Hi All, I and my wife are thinking of returning to the uk,im uk citizen been married to my filipina wife since may 2014 and we have lived here in PH since our marriage. Can we use money from our house sale and my savings in uk bank account to reach the financial requirements for spouse visa? All help most appreciated, Thank you.
My friend did just that early last year,sold a house in Manila,banked the cash,his wife and children are now here.
hi...welcome to the site i did exactly that--sold my house in the UK to use the cash as savings to meet the requirement for my fiancees settlement visa. do take note you need the cash in a readily accessible account in your name--and held for 6 months.
Thank You for your reply. I read on one site that if we sell our house here in the Philippines we can use that cash for financial requirement, it said it doesnt have to be in the bank for 6 months and can be in both our names. What do you think?
Hi Druk1,,, Do you know if we can use the cash from the house sale towards financial requirement and can it be in joint names? Does it have to be in the bank for at least 6 months. Hoping you can ask your friend. Cheers,,,
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/appendix-fm-financial-requirements/#Category_D_Cash_savings Category D – Cash savings Only savings above £16,000 can be considered. This category can be combined with Category A, Category B (part 1, calculating current income), Category C and E, but not with Category B (part 2 – past income) or F and G. “Cash savings” means that the money must be held in a current, deposit or investment account, provided by a financial institution regulated by the appropriate regulatory body in the UK or overseas. The money must be readily accessible, so for example a pension fund would not count, as money cannot be withdrawn immediately. It is also important to remember that the savings must have been held for at least six months, must be in the name of the sponsor and/or the applicant and may come from any legal source. Whoever owns the money will have to sign a declaration stating the source. Funds previously held in investments, stocks, shares, bonds or trust funds can count if they are liquidated before the application, and it is not necessary to liquidate those six months before the application. The same is true in case where the money are the proceeds of sale of a property (dwelling or land). This has to be clearly demonstrated with documentary evidence. Mohamed's savings Mohamed owns various properties in the UK. Two months before his wife and child’s application for entry clearance, he sells one flat and transfers the net proceeds of the sale into his savings account. The amount is £90,000. Mohamed’s wife Maria and their son Tarek (who is not British) submit an application for entry clearance showing Mohamed’s bank statements for the past two months, a letter from the conveyancing solicitors confirming the sale, evidence from the Land Registry confirming that Mohamed was the owner of the flat for three years, and confirmation that the mortgage on the sold property has been closed and all taxes and fees for the sale have been paid. This confirm that the £90,000 is net profit. Mohamed needs to show savings of [£16,000 + (£18,600 for his wife + £3,800 for his son) x 2.5] = £72,000. Therefore the requirement is met. If Mohamed had sold the flat a year ago, he would not have had to provide the evidence about the property, but would have had to show six months’ of bank statements and sign a declaration saying how he came by the money. Category E – Pension
Hi and welcome Savings must be in your bank account for at least 6 months prior to an application date and you must also be able to show an auditable path where the monies come from. I have attached below a UKGOV link and within the page that opens you will see a hyperlink to a document called " detailed guidance" this document is what the UKBA use to decision make, no other documents off no other sites, these are their guidelines. If you open up the top document and refer to section 7 para 7.1 you will establish a factual guideline that @bigmac correctly refers to Hope this helps https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chapter-8-appendix-fm-family-members Duly edited after post below from @oss Thanks not sure why it didn't copy in fat finger syndrome!
i was aware the 6 months savings rule could include time when the money was in the form of investments, but not sure if it also applies to cash tied up in property. i would have thought it a lot simpler to sell up and put the money in a bank for the 6 months than have to go to lengths to explain the tie in to a property.
I think if you could demonstrate that the property sold was a buy to let investment and not your main home you might maybe possibly have an argument, however I suspect UKBA would want a full audit trail.