Fiance Visa application, help or advice please

Hi, Thanks for any advice in advance it is much appreciated

I am just looking for some advice / guidance, as on the visa application form there are lots of questions relating to having an employer.

But my problem is I am self employed...and at the moment as I am still just starting out my income isnt even worth noting, as im going through the period of time where im struggling to find customers and build up my business so sometimes im lucky to get money coming in every other month due to the nature of my line of business.

However I have no problems with support financially as my uncle is prepared to sponser or back me financially and has a 6 figure sum available in the bank, and also several homes at his disposal.

And once my fiance is here if need be, im prepared to find a job and put my self employment to one side to earn enough money to support her... so support really is not a problem.

But at the moment if I was to get a job now, I will need to wait until I have enough months worth of payslips which will delay the whole entire process.. at which point it is expected they will have added further rules meaning I cannot use my uncle to sponser me or any savings I currently have as financial security and there is talk of implementing a 30k income.

So does anybody have any advice on any ways I can get round this part of the application?

Welcome to the forum RB2004.

My situation is rather similar to yours. I was in self-employment for four years but mainly working for one company. That work ended when they lost a vital contract. I am now training for new self-employed work but my income will not meet even the lowest (£18,600) figure being proposed - it is very worrying!

If you are right about not being able to use savings as security, that will leave many of us up the creek, without a paddle!

Hi, Thank you for the welcomes and advice so far

that is my problem, my income doesnt meet the requirement and ive posted elsewhere and other people just suggest sending accounts and things lol, but when you are struggling to find work and the income is sparadic then the amount noted isnt even worth bothering with at this moment in time... even then they want at least 2 years accounts I think it was. Problem is, when you are involved in IT and online web work.. well me personallly anyway ive found most work is by word of mouth.. ive sent out flyers, advertised etc but not had much luck.. so understandbly it takes a long period of time to get enough customers to provide a regular and reasonable income.. so at present im at a point where I have a regular amount of work but because I dont have enough customers as of yet it doesnt always amount to a regular income... just at a tipping point in the past few months where this has started to change but I dont have enough years worth of accounts yet to demonstrate a regular income.

and I can find a job, but I cant get enough payslips in time, as they want 6 months worth from what I gather.. so no time to do that..and without it they wont even take a 2nd look at the application and with the new changes also imminent.

Leaving my only option an external sponser for the benefit of the application.. because to be honest anyway once she is here, if need be like anybody else I can get a job if required and deal with the income problem when the time comes, and ive got an uncle who is well prepared to help me financially... so in terms of money thats not a problem. So much so that at one point he was prepared to sign a large proportion over to me but due to tax reasons that would not be a good idea... but the government unfortunately does not look at it that way.. lol even though in terms of financial backing i may well be in a better situation.

So like you say the changes will leave us all up the creek..

At present you can use savings, and an external sponser (somehow), but there is lots of talk on the internet of changes that are coming soon... no official anouncement yet but the general view is if the changes come in it will be around april time.. and the government have so far hinted or sugested at the changes including, an income increase requirement up to possibly as much as £30k with the lowest what you have quoted.. which is way above minimum wage even... and doing away with being able to use savings and external sponsers with only our income taken into account.

So I just dont know what to do at the moment.. if the changes come in and its increased to a £30k income, then its going to be a long time before I can get the visa sorted out as Id need to first be getting £30k worth of business income... then need 2 years of accounts to support that.

Desperate situation I guess for lots of us right now as we need to beat the changes.

My fiancée and I are now considering the Fiancée Visa route again. The Fiancée Visa is only for six month, which would give her a chance to at least look for a job and decided if she wants to be with me anyway! I am 60 and she is 30 - and I certainly don't want her to be in a position where she is married to me but unable to come to the UK.

I had figured that I could use capital to support her for six months on a Fiancée Visa and then, hopefully, if she had a job offer, that her prospective income could be used to meet any new Government target. If I cannot use that capital to support her Fiancée Visa application and her prospective income could not be used to support an application for FLR, I think the only option would be to live in the Philippines.

The figures being mooted at the moment for minimum sponsors income are £18,600 or £25,700. If there are children involved an extra few thousand pounds would probably be required. What really riles me is that no apparent account would be taken of savings or outgoings. I own my house outright, so no mortgage to pay.

Personally, I don't think the changes will happen in April this year. The Government have not even commented yet on the Migration Advisory Committee's proposals for minimum sponsors income, even though those proposals were made some three months ago. They have commented on some of MAC's other proposals though.

David Cameron's pledge was, apparently, to get immigration down to the tens of thousands during the term of Parliament (5 years). He is not yet been in power for two years, so he still has plenty of time to reach that target. I think family immigration is more of a political hot potato than worker immigration, so I just hope the government will not implement these proposals for at least another 12 months! I am sure they will be open to challenge in the courts if they did.

