US Wife's settlement visa rejected - Finance (appealing)

[london789]

Hi, I wonder if you nice people can help me.

I'm a British citizen living in London and my wife is in the USA. We married in December and I applied for her settlement visa in April. Here are the timeline:

Date of submission: 12th April 2013
Date of refusal: 2nd May 2013

They gave 3 reasons for refusal: not enough evidence of our relationship, my missing bank statements, and English Language Requirements.

Apparently our marriage certificate wasn't enough for them. At the oral hearing I'll have to show them Skype logs and screenshots from our whatsapp chats to show we've been in constant communicaiton.

My wife is a pakistani national, and they said I didn't send them enough proof of her english, even though she is graduating from one of the top liberal arts colleges in the US! She even sent her transcript which should have been enough. Anyway, we have evidence for that which I'll take with me to the oral hearing.

I needed help with the financial rejection. My gross annual salary is £22,000 (not including company bonuses and commission), so I'm well over the 18,600 requirement. BUT the problem is I have no savings. Absolutely none. I spend what I earn. I have a house in my name and I pay the mortgage for that too.

Do I need the £16000 savings or is my gross annual salary enough? I will show them my bank statements (which I didn't do) which shows income going into my account, but I'm afraid they will look at my balance and reject her visa on the basis that I don't have any savings. In fact, I often go overdraft.

Can somebody tell me if my gross annual salary of £22,000 is enough? Or will they also ask for savings?

Thank you so much!! I hope for a speedy response as we're desperate to be with each other in London this summer!

S.

[Casa]

You don't need savings as you meet the minimum income level of £18.600.
You may be better to re-apply, submitting the documents you failed to provide which were mandatory. You can have an appeal running and submit a new application. An appeal is unlikely to be decided in time for your wife to join you this Summer.
I'm assuming the overdraft is authorised with the bank? The question may arise that if your bank account is going regularly into overdraft, how will you manage your finances once your wife joins you.
How many times have you spent time with your wife? How long did you spend together after the wedding ceremony? Do you have evidence of this time?
Photos and a hotel booking for the honeymoon for example?
Regarding the language requirement, if your wife doesn't yet have her degree, why doesn't she simply take the A1 English test?