VAF4A- Spouse settlement visa-must British partner be in UK?

[Mohammad24]

Hi,

My wife and I have been married and living together outside of the UK for over five years.
My wife is British, and I'm a non EEA passport holder.

My question is:

Must my wife be living IN the UK in order for me to apply for the spouse settlement visa?
Or can we apply whilst living together from outside of the UK?

My question stems from the following quote from the VAF4A appendix:

YOU SHOULD COMPLETE THIS FORM IF YOU WISH TO COME TO THE UK AS:
•
The spouse or civil partner of someone settled in the UK;

Any help is appreciated!

Thank you.

[Mohammad24]

Also, I am employed on a full time basis, but my wife is currently unemployed.

Regarding the following:

You must also meet the financial requirement of:

£18,600 per year if you’re applying only for yourself

Who needs to show the above? Myself or my wife? Or either of us?

Thank you.

[CR001]

You can apply from abroad but it is your British wife that has to show proof of the financial requirement which she cannot as she is not working and most likely does not have a job in place for when she returns to the UK. Your income will NOT be taken into account for an entry clearance spouse visa.

The alternative is to show substantial savings of £62,500 which must be held for a minimum of 6 months and evidence provided.

[Mohammad24]

Thank you so much for your help and prompt reply.

I take it this is what some refer to as the "savings route" then?

If we can show the £62,500 in savings, does it matter whose account it's in? Will it make a difference if it's in my account under my own name?

If I can show my payslips, and show where the £62,500 came from, do we still need to wait for 6 months before we apply?

Also, if we take the "savings route," will the appendix VAF4A be the correct appendix for us if my wife is with me and not IN the UK?

Thanks.

[Casa]

You need to show that the savings have been held in an accessible account for a minimum of 6 months, regardless of where they originated from.
VAF4a is the correct application. You will also have to show that you have adequate accommodation available upon your arrival in the UK. You''ll need to pay the new NHS surcharge of £600 before submitting your application, in addition to the £956 visa application fee.
Bear in mind that your will also have to comply with the A1 level pre-entry English test.

What happened to your spouse visa application in 2011?
http://www.immigrationboards.com/immigr ... ml#p549971

[Mohammad24]

You need to show that the savings have been held in an accessible account for a minimum of 6 months, regardless of where they originated from.
VAF4a is the correct application. You will also have to show that you have adequate accommodation available upon your arrival in the UK. You''ll need to pay the new NHS surcharge of £600 before submitting your application, in addition to the £956 visa application fee.
Bear in mind that your will also have to comply with the A1 level pre-entry English test.

Assalamu alaikum Casa,

Thank you for your reply and clarifications. I really appreciate it.

The problem we're facing at the moment is the crashing of the other currencies against the pound!

Do you happen to know what currency converter is used to convert the foreign currency into the pound by the immigration office?

What happened to your spouse visa application in 2011?
http://www.immigrationboards.com/immigr ... ml#p549971

Ah, it's been a huge roller coaster. Unfortunately, we didn't end up applying in 2011! Just as we were gathering the documents, we were awaiting one more document to use as proof of accommodation, and while we were waiting for it to arrive, I received two job offers in other countries and we ended up relocating to Australia.

Prior to that, we were going to take the HSMP route initially, and then it was abolished. Following that, we were going to take the Tier 1 General route, and then that was abolished too!

Then we thought we'd wait to apply for the "4 year rule" route, and then by the time we were married for 4 years, it was abolished!

So we're back to the spouse settlement visa at the moment. Only this time, we've got the new NHS surcharge of £600 to pay on top!

[Mohammad24]

The problem we're facing at the moment is the crashing of the other currencies against the pound!

Do you happen to know what currency converter is used to convert the foreign currency into the pound by the immigration office?

Can anybody help with the above please?

Also, my salary is in AU dollars, so if we meet the "savings route" amount at the moment, but the AU dollar continues to crash, how and when can we determine we've met the equivalent?? And how do we calculate the six month period?

[Casa]

The problem we're facing at the moment is the crashing of the other currencies against the pound!

Do you happen to know what currency converter is used to convert the foreign currency into the pound by the immigration office?

Can anybody help with the above please?

Also, my salary is in AU dollars, so if we meet the "savings route" amount at the moment, but the AU dollar continues to crash, how and when can we determine we've met the equivalent?? And how do we calculate the six month period?

