Paused FLR M Application - new evidence

[hadiyah]

Hi all,

Our FLR M application was paused as I had worked for my employers at the time of application for 7 month and although my salary was salaried and non salaried and varied and in the last 12 months I had earned over the minimum threshold the Home office would not consider the application under category A. Our application is on hold and I do now have 6 months pay slips in new salaried employment and satisfy the minimum income threshold under category A.

The refusal/notice that our application on hold simply states that if we want them to consider a change of circumstances we would need to withdraw the application. We do not want to withdraw since the application has not been decided on we believe they should accept current financial evidence, It is crazy the only reason they say they did not grant the visa was the financial evidence and if I know meet it why would they not consider my current financial status.

We did consider varying but since we are not applying on a different basis to the original application there seemed no need to vary. Withdrawing and making a fresh application is also not ideal since there is no guarantee when we will receive all our paperwork with the home office within the 28 day grace period and we will not risk losing our right to appeal.

I wanted some advice, is anyone in a similar situation, is there any case law or examples or where new evidence was accepted for an application on hold or still in process?

We want to submit the new evidence asap can anyone please offer some advice.

Kind regards

[SoHopeful]

They will not consider any evidence since the application... only prior to.

If I'm brutally honest, the ECO has every right to reject given how clear the rules are on what to submit. From the basic info you provided, you should have applied using Cat B.
Before the income requirement there was no consistent way of evidencing that you are able to support your spouse. As much as meeting the requirements are a pain for 1000s, I was glad there was a clear guide on what to submit for income.

[hadiyah]

I meant to say that we made the application under Cat B, but the home office did not consider our application under Cat B since I had worked for my employer for 7 months. They therefore considered the application under Cat A.

[SoHopeful]

Ah ok. Is your current annual salary £18,600+ as well as having earnt that in last 12 months? In that case you need to explain that you do in fact meet the requirements.

[hadiyah]

Hi

My current salary is 23 000, and I have 6 months payslips etc when we applied for the FLR M in OCT i had worked with my previous employer for (7 payslips) 7 months and started off employment salaried on 19 500, after 2 months the company was bought and by my 3rd month in employment all employees salaries was dropped to basic minimum wage, therefore non salaried. this meant I was now earning below the minimum income threshold. I looked for a new job right away and found employment which was due to start on 7th Oct. My partners Visa was due to run out on the 2nd Oct so we had to put her application in.

When I calculated my salary over a 12 month period prior to date of application I had earned well over the required amount, however the home office said that since I had worked with my employer for more than 6 months they would consider me under category A and found I didnt meet the income requirement. This was very upsetting since I know I had sufficiently earned above 18 600 annually and have done so for many years.

Were the home office correct in considering us under cat A rather than B? I've been reading the guidelines agian and it states that you caqn apply under Cat B if you are in salaried or non salaried employment for 6 months or more or have a variable income. I clearly had a variable income which is why I applied under Cat B?

Our application is paused and I know have 6 months payslips and bank statements etc which show I am earning under cat A the right amount but the Home office wants us to withdraw the application and make a fresh one.

I do not want to withdraw simply because I do not trust that they will send me back my wifes passport in time for us to make the application within 28 days. I do not want to risk losing our right to appeal. Also it seems so unfair to have to pay the fee again when the application has not been decided on. Its still in process, technically we could vary the application, but since we are not changing the grounds on which we are applying there is no reason to vary. I want to send in the new financial evidence with a covering letter.

When we applied we made it very clear to the Home office that we are a lesbian couple of Pakistan origin. I was born in the UK and we wish to live here. We got married/ CP in August last year and we explained that it would not be possible to relocate to Pakistan since there is no legal recognition of our civil partnership.

I am trying my best to navigate the immigration rules and I don't understand why they didnt consider us under Cat B when it clearly states in their guidelines that you can apply under Cat B if you have been with your employer less than 6 months OR you have a variable income... Does anyone have further information to clarify why they did not consider us under Cat B. Should we even argue this now or just show that we now meet the rules however which way they calculate it?

Thank you in advance for any help.