Meeting income requirements - income from rent

[tommycalk]

Hi, I'm a UK citizen looking at applying for a UK spouse visa for my wife. We're currently based in Vietnam and I'm on a fixed term contract earning more than enough to meet the requirements from this end. The problem stems from meeting the requirements in the UK. I teach English as a second language and, pretty much as standard, TESOL jobs in the UK are hourly paid and on zero hours contracts so, while I've had some potential job offers that would start within 3 months of my intended date of arrival and in all probability would make enough to meet the income requirements, I don't think I can produce anything definitive that would show I would meet them.

As I understand it, the decision makers can exercise some discretion in circumstances like this, say if the employer can produce a letter stating your core hours to be worked, but the nature of zero hours contracts is such that there are no core hours at all! My wife has a plot of land which would significantly reduce what I'd need to make, but I don't think it would make any difference. Is there any way round this or am I just going to have to start looking for work in a different field simply because it has a (on paper, at least) more reliable income? I'd be very grateful for any help anyone can give, cheers.

[seagul]

Hi, I'm a UK citizen looking at applying for a UK spouse visa for my wife. We're currently based in Vietnam and I'm on a fixed term contract earning more than enough to meet the requirements from this end. The problem stems from meeting the requirements in the UK. I teach English as a second language and, pretty much as standard, TESOL jobs in the UK are hourly paid and on zero hours contracts so, while I've had some potential job offers that would start within 3 months of my intended date of arrival and in all probability would make enough to meet the income requirements, I don't think I can produce anything definitive that would show I would meet them.

As I understand it, the decision makers can exercise some discretion in circumstances like this, say if the employer can produce a letter stating your core hours to be worked, but the nature of zero hours contracts is such that there are no core hours at all! My wife has a plot of land which would significantly reduce what I'd need to make, but I don't think it would make any difference. Is there any way round this or am I just going to have to start looking for work in a different field simply because it has a (on paper, at least) more reliable income? I'd be very grateful for any help anyone can give, cheers.

Regardless of the type of contract that job offer must confirm your annual wages which should be at least £18600.

[tommycalk]

So essentially if I apply for a zero hours contracts job from abroad, I may as well not be applying for a job at all!

[tommycalk]

I suspected this would be the case, seems grossly unfair but it is what it is. Time to get back to the drawing board I guess. Cheers

[BordersDivide]

Hi,

Look for jobs at councils as they offer better hours and pay. Even on zero hours they usually allocate certain teaching hours a year for their budget too. This can be written on a letter from employer when submitting your application. But it comes with uncertainty.

The jobs at colleges are advertised on hourly rate and it does depend on the student intake for the course (ESOL). However, these days these courses most likely do run as planned because immigrants have to learn English to meet English requirement for their status in the UK.

If you haven’t yet done CELTA you should - if you want a decent employer in the UK.

But I think its efficient you just worked full time in UK doing a job that fulfills the threshold until your spouse joins you. You can then resume your role in teaching.

[secret.simon]

Do you have readily accessible savings of more than £16,000? The salary requirement reduces by £1 for every £2.50 of savings over £16,000 (so, for instance, savings of £30,000 would reduce the salary requirements to £13,000). Savings of £62,500 eliminates/meets the requirements for an income of £18,600.

You can of course also look at moving to another EEA member-state other than the UK, such as Ireland, under EU law (which does not have a minimum income requirement) before the end of this year.

[tommycalk]

Hi,

Look for jobs at councils as they offer better hours and pay. Even on zero hours they usually allocate certain teaching hours a year for their budget too. This can be written on a letter from employer when submitting your application. But it comes with uncertainty.

The jobs at colleges are advertised on hourly rate and it does depend on the student intake for the course (ESOL). However, these days these courses most likely do run as planned because immigrants have to learn English to meet English requirement for their status in the UK.

If you haven’t yet done CELTA you should - if you want a decent employer in the UK.

But I think its efficient you just worked full time in UK doing a job that fulfills the threshold until your spouse joins you. You can then resume your role in teaching.

Cheers , yes looking for council jobs has been one of my strategies although it's so far been fruitless. I'd like to be based in or around Manchester as that's where my increasingly elderly parents live and I've got two young kids myself (they are the reason we're moving - that's another story I won't get into here) and don't want to up sticks and move around from place to place while they're young, the move from Vietnam is gonna be disruptive enough for them as it is. I've got a CELTA, which means offers of decent work are not so much of a problem, it's just the general nature of TESOL jobs in the UK that's really proving problematic.

