globalThailand

You can check this doc regarding the financial requirement

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7.2.2. At the entry clearance/initial leave to remain stage and the further leave stage, the amount of cash savings above £16,000 must be divided by 2.5 (to reflect the 2.5 year or 30- month period before the applicant will have to make a further application) to give the amount which can be used in meeting the financial requirement. The following equation is to be used:

 

(x minus 16,000) divided by 2.5 = y

 

Where x is the total amount of cash savings held by the applicant, their partner, or both jointly for at least the 6 months prior to the date of application and under their control.

 

And y is the amount which can be used towards the financial requirement.

As far as I can see you are £6300 short of the £18600 needed per year.   What that means in terms of cash savings required to make up the shortfall is £31750.

On 9/19/2019 at 11:21 PM, rasg said:

[...] Don't bother scanning your wife's passport. They use a special scanner.

Did you attempt to upload any passport scan prior to the appointment?  Seeing as it's one of the few that's listed as mandatory I'm thinking to at least upload the photo page.

LOL... just realised it's 2 weeks since my last post and I'm still not done with the scans!

You can get your translations certified at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - I did that for things like my affirmation, wedding and son's birth certificate.

Thanks rasg, there's quite a bit to scan but I'll likely stick at it.  We have a month before the appointment anyway so there's time (apparently things are particularly busy at Sorpa Steria)

Thanks rasg, managed to find what I was looking for on the council website - there's a portal you can find all your old bills so I have the 2018 one.

We finally submitted the application - after spending over £2k on the visa and IHS I'm now kinda regretting not paying the extra £45 for the scanning lol!   Looks like the next few evenings are going to be filled scanning all this... any chance I can change my mind? ???? 

OP = Original Post... you are thinking OAP maybe? ???? 

Uft! Panic over... I would tentatively blame user error but boy they don't make this easy!

The PDF doc of the 'incomplete' form is organised in a different way than the tabbed question order you complete online.   It annoyingly follows the online form for a few pages - then throws in a mix of personal info from questions you answered later in the form - then seems to pop more 'personal detail' answers later on in the documents section.  Odd...

Sooo... I was about to hit the submit button - checked over the questions and wanted to change an answer but I can't seem to be able to!

There's a question about how other people would be affected if your visa is refused... I remember answering it... the question and answer is on the PDF I can download... Problem is the question is no longer listed in the pull down summary of your answers.

...Am I faced with potentially starting again? O.o  

Uft... just checked my Council Tax bills and I have this year and 2017... but can't find 2018! 

I'm tempted to use the 2017 bill though - it's more than 2 years but surely that won't be a sticking point (ie proving we have been living together at the same address for more than the last 2 years)

Also just checked my Gas bill - frustratingly it's addressed to 'Mr. MyName & others'.  Though the letter does go on to name us both in the intro ie 'Dear Mr X and Mrs X'... would that count?   

Now having a mild panic.  Finally found a very clear guide on what is needed regards correspondence. 

I have a few joint letters but basically from the same source (so I guess I'd have to count that as 1).  I dug up some old letters - have plenty addressed to me but not very many for the Mrs (some of which are more than 2 years old).  For example I have a GP letter from when we first arrived and registered but that was 2.5 years ago... would that be acceptable? 

Just about everything we do these days is online... ???? 

Yup, so many new (and sometimes confusing) questions - but I agree the general format and ease of use has been improved quite a bit with this new system

hehe thanks all!

I'm almost certainly over thinking this! ????   Even though I have no doubt we fulfil all the requirements I'm more on edge about this application than the first one... dread to think what I'll be like on the ILR lol.

I'm holding out hope for some input on the above.  Very confusing question IMHO...  It asks when we started living together - allows for only one address - and asks for supporting evidence of cohabitation for 2 years...  Should I just put our current UK address here?  We've lived together for 12 years but here in the UK 2.5... 

Amazing story and congratulations!  President of the US may be out, but there's a chance she could aim for PM one day! ????

OK so.... I'm now at the 'living with your partner' section.   

This is also the part where it asks for evidence of cohabitation.  So presumably I put our UK address here?  The question is pretty misleading... we started living together around 2007 in Thailand but I guess I'm not expected to list everywhere.

These questions are just getting more an more bizarre... I now have a question on what languages my son speaks - I just don't understand how that's relevant to my wife's visa application... O.o

That certainly sounds promising!  I was going to suggest a UK passport as an option but he might have trouble leaving Thailand (and entering again) without a That passport.

Good luck - keep us posted!

On 8/20/2019 at 7:48 AM, Essex Reject said:

On a  tangent, do you mind if I ask how it has all gone for you back there? As you probably know there is a lot of UK bashing on here. Cheers.

Adjusting to life back in the UK after a decade in Thailand wasn't too bad.  Not sure what you mean about UK bashing - Politics seems to be a bit nuts just about everywhere but I'd rather stay on topic on this thread ???? 

Unfortunately I think it's very unlikely - the rules seem to be pretty strict on this one.  I recently renewed my son's Thai passport early for this reason on our last visit to Thailand. 

Maybe have his mother contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - see if there is any work around.

Is it me or are the questions getting more ridiculous?   Previous application for spouse visa required details of mother and father - I can even understand if they are asking for immediate family... but friends?  Where do you draw the line? People she met recently?  She must have a few hundred facebook friends!

As far as I know the application is done online regardless - your current circumstances are all part of the application process

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

One thing to know is any documentation provided (eg. Birth Certificate) will need to have a certified translation.  We had our son's birth certificate translated and had that certified at the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).  I'm not sure what the rules and regs are now, but one thing that became an issue for us is having the kids passport photo countersigned by someone that has known you for 2 years and is 'a person of good standing in their community' (ie, police, civil servant, teacher etc)... which was hard for us to find in BKK.

I think I've confused myself at the first hurdle - I've always just thought of the visa as a 'spouse visa', not specifically as it being a 'settlement' visa.

I seem to remember reading about some UK visa types getting merged/simplified recently - but whether that's the case or not, it certainly looks like 'spouse/partner' falls under the 'family' category (as listed on their website) which is the main source of my confusion.  As I posted previously there's nothing specifically stated in the letter we got 2.5 years back so I'm still not 100% sure that I should select settlement or family   

I think my confusion lies in the fact that the .gov website lists spouse/partner visa under the 'Family Visas' section.

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse

Apologies for not being very clear on that last point.  My wife currently has leave to remain and has been in the UK since 2017 (expires Oct), and it's now time to apply for FLR

I've started the online application but just scratching my head on the question "What type of visa, leave to enter or remain or other permission do you have to be in the UK?"

It says you can find this info in the document that shows you are allowed to be in the UK but I can't find anything that specifically says either 'family' or 'settlement' on the letter we got (on the successful application for leave to remain).  On the BRP it says 'Spouse/partner'... As I understand it spouse visa is a type of settlement visa right? Not family?

Quick side note to idiot check something

I'm filling in the online application for 'family route' and answered the question about "What type of residence permit or visa do you have" (Answer: Spouse/Partner)

After filling in the dates it then asks... 

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What type of visa, leave to enter or remain or other permission do you have to be in the UK?

And I'm now not sure if I should select 'family' or 'settlement'.  Is settlement for those applying for ILR?...