Category A or B - Financial Requirement

[fahmad]

Situation:
Spouse/Partner Visa Expiry: 23 October 2016 (granted initially on 23 April 2014 for 2.5 years)
28 days before: 25 September
PEO Appointment currently booked for further 2.5 years renewal: 26 September - let's assume I cannot change this date because of the need to travel shortly after I receive my BRP, should my application be approved).


Me:
Been with my current employer since 1 February 2016 (>6 months). Annual gross pay £43,000.

Partner:
Has been with three employers over the last 12 months prior to application date. His annual gross salary is £22,000 or more in all three jobs. However, he has only been in his current job for a month.

Category A
I can technically apply through Category A, solely using my income being over £18,600 and that I have been working over 6 months with the same employer being paid at the same level.

Problem: Under Category A, the specified evidence requires payslips for the 6 month prior to the date of application and that the bank statements will need to correspond to these. Issue is that the 28 day rule applies and 28 day prior to 26 September is 29 August. My last pay date is on 23 August. My next pay date is on 23 September (Friday) before the 26th (Monday). There is a high risk that I will NOT be able to get my last payslip stamped AND get a bank statement ordered/printed and stamped in time (as we know how banks can be difficult on this). So this is the reason why I am opting to go under Category B.


Category B

To qualify, my logic is that:

Part 1 qualification (applicant/partner or both earn £18,600)

My partner earns £23,061 per annum in his current job which he started on 22 August. He had his first payslip from this current job on 31 August (within 28 days prior to application), which prorated his pay for August but shows his annual gross of £23,061. He also has a letter from his current employer confirming his pay, employment, length of employment and type of employment i.e. permanent. Additionally, he has his offer letter which also states his annual gross salary. He does not have his employment contract yet as with the NHS it takes up to 8 weeks before they issue a contract. The offer letter states this and so does the letter from his employer.

I earn £43,000 per annum in my current job which I started on 1 February. My latest payslip is dated 23 August (not within 28 days prior to application). I have my employment contract which states my pay as £43,000 per annum gross and additionally also have letter from my employer confirming my employment, pay, length of employment and type of employment i.e. permanent.

As such, logically, either him/I or both of us qualify Part 1 i.e. £23,061, £43,000 OR £66,061.

Proposed evidence to meet Part 1: Letter from my employer, letter from my partner's employer, my employment contract, my partner's offer letter and my partner's latest payslip which is within 28 days of application (that also states his annual gross in addition to monthly gross). My latest payslip is not within 28 days of application, so not provided here for Part 1 (additionally it does not say my annual gross, just monthly gross).

Part 2 qualification (gross earning in the last 12 months prior to application is > £18,600)

This is the reason why I am opting to go under Category B because it does not demand payslip to be immediately 12 months prior to the date of application but ANY period in the 12 months prior to application. Technically this means that as long as I have enough payslips to evidence either me, him or both of us jointly made £18,600 in the 12 month period prior to application then we are fine.

My partner is keen only to use both of his most recent employers' (as getting hold of the first out of the three is a nightmare). Long story short, when you add up his gross earnings from 31 December 2015 to 31 August 2016 (9 months worth but within the 12 month period prior to application) = it comes to £18,496. Slightly under the requirement.

For me, using 23 February 2016 (first pay with current employer) to 23 August 2016 (latest pay) which is 7 months worth but within the 12 month period prior to application, this comes to a gross earning of £25,083. Above the requirement just by itself.

So technically would either qualify Part 2 by just my own earnings in the last 12 months or combining both mine and my partners. Just my partner's won't qualify.

Proposed evidence to meet Part 2: 7 months of pay slip for me, 23rd of every month from 23 February 2016 to 23 August 2016, but my set's latest pay slip is not within 28 days of application (or additionally adding my partner's ones too so 9 months for each month end from 31 December 2015 to 31 August 2016 - his set will include latest pay slip within 28 days of application). From what I have read on the rules, I don't think it matters under category B Part 2 if the latest payslip is not within 28 days of the application date, as long as they are in the 12 months prior to the application (the wording says ANY PERIOD in the 12 period prior to application rather than the category A wording with states 6 months prior to the application date, which implies you need to include the latest payslip within 28 days of the application in the 6 month set)


Questions:
1. Would there be any problem for me to opt for category B? I am only thinking it's ok because in the Financial Requirements Guidance, Category B Case Study Example (d) seem to be similar and the key here is that you do not combine methodology of Category A and B, you either pick A OR B but not both. So if I elect to go under B I have to satisfy the two parts under B.
2. Would the evidence above be correct and acceptable to meet each Part 1 and 2 of Category B?
3. Any other comments or thoughts/anything I have missed fundamentally? (Except of saying just move your appointment date and apply under Category A - I know this but at the moment I have a surgery planned so will need to travel for it so ideally if using Category B with the above evidence meets the requirement then I'll go with it).

[ILR1980]

I dont know why you are making thing complicated . CAT A is simple and straight forward and there is no need to have stamp on payslips if they are originals so if your appointment is on 26 sep and you get last payslip on 23 sep then its quiet simple to go to branch on Friday and ask them to print statement of last month and put stamp on it and you are done..

[SoHopeful]

To add to the above comment, I had a similar dilemma as my payslips are issued electronically so I asked my employer to provide a letter confirming this as that is also acceptable. If they can provide this in advance then you're sorted.

