The new policy of British spouse visa and the conditions for applying for British spouse visa

When we travel abroad, we only know that we need to apply for passports and visas, but what we don't know is that when we apply for visas, we need to classify the visas you want to apply for, that is, we must make clear the visas at different times and different types of visas, such as spouse visas.

The parties applying for a British spouse visa must meet the following requirements:

Applicants must meet certain English requirements.

2. The guarantor must meet the relevant income requirements.

3. Applicants and guarantors must have adequate housing.

4. The relationship between the applicant and the guarantor must be true and continuous.

5. Applicants, sponsors and other family members can live independently without welfare;

Among them, according to the provisions of the immigration law, there are two factors that belong to the financial requirements that applicants and/or guarantors need to meet, namely, income requirements and housing requirements.

According to Lisa's previous work experience, we found that for many applicants, when preparing such applications, the financial requirements are often confusing or even difficult, which is also the key to whether the visa application can be successfully passed.

Housing requirements

Housing requirement is one of the two factors of financial requirement, which is relatively easy to understand and prepare.

According to E-ECP.3.4 in Appendix FM, the immigration regulations state that:

Applicants must provide evidence that they will get the same housing without public funds, including other family members. ...

In other words, the applicant and guarantor who apply for a spouse visa must submit evidence to prove that they have enough housing; And this sufficient standard, the key lies in:

1. The living space of the party concerned should not be too crowded;

2. The parties do not need to rely on welfare to obtain housing.

In fact, to put it simply, the British government does not want these spouse visa applicants who want to reunite with their spouses in the UK to receive benefits in the future, which will cause social burden; Therefore, when applying, the parties are required to provide all kinds of evidence to prove that they can be self-sufficient and do not need to rely on British public welfare.

What does it mean to be overcrowded?

This must be calculated according to the number of rooms and the number of people living.

First of all, the number of rooms in a house can count the living room as one of the rooms; However, it should be noted that the area of each room should not be less than 50 square feet (less than this area can not be counted as a room.

In terms of the number of people, every family member over the age of 10 will be counted as an individual;

And every child 1 to 9 years old will count as half a person;

/kloc-children under 0/year old don't have to count.

In addition, as long as the children are over 10 years old and of different sexes (such as a boy and a girl), they cannot be arranged in the same room;

The only exceptions are couples or partners. In this case, people of different sexes can live in the same room.

Knowing the above logic, you can look at the following corresponding regulations on the number of people and rooms:

1. One room: two people can sleep at most.

2. Two rooms: three people can sleep at most.

3. Three rooms: five people can sleep at most.

4. Four rooms: 7.5 people can sleep at most.

5. Five rooms: you can sleep at most 10 people.

6. More than five rooms: for every extra room, you can sleep two more people (and so on).

Therefore, when preparing such evidence, the applicant must clearly explain the housing structure of his family, point out how many rooms there are in the family, and prove that the applicant will not be overcrowded after moving in.

Income requirement

Income requirements are more complicated. First, let's list a few key figures:

1. A guarantor with British nationality or permanent residency in the UK must meet the annual income of not less than 18600 (before tax;

2. If you need to sponsor not only your other half, but also a child (if you apply for a wife and daughter in China at the same time, you must meet the pre-tax annual income of not less than 22,400 pounds;

3. Then, if you continue to sponsor other children (such as China's wife, eldest daughter and second daughter, a total of three people), you will have to increase your annual income by 2,400 pounds.

Here is a simple example: Xiaoli wants to sponsor her husband and two children in China to come over for reunion, so Xiaoli needs to meet: 22,400 pounds+2,400 pounds, that is, 24,800 pounds of pre-tax annual income; If little Sally wants to sponsor his partner and three children, he must meet the following conditions: 22,400+2,400+2,400, that is, the annual income before tax is 27,200.

Income can be summarized and deposits can be replaced.

Generally speaking, in terms of spouse visa application, the Immigration Bureau used to pay more attention to British income.

According to the new changes in immigration law, overseas income can be counted as long as it can clearly prove the authenticity of income. It should be pointed out that if you rely on overseas income, in addition to proving the authenticity of the income, the applicant also needs to prove that he already owns a British company and is willing to hire himself after obtaining a visa, and the income will not be less than the current overseas income. As long as the above requirements can be met, the income of the applicant and the guarantor can be added up to make the total amount reach the required figure to meet the requirements of the immigration law.

For example, the guarantor's annual income is 9300 pounds, and the applicant's annual income is 9300 pounds, which adds up to 18600 pounds; Then it also meets the requirements of immigration law.

Lisa here needs to point out that for the first time, applicants who want to sign a spouse visa in the UK, unless you have a visitorvisa, basically other types of visas, as long as they are valid for more than 6 months, can generally apply for a spouse visa directly in the UK.

However, applicants who only hold tourist visas must apply for returning to China, but they cannot submit their applications directly in the UK. Furthermore, the visitor visa holder cannot be directly converted into any other kind of visa in the UK, otherwise it will be directly refused.

Income requirements for continuing to return to spouse visa. If the annual income of the applicant or guarantor is insufficient, the deposit can also be used instead. The formula is: annual income gap *2.5, plus 16000.

For example, little Sally applied for a reunion with her domestic husband, and her annual income was only15,000, which was less than18,600 stipulated in the immigration law; Then, little Sally and her husband need: (18,600-15,000 * 2.5+16,000; That is, a deposit of 25,000 pounds is enough; Moreover, according to the requirements of immigration law, this deposit must be kept in a bank account for at least 6 months.

However, the difference between deposit and income is that this deposit can be the applicant's or the guarantor's; It can be a deposit in the UK or a deposit outside the UK; It can be the deposit of a single person or the sum of the deposits of the applicant and the sponsor.

Employment and self-employment

According to the regulations, if the guarantor is an employee, that is, working as an employee, he must provide his current job, salary certificate for six consecutive months and bank statement; If the guarantor is a self-employed, he/she must provide a continuous income certificate and bank statement for 12 months.

In addition, if the sponsor is a director of a company, the applicant needs to rely on the income from this company to prove it in the application; Then you need to provide proof of 12 months' income, including the company's business account, annual account and other information. This basically meets the requirements of self-employment.

Another point that needs to be pointed out is that suppose the referee is an employee, but he (she) just jumped ship before applying; In other words, he or she has not stayed in his or her current job for six months; Then, the guarantor must submit payroll and bank statement for 12 months, instead of 6 months as generally thought.

Therefore, if the applicant is ready to apply, and the guarantor finds himself unable to provide relevant salary certificates for a long time, then it is recommended not to quit before applying; Otherwise, you will not be able to produce enough proof of income as required, and the parties may only receive the bad news of refusing the visa.

Let's call it a day about the funding requirements for spouse visas. It should be reminded that the immigration law has strict requirements on the income proof of spouse visa. Applicants and guarantors should not only prove that they have qualified income, but also provide long-term proof according to each person's different situation; Otherwise, the application will be rejected.

Applicants and guarantors must prepare proof of income in advance, instead of collecting evidence when submitting an application; Otherwise, if you don't leave yourself enough time to prepare, you will probably push yourself into a desperate situation.