FLR Salary requirements

[puchooay]

It is my understanding that the salary requirements for UK FLR application is £18600 pa. I believe this can be a joint salary between visa holder and spouse. Is that correct?

 

Also, does this salary have to be meet constantly throughout the 30 months between settlement visa issue and FLR application?

 

Thanks.

[Tony M]

You could follow your own advice, posted just a week ago - :

 

"A colleague of mine paid £3000 for an immigration lawyer. What for? Total waste of money. Follow UKVI website and you can't go wrong."

 

But, in the interests of free advice to forum members, including those who think that there is no need for professional advice, all of the guidance you require is published, and the advice you seek is given in Appendix FM 1.7. 

 

The answer to the first part of your question is, yes, if the application is for your wife only. And, yes, it can be joint salary.

 

The answer to the second part of your question is, it depends. It depends on whether you, as the sponsor, and/or your wife, are employed in salaried employment, non-salaried employment, how much you earn, or if you are perhaps self-employed, or whether you want to use cash savings, etc. Whatever income you have, it won't be necessary to demonstrate that income over 30 months.

 

Hopefully, after your posted statement above (of 3rd October), the fact that you have had to seek advice here will demonstrate that there is a place for agents and advisors, even if you think they are a waste of money. Not all advisors charge the kind of silly money that you have posted, and I have never seen any evidence of an advisor charging 3,000 GBP for a visa or FLR application for a single applicant. Perhaps he should have asked you instead ?

 

[puchooay]

8 minutes ago, Tony M said:

You could follow your own advice, posted just a week ago - :

 

"A colleague of mine paid £3000 for an immigration lawyer. What for? Total waste of money. Follow UKVI website and you can't go wrong."

 

But, in the interests of free advice to forum members, including those who think that there is no need for professional advice, all of the guidance you require is published, and the advice you seek is given in Appendix FM 1.7. 

 

The answer to the first part of your question is, yes, if the application is for your wife only. And, yes, it can be joint salary.

 

The answer to the second part of your question is, it depends. It depends on whether you, as the sponsor, and/or your wife, are employed in salaried employment, non-salaried employment, how much you earn, or if you are perhaps self-employed, or whether you want to use cash savings, etc. Whatever income you have, it won't be necessary to demonstrate that income over 30 months.

 

Hopefully, after your posted statement above (of 3rd October), the fact that you have had to seek advice here will demonstrate that there is a place for agents and advisors, even if you think they are a waste of money. Not all advisors charge the kind of silly money that you have posted, and I have never seen any evidence of an advisor charging 3,000 GBP for a visa or FLR application for a single applicant. Perhaps he should have asked you instead ?

 

Thank you for your rather longwinded answer. 

 

Still no need for agents. I was asking a simple question that I know could be answered here and on the UKVI website.

 

I just thought I would try here for convenience. When I have a little more time on my hands I will take a longer look at the UKVI website, therefore negating the requirement for an agent or lawyer as that is all that they would do anyway.

 

More than likely I will soon receive a slightly less cantankerous answer that will give some information, not only to me, but also to the many others that use this forum.

 

 

[Tony M]

If you think that is long-winded, then good luck with Appendix FM1.7.  It was indeed a simple question and, presumably, you have already read, successfully, the UKVI guidance for your wife's initial application, so I'm not sure why you are even needing to ask it ?  But, the answer(s) is not simple, as it depends on how your income(s) is/are derived. 

 

If I could charge 3,000 GBP for just looking at the UKVI website, then I'm in the wrong job !  You are just generalising, and you don't really have any idea how complicated some applications can be. If you really think that "that is all that they (advisors/agents) would do anyway", then you are wrong. Often, the information and/or guidance is not on the UKVI website. If it was, then there wouldn't be any need for advisors, agents, or even forums like this one. 

 

 

 

 

[puchooay]

5 hours ago, Tony M said:

If you think that is long-winded, then good luck with Appendix FM1.7.  It was indeed a simple question and, presumably, you have already read, successfully, the UKVI guidance for your wife's initial application, so I'm not sure why you are even needing to ask it ?  But, the answer(s) is not simple, as it depends on how your income(s) is/are derived. 

 

If I could charge 3,000 GBP for just looking at the UKVI website, then I'm in the wrong job !  You are just generalising, and you don't really have any idea how complicated some applications can be. If you really think that "that is all that they (advisors/agents) would do anyway", then you are wrong. Often, the information and/or guidance is not on the UKVI website. If it was, then there wouldn't be any need for advisors, agents, or even forums like this one. 

 

 

 

 

I've found the answers I was looking for on the UKVI application website as expected. My slight confusion, as with the acquaintance with whom I disagreed, was because my wife recently received FLR as a first step, not settlement,  as she applied in country under temporary rules due to Covid19.

 

I was expecting our documentation to be the same in 30 months time, as it turns out we will need a bit extra.

 

Simple process really. As was her first application.

 

Btw, my colleague confirmed that he paid a lawyer £3000 for application processing. That was the total fee from start to finish. I gave seen the evidence so there you go. I questioned what the lawyer did for that. Basically he confirmed the guidelines and collated all the documentation. Nice work if you can get it.

Edited October 10, 2020 by puchooay

[Tony M]

I am happy that you have found the required information.  Yes, indeedy, you will require extra documentation at the next stage, but you asked only about financial information.  Giving you more information would only have made my response even more long-winded.

 

So, are you saying that your colleague paid 3,000 GBP including all the UKVI and other fees ? Your post is slightly ambiguous on that point.  If so, that reduces that nasty agent's fees a fair bit. 

