Wife's Spouse Visa Declined Because of Overdraft

I'd like to know whether it is fair that my wife's application for a Spouse Visa has been declined because my bank account is in overdraft??

Just to give you some background information on this, the overdraft on my account which admittedly is £3k but within an authorised overdraft limit of £4k came about because of esculating solictors fees from when I got divorced. There were, how can I put it, a few complexities from demands by my ex which meant I ended up paying a lot more in solicitors fees than what I had envisaged and planned for. However, as an ex-employee of Lloyds Bank I receive a concessional rate on my overdraft and the bank was happy to agree to the overdraft limit as opposed to taking out a loan. I am working full-time, earning £2k+ per month and my outgoings have never exceeded my income. Furthermore, my wife has a full-time job placement on her return to the UK which was detailed in a letter of employment that was included along with her application. We will therefore have 2 incomes coming into the household and since I already pay all bills from my own income her income will effectively be "surplus" income.

However, the reason for refusal has stated that I as her sponsor have insufficient funds for her maintenance in the UK and they are therefore unsatisfied that we are able to maintain ourselves adequately without recourse to public funds.

My thought on this is that they seem to have looked at my bank statements/salary slips and only considered the fact that we will be living on my income alone, ignoring the fact that my wife will also be in full-time employment. If we're both working there would no need to rely on public funding!!

My wife who is still in South Africa is at her wits end and I'm feeling bad because the refusal appears to be down to my overdraft. Does anyone know where we can go from here and what if anything could be done to overturn the decision? Would we even have a basis for appealing if we take into account the fact that my wife will also be working full-time?

Why not appeal the decision, drawing the ECO's attention to your wife's promising employment prospects in the UK? Include (again!):

1. Your wife's employer's letters of intention, job offer and salary/financial benefits package

2. Highlight the fact that, once your wife is in the UK, you and your family will be supported by two substantial incomes

3. Do up a budget sheet clearly detailing all monthly incoming funds (3rd party financial support is not recognised) and monthly outgoings to show sufficient financial security and no reason to rely on public finds

For both your sakes, you should also look into appreciably clearing your overdraft so that your bank account/statement consistently reflects a +ve balance

Hope it works out for you both.

Plum70 - thanks for your reply and I appreciate the comments.

One thing that I don't get is the reason for refusal clearly states that they feel we would need to recourse to public funds. But surely if the ECO had recognised that my wife will be working full-time on her return we wouldn't be allowed to claim public funding anyway. So why state that we would recourse to public funds. It's almost as if the ECO has completely overlooked the fact my wife will be working otherwise there would be no need to make that statement. What are your thoughts?

I've just found this on the UK Border Agency website (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... roduction/):

"public funds" means

(a) housing under Part VI or VII of the Housing Act 1996 and under Part II of the Housing Act 1985, Part I or II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, Part II of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 or Part II of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988;

(b) attendance allowance, severe disablement allowance, carer's allowance and disability living allowance under Part III of the Social Security Contribution and Benefits Act 1992;, income support, council tax benefit and housing benefit under Part VII of that Act; a social fund payment under Part VIII of that Act; child benefit under Part IX of that Act; income based jobseeker's allowance under the Jobseekers Act 1995, state pension credit under the State Pension Credit Act 2002; or child tax credit and working tax credit under Part 1 of the Tax Credits Act 2002.

(c) attendance allowance, severe disablement allowance, carer's allowance and disability living allowance under Part III of the Social Security Contribution and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;, income support, council tax benefit, housing benefit under Part VII of that Act; a social fund payment under Part VIII of that Act; child benefit under Part IX of that Act; or income based jobseeker's allowance under the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

Since I own my property, we don't have children, neither of us are disabled, and more importantly we will both be working full-time, we would not be able to claim for any of the public funds they list.

The refusal statement says that we would not be able to maintain ourselves "without recourse to public funds". Surely this is a blatant mistake on their part for saying that we would need to recourse to public funds when it's obvious we wouldn't be able!!