Premium Bonds as cash savings (Cat D)

[arthurjohn]

Hi,

My Australian wife will soon be making her application for Indefinite Leave to Remain as a spouse of a British citizen (me). At her very first application for Further Leave to Remain, she was granted a visa on the 5 year partner route.
In her first FLR application, she met the financial requirement through Self-Employment (Category F).
In her second FLR application, she met the financial requirement through income from salaried employment (Category A).
With her upcoming ILR application, she will likely be meeting the financial requirement through cash savings (Category D). Most of our savings are in Premium Bonds (I hold some in my name, she holds some in hers). Can we use Premium Bonds as evidence of cash savings, without having to withdraw them and deposit them into a current/savings account? From reading the guidance notes, it says a requirement is that "the savings are held in cash (or their cash value is clear)".

I'm pretty sure NS&I Premium Bond accounts are considered savings accounts, and their cash value is clear as 1 bond is equal to £1. I have read on some forums that people have withdrawn their Premium Bonds and put them into a current/savings account, but most of those posts were from over 6 years ago. Reading the current guidance notes makes me think an NS&I account is fine to use, but does anyone here know for sure whether or not that's the case?

Thanks

[zimba]

They can be used however they must be liquidated and converted into cash before you apply. Certain conditions apply and some evidence may be required.

Read pages 48-50 of the guide: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... .0-ext.pdf