UK Spouse Visa for my wife. please advise

[azianowar]

Hi All,

I am new to this site and need some help with understanding the financial requirements for a Spouse Visa for my Wife. I have recently got married in August 2013 and just need help and advice on a few things. Apologies if I ask any stupid questions in advance as I am really new to this. Can you please help me answer the below:

1. I currently have my own limited business and I am the only director of this business. I have recently received by tax return for year end April 2013 where it show I take a salary of £7,000 a year which I pay myself and the rest I took as dividends which is around £34,000 a year. Just to confirm I have also paid my corporation tax this year. Would I meet the financial requirements considering I only take a wage of£7,000 from my business but in total if I was to add both of these up I am way about the requirement?

2. Which bank statements will I have to provide? I have hard copies of my business account statements however my current account statements are all online I have just requested my paper based statement for this account and the bank can only provide photo copies of my bank statements. I have been asked to take them into the bank once received and get the bank to stamp this which the bank has confirmed should be accepted. Is this correct?

3. Since I am an IT contractor with my own limited business I use my home address for my business address as I need all my paperwork i.e. letters from the bank and letter from the inland revenue to be sent to my home address as I don’t have any other business address. I do not claim any business expense for my house as I do not work from home.
I would be grateful if you can please advise on the above.

Many thanks,

Azi

[vinny]

See also Financial requirement > Immigration Rules, Appendix FM-SE- Family members- Specified evidence and Annex FM 1.7 - Financial requirement, etc.

[azianowar]

Thanks alot for your help i will check the links now

[estirichy]

Hi aziannowar

use the link provided, I was in the small position as you, i also got married in august 2013 and spousal visa for my wife was granted in october.
In terms of financial requirement as a limited company I provided the following:

These docs should cover the whole of the most recent business financial year

Payslips
Dividend vouchers
Company Accounts (unaudited)
Company Tax Returns
Letter from HMRC that your tax returns have been filed
Letter from HMRC showing that my business is registered as employer
Accountant certificate to show he is part of the recognised bodies
Business Bank statements(Highlight money going to ur personal account)
Personal Bank Statements (highlite money recieved from business)

Accountant letter explaining I am the sole director of my company, how much salary I earn and how much dividends I earned from the financial year
Incoporation certificate
Directors Appointment Report (should be recent within the last 3months).

With the personal bank statement is get the bank to stamp and date in branch. Then explain in your cover letter that tour account is online only hence why your statements are not on the bank's stationary

hope this helps

[azianowar]

Hi Estirichy,
I really appreciate your help. I am hoping to apply in late December early January for my wife so I am just trying to get everything prepared before then. I just have a few questions on the below. Some may be silly questions that I should know the answer but I rather get it clarified by someone who has already done it so I am sorry in advance for any stupid questions:
Payslips – My payslip for example shows that I get paid about £700 a month but I never really have been transferring this money from my business account to my current account on a regular basis. I normally transfer a lump sum. Will this be a problem?
Dividend Vouchers – is this required as I don’t even believe I was given dividend vouchers by my accountant? I did speak to him today regarding this and he has mentioned that he can get this setup for me but the tax assessment/return letter already highlights the amount of dividends I have but he is happy to start this from now.
Company accounts – should have this next week hopefully.
Company Tax Returns – I have received this from HMRC
Letter from HMRC that your tax return has been filed – I have not received any confirmation from them yet although this was paid in August 2013. Is it as simple as just calling HMRC and requesting this?
Letter from HMRC that my business is registered as employer - I have gone through all my paper work and cannot find this. Is this something you had to request from HMRC?
Accountant certificate to show he is part of the recognised bodies - My accountant is a FCCA chartered certified accountant http://wp.zrscca.co.uk/ but I don’t believe he is a part of the recognised bodies. Will this be ok?
Business Bank statements highlights money going into your person account – I normally transfer most of the money from my business account to my business saver account and then from my business saver to my personal savings account to my current account. I know this sounds, like a very long winded way but I was advised by a personal banker to not leave a lot in my Business current account because fraudsters normally have easier access to the current accounts rather than the savings account. So what I am basically trying to explain is that I don’t have direct transactions from my Business current account to personal account. Since all of the accounts are all mine and with the same bank will this be fine. Please advise?
Personal Bank Statements highlighting money received from business account – the paragraph just before this explains my process. Do you think this will be ok?
Directors Appointment Report – is this something that the accountant has to sort out?

Sorry again for any silly questions. I would really appreciate your help.

[estirichy]

Hi azianowar,
no problem I willing to help others as this forum has helped me.

1.Payslips- as long as your the total sum of amount you recieved on all your payslips equals the amount your accountant will state on his supporting letter and also the same amount tally up to what appears on your personal statement you should be fine. What the ECO want to see is clear evidence that things add up, explain this briefly in in supporting letter.