Yep, IT i find isnt the easiest to start in initially lol and requires lots of word of mouth and customers to give a regular income.. from what I gather the 2 years is also a requirement for them to consider self employed accounts unfortunately.

Yep I can meet all of the other criteria.

Ive got etickets, boarding passes, and reciepts for 3 trips to the philippines in 11 months.
Even tickets and reciept for travel of both of us together by air to another island in the philippines.

got photos together, got envelopes also for things like just sent a card for valentines day, reciept for engagement ring.

should be able to get call logs from phone cards ive use, as I use a type which you just top up online.. so it keeps call logs, talk every day except weekends also online so can probably use some of that as proof/evidence.

As it goes my mother is filipino, it is my father who is english.. so I met my fiance through my cousins.. they are work collegues...and my mum has met her.. as she accompanied me on my last trip back to the philippines just last month in january, and she spends a lot of time with my relatives there.

So proving relationship criteria is easy.

Accomodation is also not a problem to prove, as between my parents and uncle they own several properties.. which im free to take my pick of and use.

its just the income requirement I cant currently meet, it shouldnt really be a problem due to financial backing I can get from my uncle, and as I say once she is here, if we are short on money then need be like anybody else I can get a part time job to supplement the income and support her.. and because I have accomodation to live in, I wont need to pay rent on that, so aside from the normal bills the main expenses wouldnt be that high.

so thats the only stumbling point im trying to overcome lol, but with my requirement for an external sponser.. if they change the rules so i can no longer use an external sponser it leaves me up the creek.

Thanks for the advice so far

BTW, I think you will find many more on here, with a background in computing! I am becoming more and more convinced that computer programmers are attracted to Filipinas! Maybe it is such self-absorbing work, that finding a Filipina is the best way to lighten up your life!

Hi, thats a similar reason why I prefer the fiance visa route.

Not fair to marry somebody, and they cannot come to the UK.. I know that shouldnt be a reason for marriage anyway.

But unfortunately, while the philippines is great for a holiday.. with their low pay.. and it is seriously low..when you consider some only earn the equivalent of £200 in a month and thats good! whereas here in the UK for some people that is a few days work.

Also the corruption there in their government, and police.

Those are the problems, and why I dont think id be able to easily live there.

You certainly here some shocking cases of corruption, like the police. if they pick you up as being suspected as being involved in a crime just for being in the vicinity.. even if innocent.

you have 2 options, pay the bail and get released... or... they will pin a crime on you which you havent commited.
then on a recent program "Banged up abroad"

There was a british person, and the police officer was offering to assasinate somebody for him... if he paid him.

While I know these arent common occurances and the country is otherwise great and really nice, it is worrying that these things go on.

And it makes an otherwise simple descision of choosing to live there, and be with your wife, an otherwise hard descision that has many implications you need to think about.

Legally speaking, if you are married to somebody.. it is against your human rights to be kept apart by government red tape..and there is a case going through european court at the moment regarding the english requirement preventing a couple being together.. but whether that requirement is right or wrong is another discussion.. but it proves our immigration laws are sometimes against our human rights and technically illegal.. wont make the government change though unfortunately.

lol, maybe, it can be rather dull at times!

Im new on here, so I didnt know that, maybe its true!

maybe, lol theres lots of british around here married to filipinos, and i guess all over the UK now, maybe english people are realising filipinos have more to offer than an english partner.

good luck! now you have the acknowledgement hopefully everything will be ok now.
doesnt the UK government recognise their system of marriage anulment?

yep, its getting harder all of the time unfortunately

Hi,

oh right, so it has been a long process then!
but it sounds like you are finally on the right track now lol, guess you are getting excited at the prospect of finally being able to hopefully get her the visa

so im the first on here maybe then! lol

yeah i guess it is lol, I only went there originally to visit family there, and one of my cousins friends visited us, and thats how it began.

Lol neither did I!

Did you find some programmers also then?

I didn't expect to find a future wife singing on YouTube! Unfortunately, I have only met her once as she is going through rather a messy annulment from an abusive husband who would have no qualms about getting us both arrested if I set foot in the country!

Yeah it is a bit dodgy in that scenario.. Seems similar to a case the British person who was on banged up abroad recently on tv. Met a Filipino, visited her, she became pregnant and while marriage was annulled her ex husband.. Paid the police and was in control of them.. Both got arrested for adultery.

In the end they somehow managed to pay somebody in the British embassy money under the table.. And they got a uk visa and both escaped back to the uk while out on a kind of bail I guess.

That's my worst fear of living in the Philippines their corrupt police... Money will get you control of them and if you make any enemies they have the potential to make your life hell with their money.