Spousal Visa & Student Finances

[secondfig]

Hi, I'm marrying my fiancee in the USA in less than a months time. Initially we were going to apply for a spousal visa immediately afterwards but have now decided to wait 3 months while sha saves some more money as we are both far from rich. I am worried we will have difficulties getting the visa for her because I am a student (even though I am fully funded) and because I am around £7000 in debt.
My details are as follows:

I am an Englsih citizen with full rights to remain etc.
She is a US citizen, we met at university in the UK 18 months ago while she we were both studying MAs.

Since then she has visited me twice and I have visited her 3 times, neither of us have ever overstayed a visa.

We talk on the phone daily, e-mail as often and have countless photos etc.

I am a funded PhD student, this means I recieve £12,300 from a government research council tax free. I am worried as this means I do not pay tax or NI, nor do I get a payslip. However this is guaranteed for 3 years and paid every 3 months promptly.

I owe £4000 on one credit card, £1400 on another, and have an active overdraft of £1500. I am worried this will be a problem. We are planning to wait until Jan before appying by which time I shuld have paid off a substantial sum of this debt, but some will still remain.

She doesn;t have a job waiting for her but she has a degree, an MA and work experience. Also she has a few thousand dollars in savings but nothing huge.

If anyone can give me any advice I would be so, so grateful.

Thanks

[John]

Hey, you are a student! Of course you are in debt!

As long as it is clear that your wife, as she will be, will not need to claim certain Public Funds, she will pass that financial test.

You say about waiting three months while she saves more. How much in savings will she have immediately after the marriage? How much three months later?

And as regards her getting a job in the UK, which will essentially confirm that she will not need to claim certain Public Funds, what sort of job would she apply for, and what sort of salary can she expect to earn? Are you able to look online and provide examples of the sort of job she might apply for?

Of course, with a spouse visa, she will be fully able to work in the UK without requiring a Work Permit.

[secondfig]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

If she works for 3 more months in the US she should have around an extra £3000-£4000, plus I'll have paid off one of my credit cards and around half of my overdraft.

Work wise she has a BSc, MA and 6 months experience in forensics and this is what she would want to work in long term. However we recognise that finding a job in such a specialist industry may take a while.
She also has over 5 years experience working as a bartender/manager in upscale restaurants and bars, and she would probably take a similar job initially.
The idea of providing examples of jobs she could/will apply for sounds good and we'll do that.

Two more questions though; Close friends of ours have offered to let us stay at their house for as long as we want and are happy to write letters stating that for immigration purposes. I checked the overcrowding post and we'd be fine as the house has 5 rooms (2 lounges, 3 bedrooms) over the required size and there would be 5 people staying there.
However we do not really want to stay with them and would probably rent, but would it look better on our application if we used our friends as that would be rent free?

Secondly the same friends have offered to stand as sponsor for her visa (as we'd be staying under their roof) and have much bigger savings, income and less debt. Is this worth doing or would it look strange if I (the husband) wasn't my wife's sponsor?

Thanks again,
Keir