2.Dividend vouchers- This depends on the frequency you recieved dividends, I took monthly dividends so had to provide 12 vouchers, I did the template myself and showed it to my accountant and he okayed it, I can send you a template if needed, it needs to show the amount of tax credit on the amount you recieved.

3.when my accountant filled my company tax returns I recieved acknowledgement from HMRC with 14days, so are you sure you company tax return has been filed? I ask this because tou said even your company accounts are not ready yet?

4. Original proof from HMRC as an employer for the purpose of PAYE, I got this when my accountant registered my company as an employer employing me as a director, this letter will have PAYE ref number and Accounts ref number. the other option here is if your company is VAT registered then send a VAT registration Certifacte and your latest VAT return.

5.Your accountant is an ACCA so you have no problems, just talk him into giving you a copy of his certificate and attach with your application.

6.With the directors appointment report you can obtain it free from companys house website.
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/toolsT ... Info.shtml

7. Statements, I advise you provide all the statements from company i.e both the current and saving accounts covering the period of the CT600 tax return. your personal bank statements should also reflect these payments from your business. I think you will need to explain this briefly in suporting letter too, make it easy for the ECO to find evidence and you will have no problem.

hope this helps

[azianowar]

Hi estirichy,

Thanks a lot for you response,

Hopefully I should have a clearer understanding next weekend as I sent though the Annex FM Section FM 1.7: Financial Requirement to my accountant. In Regards to my tax return sorry my mistake I thought this was the self-assessment and corporation tax. i have never received my tax return confirmation but have confirmed with HMRC that this was completed and confirmation sent to my businesses registered address. I will keep you informed with all the documents I receive from him next week.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,

Anowar

[azianowar]

Hi estirichy,

I have been given the dividend voucher which was an annual one. I want to break this down to monthly vouchers so it reflects my personal account. Any chance I can have a copy of the dividend voucher template. My email address is anowarazad@msn.com.

By the way I have managed to get an acknowledgement from HMRC regarding my company tax return that it has been filed. I have also got the VAT Certificate and letter confirming my VAT payments are all upto date.
I now have also received a copy of my accountants ACCA certificate.

Once again mate. Thanks for your help so far with this.

[helpmepls]

Hi

Great forum
I appreciate your hard work and help beforehand.

I am thinking of getting married in Pakistan. I'm afraid I do not earn the £18,600 and so cannot bring my wife over so no point getting married from abroad. Help me plz...

I am in a similar situation to azianowar.
=== I am a sole trader- no limited company
=== I work 30 hours per week @ £5 an hour = £150 per week
=== I earn £7,800 per year
=== I get working tax credits of about £50 a week
=== I get working tax credits = £2,600 per year
=== Total year income = £10,400
=== I live with mum and dad and will continue to live here
=== We have 4 bedrooms
=== I do NOT pay any bills (council tax, gas, electric, water)

What problems will I have in securing a visa for a wife from Pakistan? Are there any workarounds? What proof etc do I need to show?

[azianowar]

Hi helpmepls,

I would start by reading the financial guidance document on the home offices website. The links are provided in the previous message. In my case I do meet the financial requirements when including my non employment finance which is my dividend payment. However I cannot combine my cash savings as that's what the guideline state which I believe also applies to you. I might be wrong please double check but I don't think there is another way unless you get a job that pays £18,600 or get a second job to make up for the missing financial requirement.

If your not married yet then you have the advantage of checking if you are in a position to meet all the requirements before you go marry abroad. Don't go out there and think of all this afterwards bro as it will become stressful and then what people tend to do is take a dodge route and if you get caught then you are not allowed to apply for 10 years (might want to double check that)

First things first mate work on trying to get your salary to meet the requirement. I have heard that the salary requirement has been reviewed and will be dropped to £13,000 at some point but I don't think nothing's been made official as of yet so don't rely on this info.

[helpmepls]

Hi helpmepls,

I would start by reading the financial guidance document on the home offices website. The links are provided in the previous message. In my case I do meet the financial requirements when including my non employment finance which is my dividend payment. However I cannot combine my cash savings as that's what the guideline state which I believe also applies to you. I might be wrong please double check but I don't think there is another way unless you get a job that pays £18,600 or get a second job to make up for the missing financial requirement.

If your not married yet then you have the advantage of checking if you are in a position to meet all the requirements before you go marry abroad. Don't go out there and think of all this afterwards bro as it will become stressful and then what people tend to do is take a dodge route and if you get caught then you are not allowed to apply for 10 years (might want to double check that)

First things first mate work on trying to get your salary to meet the requirement. I have heard that the salary requirement has been reviewed and will be dropped to £13,000 at some point but I don't think nothing's been made official as of yet so don't rely on this info.

Thank you. I'm going to try the Surinder Singh route.