British citizen - Visa for wife - please help!

[simononwaytoUK]

Hi, long story short.
The pandemic has ruined my business, so I need a new strategy for my family and I.
I am a British citizen and so are my children (9 month old and 12 year old).
My wife of 13 years is Turkish and we live in Turkey at the moment.
We would like to move to the UK.
Obviously the kids and I are fine, but what about my wife?
I am applying for jobs, but I need to be in the UK for interviews. As Turkey is still on the red list, this is not possible, and I am running out of funds.
Let us just say there are no travel restrictions. Hopefully this time will come.
What Visa should I apply for my wife? We want to all stay together. I cannot imagine the family being seperated.
I hope someone can help.

[secret.simon]

What Visa should I apply for my wife?

Spousal visa.

We want to all stay together.

It is highly likely that you will need to separate for between six months to a year. You will need to prove an annual salary of £18,600, by either six months payslips of a regular salaried job or 12 months of irregular income, before you can make the application.

Alternatively, if you have savings of £62,000, held in an easily accessible bank account for at least six months, you can apply immediately.

[simononwaytoUK]

secret simon, thanks for your reply.
I will not be parted from my wife or children. No amount of money will compensate for missing time with them.
So, I was thinking: What if she gets a 2 year visitor visa. We could all be in the UK while I work. After 6 months of wage slips and some savings (hopefully), we can leave the country and apply for the spouse visa.
Does that sound doable?

Thanks in advance...

[secret.simon]

What if she gets a 2 year visitor visa. We could all be in the UK while I work. After 6 months of wage slips and some savings (hopefully), we can leave the country and apply for the spouse visa.

Unlikely she will be issued a visit visa. For a visit visa, she will need to prove that she has stronger ties to her country of habitual residence than she has to the UK. With a spouse and children in the UK, that would be hard to pull off. Indeed, having family in the UK actually weakens applications for visit visas in the UK.

And she is even less likely to get a 2 year visit visa. Normally, one builds up to a multiple year visit visa only after a history of 6 month visit visas, where one has demonstrated that they have followed the rules. Think of it as building up a credit score.

And even with a two year visit visa, keep in mind that each visit should not exceed six months and that the person should be spending more time in their country of habitual residence than in the UK. Residing in the UK in the guise of a visit visa by "frequent or successive visits" is expressly forbidden in the Immigration Rules for visitors.

On an unrelated side-note, be aware that if you want your eldest child (aged 12 years old) to go to university in the UK, you'd want them to move soon anyway. In order to qualify for Home Student fees and student financing in England, the applicant (including British citizens) must be "ordinarily resident" in the UK for at least three years before the first day of the first year of the higher education course.

[simononwaytoUK]

Hey SecretSimon

I really appreciate the help and your time.

We have visited quite a number of times over the years, so we have had 6 month visit visas.
We also own property in Turkey in my wife's name and a car in her name.

Excellent info about my son's education. Spot on!

I understand about the finances. But we shall initially be staying at the family home. I want my son to start UK school and I want my daughter and my wife with me. How is it that three British citizens cannot have their wife/mother with them. How do I look after my children while working (impossible for a 9 month old baby) while my wife resides in Turkey?

What about a 6 month family visa?

Cheers, Simon

[AmazonianX]

Hey SecretSimon

I really appreciate the help and your time.

We have visited quite a number of times over the years, so we have had 6 month visit visas.
We also own property in Turkey in my wife's name and a car in her name.

Excellent info about my son's education. Spot on!

I understand about the finances. But we shall initially be staying at the family home. I want my son to start UK school and I want my daughter and my wife with me. How is it that three British citizens cannot have their wife/mother with them. How do I look after my children while working (impossible for a 9 month old baby) while my wife resides in Turkey? That is the situation with the UK immigration system. As someone else stated it appears its more difficult for British citizen to have right to family life in this land.

What about a 6 month family visa? Till she secure the family visa or another route giving longer right to stay, any type of visit visa she gets will limit her stay in UK not to exceed 6months

Cheers, Simon

[JB007]

How is it that three British citizens cannot have their wife/mother with them. How do I look after my children while working (impossible for a 9 month old baby) while my wife resides in Turkey?

Working parents in the UK pay others to look after their children, if they don't have family in the UK to do that. You will be working all day, but childcare is not cheap.

[JB007]

We also own property in Turkey in my wife's name and a car in her name.

Any chance that selling that property would realise the £62,500 savings required for a spouse visa?

[simononwaytoUK]

Maybe.
I do not understand how the savings need to be £62K but the income on £18K.

I read the savings need to be £16K on the government website.

[CR001]

Maybe.
I do not understand how the savings need to be £62K but the income on £18K.

I read the savings need to be £16K on the government website.

The £62kis to cover a 2.5 year period if the sponsor doesn't work in the UK.

