I am quite perplexed by the FLR(M) form. I am a British Citizen who is married to a non-EEA national. When we married I was an EEA National and she was on a Student Visa (and still is), however after the marriage I naturalised and had to abandon my EEA nationality as it does not allow dual citizenship, leaving me to be a British citizen only.
Me and my wife have started building our life together, we rented a house, started paying the bills, etc. even got a dog and recently found out she is expecting a baby! Which made me the happiest man on earth until my wife asked for some help on the FLR(M) form, and lo and behold.. I feel like everything will come to an end.
The biggest obstacle is the £18,600 a year financial requirement. After doing some more reading, research and some lurking on these forums I decided that Route B is the best option for me as I had quit my old job to get a better paying one so my wife could get the spouse visa in order to stay here with me. At the time I thought it would of been just an easy submission of paperwork, etc. proving your new job exceeds or meets the threshold - but only now did I realize that they need Gross Pay.
So the problem I have is that I quit my last job which wasn't enough, but now I need several more months in the new one to meet the 12 month criteria, unless I am able to use another previous job I had which would exceed the amount when adding everything together.
My wife's student visa expires very soon and we desperately need to get the Spouse Visa so she could stay here and we wouldn't have to worry and add unnecessary stress and strain, especially when she is pregnant.
We booked an appointment at a Premium Service Centre and will be attending it mid-September.
So here is the question;
Can I use my Payslips from last end of August to this end of August as justification for the £18,600 threshold? I left my first job and they paid me the remainder of my salary in August, I started a new job mid-August and they paid me there as well but didn't provide a Payslip (which I requested for a copy of now), I now left the last job and started at a new company with a higher wage which provided me with a Payslip for the end of this August. Since appointment is Mid-September I can only assume I must provide August to August, right? Can all of these incomes be combined?
And if not, can my wifes £15,000 in savings be also added to this amount as a breakeven? The savings vary though, as my wife is being also supported by her parents until she finds a job, and to do that she needs a Spouse Visa.
I dread to think of my wife having to go back to her home country and me having to be separated from her.
What are the options here? Is there another visa we could consider if not FLR(M)?
Thank you for taking your time to read this.
Much appreciated for any help and support we can get!