Financially Self Sufficient - wife of British Citizen

[wothersr]

Hi All,

My wife is applying for British Citizenship. She is an EEA national (Poland) and I am a British national. We have been married since 2008. Form, fee etc filled in and sent off.

Response has come back with:

"Before your application can proceed further please send the following:

Evidence that you are self sufficient financially since your employment ended on Feb 2011 - present"

My wife and I have only had a joint bank account since March 2013.

Now I thought it was possible to provide this evidence based on my earnings, which is why we sent off my P60s with the application form. But seemingly that is not enough...

There wasn't any real information on the letter they sent beyond that we should provide "Statement(s) of funds, assets and any other sources of income held".

We sent an email asking for clarification as to why the P60s were not sufficient but we just got an automated reply with FAQ, and a note at the top saying we wouldn't get another reply.

Does anyone have any insight or experience with this? I would have thought this was a common situation but can't find any help on the immigration website either.

We've been given a deadline to provide this information in 2 weeks or her application will be refused so appreciate any speedy responses!

Many Thanks.

[Jambo]

EU citizens are required to exercise treaty rights. There are several ways of doing so: employment, studies or self-sufficiency. If self sufficient one should have enough funds not to become burden on the state. Also one requires to have a private health insurance (or a non UK EHIC). This has nothing to do with NHS entitlement.

What did your wife do since she arrived? For time under employment she will need to provide proof of that. For time as self sufficient, she will need to provide evidence of funds (such as your salary) and evidence of her being able to access those funds (joint account for example). In addition, private health insurance is needed.

[wothersr]

My wife was in employment up until Feb 2011 and we have provided proof of that.
Also, we have a certificate stating private medical insurance cover for the duration of her time here.

We have already provided my P60 statements up to the present day, would this not be sufficient proof of funds?

As I mentioned, we have only had a joint account since March 2013. Prior to that my wife had her own bank account but post her employment, that was only used for receipt of child tax credits (up until 2012 when we had to opt out).

Are there other ways of providing evidence of her having access to my funds?

[Jambo]

Did she have access to your funds? Maybe a card under your account? Or maybe she had enough funds in her ow account to live off it?

You can also try to write a statement that she had access to those funds. There isn't a strict rule to follow here so the caseworker can apply discretion.

[wothersr]

She did have access to the funds, but not through her own card.

I will try writing the letter and let people know how that goes.

In this case, would you expect I would have to provide my bank statements, or would the P60s suffice?

Thanks for your help.

[Jambo]

I would add bank statements even just for the sake of trying to show the caseworker you are trying to add some additional information to what they asked.