Costa Rica in a month to start the application to live in the UK as my spouse. I was teaching English in Costa Rica (2009-2011) and have now applied for the post-grad course to teach in secondary school here in the UK so I will be a full-time student. Our accommodation will be rent-free living with my parents who have 2 bedrooms for our exclusive use. We have savings of around £15,000. Also, she has a house and car in Costa Rica which are maybe worth £40,000. What are our chances of her visa being accepted?
I was told that it is very difficult to be accepted if the sponsor doesn't have a decent salary i.e. job. Also, that the sponsor should have at least 3 months' worth of pay slips but how is that possible if I was living abroad? Are all Brits who marry abroad expected to come back to the UK WITHOUT their spouse and find a job and wait till their balance has built up until their spouse can apply? It makes little sense. The post-grad course guarantees every student one year of full-time work plus pay so I am hoping this will suffice but any help from people in the know would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Paul. P.S. We have no formal proof that we started living together in Costa Rica 2 years ago. Would a letter from a friend be useful?

[Lucapooka]

Salary or employment is not a mandatory requirement. You just need to show that you can support yourselves. I imagine that 15K is sufficient but it depends on your outgoing expenditure. Unless she liquidates her assets in Costa Rica they will not be considered as they are not immediately available (see quidance below).

MAA5 What evidence of maintenance is required?
For applicant's and / or sponsor's funds:

Statements covering at least 3 months
Are there regular transactions?
Are the funds immediately available?
Large deposits with no evidence of normal transactions need careful examination.

[archipelago]

Many couples return to the UK after living abroad without employment and can show their combined total savings to pass the maintenance test. I would expect 15,000 to be enough especially as you will be living with parents rent free, but it is worth adding your wife's qualifications if she has any, past job reference, print off some job adverts from UK, etc and state that she intends to find work.

I think proof of address isn't so important unless you are an unmarried couple or applying for ILE which you aren't. You have your marriage certificate, and a baby together, that shows a pretty good tie to each other!!

As for the apartment, there is a question on the application form where it asks for any other savings, shares or property, so she could at least include it and state her intention to sell the house on approval of the visa.