[puchooay]

8 hours ago, Tony M said:

I am happy that you have found the required information.  Yes, indeedy, you will require extra documentation at the next stage, but you asked only about financial information.  Giving you more information would only have made my response even more long-winded.

 

So, are you saying that your colleague paid 3,000 GBP including all the UKVI and other fees ? Your post is slightly ambiguous on that point.  If so, that reduces that nasty agent's fees a fair bit. 

No. You misunderstand. 

 

I found the answer to my question regarding financial requirement. We need a few more documents regarding financial information. The rest is pretty much the same, at this point. The initial requirements for my wife's application were slightly different to that of a settlement visa application in own country.

 

My colleague paid a total somewhere above £5000 so it seems the £3000 lawyer's fee was £3000 alone. Please not this is a Lawyer, not an agent. 

Edited October 10, 2020 by puchooay

[Tony M]

Well, it seems like your colleague may have made a serious financial error.  All immigration advisors in the UK are (or should be) registered by the OISC. To give immigration advice without OISC registration is illegal. The OISC effectively "polices" immigration advisors, checking that their fees are reasonable, that they have processes in place, making them continuously update their immigration knowledge, keep records, take exams every year, are audited annually, etc. But, many solicitors in the UK don't need to be registered with the OISC, nor do they even need to demonstrate any immigration knowledge before giving advice or charging exorbitant fees. Even more concerning is that the staff they "supervise" don't need to be OISC registered either. You pay high solicitor's fees, but the work is probably done by general office staff. It seems that your colleague may have been mightily ripped off. See this from the UK gov website:

 

Solicitors that do not require OISC regulation

Where a solicitor holds a current practising certificate and is working in a traditional law firm or an SRA regulated Alternative Business Structure (ABS), both the individual solicitor and the organisation are regulated by the SRA.

In this case neither the organisation, nor the individual solicitor or any non-solicitor advisers who are supervised by the solicitor (whether or not under a contract of employment), need apply to the OISC for regulation.

 

For information, there are OISC registered immigration advisors working overseas, including in Thailand, and they are required to comply with all of the OISC practices, including audits, fees, etc (they must also maintain an office in the UK). You will find that their immigration knowledge and advice is equal to any OISC registered advisor in the UK, but their fees are generally much cheaper (depending on which country they are based in, of course). And, in many cases, their knowledge is better than unregistered UK lawyers. There are, as I said, some OISC registered advisors in Thailand, and I would advise anyone seeking immigration advice to use one of them. Your colleague would have probably have saved around 2,000 GBP at least by using an overseas OISC registered advisor. 

[puchooay]

13 hours ago, Tony M said:

Your colleague would have probably have saved around 2,000 GBP at least by using an overseas OISC registered advisor. 

I actually told him that he could have saved 3000 pounds by doing the application himself, just as I did. No need for legal help or agency assistance when the process is easily followed on the application website.

Edited October 11, 2020 by puchooay

[7by7]

21 hours ago, puchooay said:

I actually told him that he could have saved 3000 pounds by doing the application himself, just as I did. No need for legal help or agency assistance when the process is easily followed on the application website.

 

If it's all "easily followed on the application website," why did you feel the need to ask the questions in your OP?

[puchooay]

54 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

 

If it's all "easily followed on the application website," why did you feel the need to ask the questions in your OP?

It was a conversation we were having over a beer. Nothing to do with an application at this point. Just a disagreement on a technical point. More convenient, at the time, to ask here. Quite simple. I always assumed Thai Visa was here as a point of reference. Obviously I was wrong.

[7by7]

This part of Thai Visa is here to help people who have genuine questions about visas and migration to countries other than Thailand.

 

It can, of course, also be used as a point of reference to clarify or confirm points related to that subject.

 

Those of us who answer do so in order to help others by passing on our knowledge, experiences and/or professional expertise. Usually when someone asks a question and it's answered they either fail to respond or, more usually, say thank you to the respondent(s).

 

This is the first time I've seen someone respond to an answer by saying that they could have found out the information for themselves on the official website!

 

It is for that reason that I wonder why you asked the questions in the first place.

 

 

[puchooay]

13 hours ago, 7by7 said:

This part of Thai Visa is here to help people who have genuine questions about visas and migration to countries other than Thailand.

 

It can, of course, also be used as a point of reference to clarify or confirm points related to that subject.

 

Those of us who answer do so in order to help others by passing on our knowledge, experiences and/or professional expertise. Usually when someone asks a question and it's answered they either fail to respond or, more usually, say thank you to the respondent(s).

 

This is the first time I've seen someone respond to an answer by saying that they could have found out the information for themselves on the official website!

 

It is for that reason that I wonder why you asked the questions in the first place.

 

 

I responded to someone who gave me a roundabout answer after having trawled through my previous posts in order to undermine me.

 

My first post was a simple question to clarify something in conversation. 

 

I am yet to receive the answer on here and that is why there has been no " thanks for your help" reply. 

 

I have already pointed out why I asked the question. 

 

If you would care to check my posting history you will see that I have often posted helpful and direct answers to other poster's queries. I was hoping I might get one for mine. Never mind.

[7by7]

4 hours ago, puchooay said:

<snip>

I was hoping I might get one for mine. Never mind.

The questions you asked in your OP were answered in full by @Tony M in post number 2!

 

'In full' meaning just that, a full answer and where to find more information if you required it!

 

Your response to that and those since are incomprehensible to anyone who does not live under a bridge.

 

Good day, troll.

 

[theoldgit]

The original question has been answered, I honestly can see nothing to gain in leaving this thread open for further bickering.

 

 Thread closed.