Any savings you do use, the first £16k is discounted and not considered

[simononwaytoUK]

Is the 6 months spouse (family) Visa an option. I can then find work and get set up, allowing time to show payslips.
I have family. Can they guarantee anything?
I always knew this time would come and I have been dreading it.

[AmazonianX]

Is the 6 months spouse (family) Visa an option. I can then find work and get set up, allowing time to show payslips.
I have family. Can they guarantee anything?
I always knew this time would come and I have been dreading it.

There is no 6 months spouse visa.

[CR001]

I have family. Can they guarantee anything?

Unfortunately not.

[secret.simon]

Maybe.
I do not understand how the savings need to be £62K but the income on £18K.

I read the savings need to be £16K on the government website.

The savings needs to be *above* £16,000.

The calculation is £16,000 (which is the minimum savings required and disregarded) + (2.5 years * £18,600) = £62,500.

Essentially you need savings to equate to the full salary requirement for the 2.5 years that you are applying for, plus an additional £16,000 (presumably as buffer).

It is unfortunate that you did not move to another (non-UK) EEA member-state before 31st December 2020 (the end of the Brexit Transition Period). That may have secured some rights for your family as a unit under EU law. At the very least, that would have allowed you to move to that EEA member-state, but not the UK, as a family unit.

UK immigration law does not give the same importance to the family unit that EU law does. From their point of view, you can always move abroad to live with your family unit, as indeed you have done for years.

[vinny]

I have family. Can they guarantee anything?

Unfortunately not.

There’s actually no right to family life in the UK.

[JB007]

Maybe.
I do not understand how the savings need to be £62K but the income on £18K.

I read the savings need to be £16K on the government website.

Having savings of £62,500 would enable your wife to meet the financial requirment for a spouse visa, to then be able to travel to the UK with you. From what I have read on here, that savings is anything you have held for 6 months and that includes the money you have from selling a property you have owned for at least 6 months (others will correct this if I am wrong).

As CR001 has said, this 62.5k is linked to the £18,600 finanacial requirement. That minimum 18,600pa hasn't changed for years and is now easily earned.
A visa ot 2.5 years is the £18.600pa x 2.5 = £46,500 plus the 16k = £62,500.

So that is showing 18.6 per year to live on for 2.5 years, plus 16k which is the amount of savings/capital that stops means tested benefits being claimed from the UK's welfare state.

[secret.simon]

16k which is the amount of savings/capital that stops means tested benefits being claimed from the UK's welfare state.

I was not aware of the reasoning for the £16,000 provision. That makes sense. Thank you.

[JB007]

Hi, long story short.
The pandemic has ruined my business, so I need a new strategy for my family and I.

This might not be the case, but if you were hoping to claim means tested benefits from the UK, under the Welfare Reform Acts property/land owned, in any country, is now used in the benefit caluclation. The estimated capital in the property/land minus 10%, then minus the estimated selling fees. Anything 16k plus is too much capital to be able to claim the means tested welfare benefit called Universal Credit. Anything over 6k -to 16k , reduces the monthly benefit amount.

[JB007]

This might not be the case, but if you were hoping to claim means tested benefits from the UK, under the Welfare Reform Acts property/land owned, in any country, is now used in the benefit caluclation.

I should make that clearer, in that it is any property you own that you do not live in, in any country.

This change caught/will catch a lot of landords out in the UK who were claimaing welfare benefits for their children under the old (legacy benefit) system. Just as all the other welfare changes has done/will also do to others.

Child Benefit is not part of Universal Credit, nor is it a means tested benefit.

[simononwaytoUK]

Thank you everyone for your very helpful input.

Sorry I haven't replied sooner. The wildfires in around MIlas and Bodrum are now within 20KM of our house. We had an anxious night waiting for a possible evacuation order. Luckily the wind changes, but other villages are now in danger.

So, I can take my son to further his education in the UK, and leave my wife and daughter in Turkey. I can work in the UK for 6 months, obtain an employers letter and wage slips to prove I can support my family.

Do I need savings on top of this?

In the meantime my wife can secure a certificate to prove she can speak English.

What a lovely situation!

[secret.simon]

The wildfires in around MIlas and Bodrum are now within 20KM of our house.

Take care of yourselves and best of luck to your family and you.

I can work in the UK for 6 months, obtain an employers letter and wage slips to prove I can support my family.

The six months is assuming that the job is salaried with a fixed income and paid directly into a bank account. Otherwise, if your income is irregular and liable to change (due to factors such as sales commission, etc), you will need to prove your annual income over 12 months.

Do I need savings on top of this?

You will only need savings if your income is less than £18,600 per annum.

The savings to demonstrate will be £16,000 + (2.5 years * (£18,600 - annual salary)).

my wife can secure a certificate to prove she can speak English.

Correct. She will need such a certificate at the time of first application, a new certificate at the time of the extension of the visa in 2.5 years time (when she will need to prove all the above again; your salary of £18,600, English language test, etc) and possibly another one at the time of applying for ILR in five years time.

What a lovely situation!

Welcome to the world of UK immigration.