£18,600 Requirement Met, But No Bank Statement Proof

[Laab Muu]

Since returning from Thailand approx. 18 months ago I have been working for a small family business. I get paid weekly, and up until 2 months ago I was paid cash directly in to my hand on a Friday evening, it was all legitimate, working as full time permanent employee, all taxes and NI contributions paid in full, payslip issued etc, but instead of the pay being deposited in to a bank account it was as I stated paid directly as a cash payment. Will this be a problem when acting as a sponsor on a spouse visa application? I'm earning above the required £18,600 threshold, and my payslips and P60 reflect this, though my bank statements will not show this money going in every week.

 

This has got me rather concerned, and I'm now wondering if I should wait another 4 months before making the application as then I will be able to show the 6 months pay physically going through the account. Some advice needed.

 

Many thanks.

[GuiseppeD]

You like living dangerously, though not an insurmountable problem.  You just need to convince UKVA.  

 

Why have you only addressed this issue now?

[Laab Muu]

1 minute ago, GuiseppeD said:

You like living dangerously, though not an insurmountable problem.  You just need to convince UKVA.  

 

Why have you only addressed this issue now?

My future plans until recently never involved my wife applying for a spouse visa to live in the UK, being here was only ever going to be a very short term venture for me, however things change, and we are now looking to live in the UK for a number of years if possible, I have only recently began to look at, and try to make sense the visa requirements, hence asking my employers to start paying wages in to bank account as I thought it could cause an issue when making the application, I'm now looking for some clarity from people who may know specifics with regards to circumstances such as this.

 

Regards

[ThaiVisaExpress]

The financial requirements do allow for salary to be paid in cash.  But, you need to show evidence that you are receiving a salary (that will be your wage slips), and that the net salary is paid into your personal bank account.  That means that the amount shown on your wage slip as net salary must be evidenced by a payment into your bank account for the same amount. If the net salary paid into the bank is the same as the net salary shown on the wage slip, then the gross salary on the wage slip can be used for the financial requirement.  If the amount paid into your bank is not the same as the net amount on your wage slips, then only the amount paid into the bank can be used to meet the requirement.  So, if your wage slip show 1500 gross and 1300 net, and you put 1300 in the bank in cash, then you can use 1500 towards meeting the requirement. If your wage slip shows 1500 gross and 1300 net, and you put 500 into the bank, then you can only use 500 towards meeting the requirement.

 

If your bank account shows cash deposits at the time of your salary payment, then the ECO can/will accept this as evidence of salary. If, for instance, in one month, you didn't pay any of the cash income into your bank account, then the ECO will consider your income for that month to be nil.  Because of the method of "annualising" your salary, that will give you an annual income of zero, and the threshold of 18,600 GBP will not be met.  The guidance says :

 

The gross amount of any cash income may be counted towards the financial requirement, where the correct tax has been paid on that income and where all the relevant evidential requirements in Appendix FM-SE are met. Where a person’s payslips show their gross cash income and the tax paid, and their specified bank statements show all of that post-tax income, they can count the gross amount of the cash income shown on the payslips towards the financial requirement. But, where that person’s specified bank statements only show a proportion of that post-tax income, only the amount shown on the bank statements can be counted towards the financial requirement.

 

Tony M

[Laab Muu]

14 hours ago, ThaiVisaExpress said:

If, for instance, in one month, you didn't pay any of the cash income into your bank account, then the ECO will consider your income for that month to be nil.  Because of the method of "annualising" your salary, that will give you an annual income of zero, and the threshold of 18,600 GBP will not be met.

Hi Tony, firstly thanks for a very well written and informative reply, your time and effort are very much appreciated. Could you just clarify what is meant by the method of "annualising" the salary? 

 

Many thanks.

[GuiseppeD]

The 18.6k is an annual salary and can't be calculated by one month's salary, for example, and extrapolated. It's 18.6k evidenced per annum or nothing.