[tommycalk]

Do you have readily accessible savings of more than £16,000? The salary requirement reduces by £1 for every £2.50 of savings over £16,000 (so, for instance, savings of £30,000 would reduce the salary requirements to £13,000). Savings of £62,500 eliminates/meets the requirements for an income of £18,600.

You can of course also look at moving to another EEA member-state other than the UK, such as Ireland, under EU law (which does not have a minimum income requirement) before the end of this year.

We don't have savings yet but my wife has a plot of land we can sell, the proceeds of which could be used as cash savings immediately. That will certainly help a lot but won't eliminate the need to get a job before applying

[tommycalk]

Hi,

I live in Vietnam in a house owned by my wife, whose application I am sponsoring. If we rent this place out before we leave and live somewhere else, as I understand it, only the gross income from rent over a twelve month period prior to applying would be used in the calculation for income and any income from the property once we leave wouldn't be relevant to the calculation. Is this correct?

In this case, if a job I took in the UK was short of the minimum income requirements under category A, would the gross non-employment income from the previous twelve months be used then to make up this shortfall or is it only used to calculate gross annual income received while still overseas?

I'd be grateful if anyone could clarify this a little more. Cheers

[geoeng]

I live in Vietnam in a house owned by my wife, whose application I am sponsoring. If we rent this place out before we leave and live somewhere else, as I understand it, only the gross income from rent over a twelve month period prior to applying would be used in the calculation for income and any income from the property once we leave wouldn't be relevant to the calculation. Is this correct?

In this case, if a job I took in the UK was short of the minimum income requirements under category A, would the gross non-employment income from the previous twelve months be used then to make up this shortfall or is it only used to calculate gross annual income received while still overseas?

You're asking about a relatively uncommon income source to use towards the financial requirement, so I'm not sure how much clarification can be provided vs. what you already know. If you haven't found this already, the details are in the guidance document linked below from page 40.

The way I read it, overseas properties can continue to be used as an income source and can be used in the calculation of income both prior to returning to the UK and afterwards; it would only be properties in the UK that will become the main residence that cannot continue to be used as a source of income. Of course, that's just my interpretation, I have no experience actually using this type of income in an application.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -ext_1.pdf

[tommycalk]

I live in Vietnam in a house owned by my wife, whose application I am sponsoring. If we rent this place out before we leave and live somewhere else, as I understand it, only the gross income from rent over a twelve month period prior to applying would be used in the calculation for income and any income from the property once we leave wouldn't be relevant to the calculation. Is this correct?

In this case, if a job I took in the UK was short of the minimum income requirements under category A, would the gross non-employment income from the previous twelve months be used then to make up this shortfall or is it only used to calculate gross annual income received while still overseas?

You're asking about a relatively uncommon income source to use towards the financial requirement, so I'm not sure how much clarification can be provided vs. what you already know. If you haven't found this already, the details are in the guidance document linked below from page 40.

The way I read it, overseas properties can continue to be used as an income source and can be used in the calculation of income both prior to returning to the UK and afterwards; it would only be properties in the UK that will become the main residence that cannot continue to be used as a source of income. Of course, that's just my interpretation, I have no experience actually using this type of income in an application.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -ext_1.pdf

It's okay, I realise I'm getting a little niche and technical here so I'm not expecting a conclusive answer! It should apply to both, you would think, but the wording in the Appendix FM-SE under "Calculating Gross Annual Income under Appendix FM" is a little ambiguous and I'd want to be sure it would apply before proceeding down this route. I'll have a look at what you've sent me though, maybe that will have something a bit clearer on this matter. Thanks

[seagul]

There is very little guidance about the rental income from the overseas property, therefore, there is nothing much which anyone can advise except someone who actually have used that route and have seen the results.

[tommycalk]

Okay, I thought it'd be a stretch to get a definitive answer to that question. It makes sense that it would be possible to use it towards income in the UK as well as abroad, as you can do that if based in the UK already, but the wording in the guidance is unclear and it's clearly not something you can just take a punt on if you're looking at chucking £1500 odd down the drain and acquiring a refusal on your record at the same time! Thanks