Wa alaikum salam
I have tried to clarify which currency converter is used by the UKVI without any success so far. The six month period must be the period immediately before submitting the application, in order to show that the funds have been in your account for that period of time and remain there.

[Mohammad24]

Wa alaikum salam
I have tried to clarify which currency converter is used by the UKVI without any success so far. The six month period must be the period immediately before submitting the application, in order to show that the funds have been in your account for that period of time and remain there.

I appreciate your help in trying to find out, thank you sister.

Yes, with regards to the 6 month period.. I'm just a bit confused as to when we actually meet the financial requirement. E.G. If we actually met the financial requirement now, and then the dollar continued dropping, we would no longer meet the requirement (because of the conversion rate), so what's the solution in a case like this?

Thank you!

[Casa]

Unfortunately I don't know of a solution. Hopefully one of the members will have direct experience or advice.

[Greenie]

They use the currency converter on oanda.com and they use the closing spot exchange rate on the date of application

Always advisable to keep more than the required amount if you are holding it in a foreign currency

[Mohammad24]

Unfortunately I don't know of a solution. Hopefully one of the members will have direct experience or advice.

Thank you for all your help so far!

[Casa]

Thanks go to Greenie

[Mohammad24]

They use the currency converter on oanda.com and they use the closing spot exchange rate on the date of application

Always advisable to keep more than the required amount if you are holding it in a foreign currency

Thank you so much for clarifying, really appreciate it!

[Mohammad24]

Thanks go to Greenie

You've both been a great help, thank you both.

[Mohammad24]

They use the currency converter on oanda.com and they use the closing spot exchange rate on the date of application

Always advisable to keep more than the required amount if you are holding it in a foreign currency

Hi Greenie,

I have a bit of a tricky question I'd appreciate some help with please.

At present, 1GBP stands at 0.46981AUD, and so 62,500GBP = 132,572 AUD.

If they use the closing spot exchange rate on the date of application to determine whether I have the 62,500 equivalent in my bank account, how would they go about determining whether I've had the equivalent in my account for the past 6 months?

In other words, if we applied at the end of November for example, and they use the closing spot exchange rate to determine the final bank figure, would they use the same rate to calculate if I have had the amount for the past 6 months, or would they check the Oanda closing figure for June 2015 to determine if I had the 62,500 equivalent six months ago?

And if someone is able to show the equivalent of 70,000GBP in their bank account with proof of where it came from, along with payslips, will the above even matter as much? Given that the amount can be traced.

The problem we're facing is the decline in the AUD. It's been plummeting over the past 6 months, so although we're able to show that we meet the 62,500 equivalent, if we use today's exchange rate, we wouldn't have had that amount in our account 6 months ago, and the more the AUD declines, the longer we have to wait to meet the 6 month rule. It seems almost impossible to achieve!

Casa- Appreciate if you or anybody else can help too. Thank you.

[Mohammad24]

Can anybody help with the above question please?

Also, another question:

We're currently in AU and our visas expire at the end of Jan 2016. If we apply for the UK spouse settlement visa from AU, does the UKBA require us to have a certain visa validity for the country we're applying from? or does it not matter as long as we can show we have a valid visa at the time of application?

Thank you.

[Mohammad24]

I just found this. So it looks like the only requirement is that the visa for the country you're applying from is valid at the time of application?

[physicskate]

I just found this. So it looks like the only requirement is that the visa for the country you're applying from is valid at the time of application?

That is my understanding, although you should apply in plenty of time to ensure you do not overstay your current (Australian) visa.

[Mohammad24]

I just found this. So it looks like the only requirement is that the visa for the country you're applying from is valid at the time of application?

That is my understanding, although you should apply in plenty of time to ensure you do not overstay your current (Australian) visa.

Thank you for your reply.

I have another question for anyone that might be able to help.

If I have 62,500 in my account on the 27th of May, would I be able to apply on exactly the 27th of November?

[Casa]

Yes, good to go.

[Mohammad24]

Yes, good to go.

Thanks Casa.

Just when we think we've got all the information we need something else pops up!

We're now receiving conflicting reports about whether or not we can even apply for the spouse settlement visa from within Australia.

We've been in Australia for more than 3 years and have come on a work visa, which expires in 3 months time- on the 31st of January 2016. Are we able to apply from within Australia? Or is there a minimum visa validity requirement we have to meet in order to apply from here? Really appreciate any help on this one!