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[Laab Muu]

13 minutes ago, GuiseppeD said:

The 18.6k is an annual salary and can't be calculated by one month's salary, for example, and extrapolated. It's 18.6k evidenced per annum or nothing.


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My understanding is that you have to show 6 months, ie minimum earnings of £9,300 over six months. What difference does it make if you made £2000 every month for 5 of the 6 months but only £200 (example) in one of those months? Your total would be £10,200 over 6 months. Or am I missing something here?

 

[ThaiVisaExpress]

You are sponsoring, I think, under salaried employment, category A (employed with the same employer for more than 6 months) ?  That means that you provide the last 6 months wage slips (and bank statements confirming the salary paid in).  The UKVI will take your lowest gross salary month, and multiply that by 12, to give you an "annualised" salary. So, if your lowest gross salary (evidenced by the wage slip, and the net salary paid into the bank) in the 6 months was 1550 GBP, then your gross annual salary is 18,600 GBP.   If you had one month with a the lowest gross salary of 1,000 GBP,  it doesn't matter if the other months were higher, then your gross annual salary would be 12,000 GBP (12 x 1,000).

 

In your case, as a cash payee, the UKVI will only accept your gross monthly salary in those 6 months if you can evidence the net salary paid into the bank in cash.  So, if you can only show a cash deposit of your net salary of, say, 1,000 GBP in one of those months, then your gross annualised salary will be 12,000 GBP.  If one month you didn't put any of the salary into your bank account, then your gross annualised income is 12 x 0  = 0 GBP.

 

GuiseppeD is wrong, I think, as you could qualify on one month's salary, under category B if  you received a sufficiently large salary in one month to be able to average out at more than 1550 GBP a month over the previous 6 months.  It's a whole different calculation really, so don't worry about it, as it looks like you wouldn't qualify due to having been paid in cash the whole time.

 

Tony M

E&OE

[rasg]

Really interesting information. It doesn't affect me and my wife though. Thanks for this.

[Laab Muu]

Thanks again for answering these questions, you have given me exactly the information that I was looking for. 

[thailand49]

Unless, I'm missing something if the mom and pop as we call it is paying you in cash they are trying to avoid some government requirements, like Workmen Comp if it exist in your home country? 

If not they should agree to a direct deposit or payroll check.

[Laab Muu]

4 hours ago, thailand49 said:

Unless, I'm missing something if the mom and pop as we call it is paying you in cash they are trying to avoid some government requirements, like Workmen Comp if it exist in your home country? 

If not they should agree to a direct deposit or payroll check.

Yes you are mistaken and jumping to a conclusion that is incorrect. All taxes, national insurance and pension contributions paid in full. Only instead of making BACS payments to a bank, it was simply handed over as a cash payment. It is now being paid directly from bank to bank.

[thailand49]

10 hours ago, Laab Muu said:

Yes you are mistaken and jumping to a conclusion that is incorrect. All taxes, national insurance and pension contributions paid in full. Only instead of making BACS payments to a bank, it was simply handed over as a cash payment. It is now being paid directly from bank to bank.

Then have them write a letter stating the cash payment and notarized and apply for the application meantime start getting a BACS payment to the bank for insurance.

[Laab Muu]

 

10 hours ago, thailand49 said:

 start getting a BACS payment to the bank for insurance.

 

On ‎04‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 1:26 PM, Laab Muu said:

and up until 2 months ago I was paid cash

 

On ‎04‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 1:36 PM, Laab Muu said:

hence asking my employers to start paying wages in to bank account as I thought it could cause an issue when making the application

 

10 hours ago, thailand49 said:

Then have them write a letter stating the cash payment and notarized and apply for the application

 

On ‎04‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 1:36 PM, Laab Muu said:

 I'm now looking for some clarity from people who may know specifics with regards to circumstances such as this.

 

 

[Scott]

Off-topic post reported and removed.