[fahmad]

Thanks, and yes ideally that's what I want too i.e. keeping my fingers crossed that my bank is able to produce an in-branch statement with a letter (HSBC) on Friday 23rd.Thus my question of preparing for Cat B as contingency, which agreed is more complicated thus my question if theoretically worth the shot (or cancelling my appointment altogether).

Of course Cat A is what I prefer and will be straightforward but anything can happen from the online payslip system being down (have spoken to HR who are happy to stamp on short notice but dependent on me printing out the payslip from the third party vendor's portal) or HSBC having an outage or just difficult people/ill-informed staff in branch, as these things have happened. I have had issues with banks previously (and had to try 3-4 branches before successfully getting things sorted - I only have one day this time to try this thus my concern). Tthis is my 4th time applying for a visa albeit different categories (student pre PBS, T1 PSW, T2 General and Spouse/Partner First FLR).

But that's ok, I'll just hope for the best and if it fails, I either turn up with what I got (and potentially waste £2k) or just cancel the appointment and try and hope to get another one in the next week or so (and postpone my surgery and suffer a little bit longer!) - let's see what happens on Friday 23rd. Thanks for all your help!

[SoHopeful]

I get your anxiety and over-thinking lol!
Yes banks can be a pain with this sort of thing but to ease my anxiety on that front I just went into branch before I required the print outs and asked! In fact in 2013 I found that it depended on who I spoke to on the day so I took advantage of that and got things printed and stamped when I heard what I wanted lol.

To be honest it may best to push the date back slightly if you are worried you won't have time as I appreciate the window you have is quite tight.

[fahmad]

Thanks - yep spoken to two branches - I'm going to get a dry run tomorrow and ask them to produce one so that I can see what the letter says and how the statement looks - that way if they get it right, on the real day I can even being the example from tomorrow to say 'like this / you've done this for me two weeks back'.

Yep been logging on to the website too to see if I can find different dates, so far nothing beyond my date - bit weird the system, random dates appear at different time and whilst it says you can book 42 days in advance it appears more like two weeks (that said weird because when I booked mine it was 4 weeks - maybe they keep some slots for bookings nearer to time).

I'll see what happens but should keep you posted - can't wait for this to be done and dusted! And you are right I do have anxiety (not just normal but clinically so have taken my meds too!) Thanks again SoHopeful!

[Excellency]

Thanks - yep spoken to two branches - I'm going to get a dry run tomorrow and ask them to produce one so that I can see what the letter says and how the statement looks - that way if they get it right, on the real day I can even being the example from tomorrow to say 'like this / you've done this for me two weeks back'.

Yep been logging on to the website too to see if I can find different dates, so far nothing beyond my date - bit weird the system, random dates appear at different time and whilst it says you can book 42 days in advance it appears more like two weeks (that said weird because when I booked mine it was 4 weeks - maybe they keep some slots for bookings nearer to time).

I'll see what happens but should keep you posted - can't wait for this to be done and dusted! And you are right I do have anxiety (not just normal but clinically so have taken my meds too!) Thanks again SoHopeful!

Hi I have the same concern with you. I am the sponsor, who can provide and also meet full financial requirement myself solely.Although my wife is working now but it is really difficult for her to provide evidence. So I intend to just use my salary as the evidence using category A too.
So my question is how we should fill in the form - if we do not use our partner's income for financial requirement, should we leave their column (section 7.3A) blank or we still need to fill in their column (are you/your sponsor currently employed, job title, salary etc.) without provide any evidence?

Thanks very much.

[SoHopeful]

Yep been logging on to the website too to see if I can find different dates, so far nothing beyond my date - bit weird the system, random dates appear at different time and whilst it says you can book 42 days in advance it appears more like two weeks (that said weird because when I booked mine it was 4 weeks - maybe they keep some slots for bookings nearer to time).

Yes I noticed the availability was really random and changed day to day. I think it may be because so many other people are cancelling or re-scheduling appointments so their previous slots become available. I managed to get a more convenient slot just by having a look each day at what had become available.

[fahmad]

Thanks - yep spoken to two branches - I'm going to get a dry run tomorrow and ask them to produce one so that I can see what the letter says and how the statement looks - that way if they get it right, on the real day I can even being the example from tomorrow to say 'like this / you've done this for me two weeks back'.

Yep been logging on to the website too to see if I can find different dates, so far nothing beyond my date - bit weird the system, random dates appear at different time and whilst it says you can book 42 days in advance it appears more like two weeks (that said weird because when I booked mine it was 4 weeks - maybe they keep some slots for bookings nearer to time).

I'll see what happens but should keep you posted - can't wait for this to be done and dusted! And you are right I do have anxiety (not just normal but clinically so have taken my meds too!) Thanks again SoHopeful!

Hi I have the same concern with you. I am the sponsor, who can provide and also meet full financial requirement myself solely.Although my wife is working now but it is really difficult for her to provide evidence. So I intend to just use my salary as the evidence using category A too.
So my question is how we should fill in the form - if we do not use our partner's income for financial requirement, should we leave their column (section 7.3A) blank or we still need to fill in their column (are you/your sponsor currently employed, job title, salary etc.) without provide any evidence?

Thanks very much.

Hey - I think I read in one of the forums if you qualify yourself (or just one person qualifies), you don't necessarily have to fill out the other partner's section. I had this same issue when I did my first leave to remain under this category, but I filled both mine and my partner's - provided evidence for both but thinking of it now its maybe not necessary - either one can meet by themselve there is no real need to provide the other's details. You can check with more experienced people here though - but deffo search the threads here or Google in one of the other forums where this has been asked before.

[fahmad]

Hey just to update, managed to get sorted Approved now.