Hi Swtjane, we chose category A.... but before I comment on your husband’s case... you said he earns 18k right? When he does overtime, does he earn more than 18600. You know that’s the threshold. If he does then I will suggest you choose same category (A) and ensure that you have all the necessary documents to back it up as well as writing a letter to explain it plus ensuring that the overtime pay as well as the main salary appear in the bank statement which will be submitted.

Note, as Oxygyne has rightly said too, you must ensure he has earned the salary for at least 6 months.... whether it is the old or the new salary which the company has agreed to increase it to.

swtjane:
Good morning MreSBee I really need your assistance, was your wife on a salaried paid job and picked the category A on the unsalaried paid job because my husband is on a salaried job and he earns £18000 but his pay varies due to expenses and overtime. Please what category can we go for. His employer has also agreed to increase this pay to £18600.

Hello everyone. I have been sifting through this forum for some months now and I find it very informative. I am in the final stages of the spouse visa application and I would be most grateful if anyone could help me clarify a few things.

The TLS website talks about a service where your supporting documents are scanned to UKBA directly. However, I have not come across any mention of this service being used by the members here (I may have missed the post). So here are my questions;
1. Does anyone here have experience using the service?
2. Is this service OPTIONAL?
3. Will my spouse have to send documents from UK to Nigeria?
4. How reliable is the service?

Thank you

kratos750cc:
Hello everyone. I have been sifting through this forum for some months now and I find it very informative. I am in the final stages of the spouse visa application and I would be most grateful if anyone could help me clarify a few things.

The TLS website talks about a service where your supporting documents are scanned to UKBA directly. However, I have not come across any mention of this service being used by the members here (I may have missed the post). So here are my questions;
1. Does anyone here have experience using the service?
2. Is this service OPTIONAL?
3. Will my spouse have to send documents from UK to Nigeria?
4. How reliable is the service?

Thank you

Applicant submits passport, TB cert and payment receipt at TLS Nigeria......

Sponsor submits all supporting documents to sheffield....

Lexusgs430:


Applicant submits passport, TB cert and payment receipt at TLS Nigeria......

Sponsor submits all supporting documents to sheffield....

I did my bio on the 26th of June. I only submitted my passports. I was told to submit every other thing to Sheffield by my sponsor. Even the TB certificate.

Lexusgs430:


Applicant submits passport, TB cert and payment receipt at TLS Nigeria......

Sponsor submits all supporting documents to sheffield....

Thank you for the quick response

kratos750cc:
Hello everyone. I have been sifting through this forum for some months now and I find it very informative. I am in the final stages of the spouse visa application and I would be most grateful if anyone could help me clarify a few things.

The TLS website talks about a service where your supporting documents are scanned to UKBA directly. However, I have not come across any mention of this service being used by the members here (I may have missed the post). So here are my questions;
1. Does anyone here have experience using the service?
2. Is this service OPTIONAL?
3. Will my spouse have to send documents from UK to Nigeria?
4. How reliable is the service?

Thank you

Scanning option is not available to settlement visas. Every documents will be sent to Sheffield. The only things needed at the application centre are
1. Applicants passport
2. Signed application form
3. Payment confirmation print out (just in case)
4. Priority payment confirmation print out( just in case)
5. Appointment confirmation print out

Launna29:


I did my bio on the 26th of June. I only submitted my passports. I was told to submit every other thing to Sheffield by my sponsor. Even the TB certificate.

Kratos750cc - - - - - Take note..... Your moniker sounds like a vespa machine....

Lexusgs430:


Kratos750cc - - - - - Take note..... Your moniker sounds like a vespa machine....

Haha. I may have just revealed the name of the new Vespa models. They come with BIG engines now.

Ibkbosson:

Scanning option is not available to settlement visas. Every documents will be sent to Sheffield. The only things needed at the application centre are
1. Applicants passport
2. Signed application form
3. Payment confirmation print out (just in case)
4. Priority payment confirmation print out( just in case)
5. Appointment confirmation print out

Thank you very much.

kratos750cc:


Haha. I may have just revealed the name of the new Vespa models. They come with BIG engines now.

Now you are leaking inside information......

Thanks for your response. My husband earns over £18600 because of this expenses and Overtime. After our calculations. Please are you saying because his salaries will increased we have to wait for another six months all over again. And I saw this online https://immigrationbarrister.co.uk/appendix-fm-financial-requirement-basic-pay-and-overtime-payments/

oxygyne:


While you wait for the response from MreSBee, please note that if the employer has just agreed to increase his pay then you are advised to apply after at least 6 months counting from the month when he starts to officially receive the £18600 pay.

I hope you understand, all the best!

Thanks so much for your assistance. My husband earns £18000 per annum but due to the expense he makes in the office he earn above that. For example his salary is £15000 but his gross pay for the month was £15840 after adding up expenses and it is shown on his payslip. And please do you mean if dey increase his salary this month we have to start counting six months all over again.

MreSBee:
Hi Swtjane, we chose category A.... but before I comment on your husband’s case... you said he earns 18k right? When he does overtime, does he earn more than 18600. You know that’s the threshold. If he does then I will suggest you choose same category (A) and ensure that you have all the necessary documents to back it up as well as writing a letter to explain it plus ensuring that the overtime pay as well as the main salary appear in the bank statement which will be submitted.

Note, as Oxygyne has rightly said too, you must ensure he has earned the salary for at least 6 months.... whether it is the old or the new salary which the company has agreed to increase it to.

swtjane:
Thanks for your response. My husband earns over £18600 because of this expenses and Overtime. After our calculations. Please are you saying because his salaries will increased we have to wait for another six months all over again. And I saw this online https://immigrationbarrister.co.uk/appendix-fm-financial-requirement-basic-pay-and-overtime-payments/

I thought you meant he wasn't earning up to 18,600 at the moment. But from your response, he already earns more than 18,600 so you are free to proceed.

Please just make sure you have your calculations well documented with evidence to show it adds up to an amount greater than 18,600.

All the best.

I'm not a slient follower obviously but I would like to post my timeline.
It's a YES!! For me
This is my second application
First application (standard application)- Abuja
Biometrics- May 31st 2017
NSF Email - August 17th 2017
I escalated 4 times. My husband's MP wasn't very helpful
November 22nd 2017 - Refusal for English requirement.

Second application ( priority)
Biometrics- June 1st
Escalated once on - July 13th
Contacted MP on August 8 he said decision was made August 7th
Decision made email - August 13th
Courier delivery - August 15th
vignette- August 14 - September 15

My first refusal was a stupid mistake of submitting an original reference letter from school with a general training ielts test instead of the original certificate of my Uk master's degree certificate. In those few months I waited I went through all the immigration rules I could find.

Congrats and well done!

'My first refusal was a stupid mistake of submitting an original reference letter from school with a general training ielts test instead of the original certificate of my Uk master's degree certificate. In those few months I waited I went through all the immigration rules I could find.'

With the amount of money paid, you would think that they can just make a call to your university to confirm you did a Masters degree there in the Uk? how hard will that have been - very officious and cruel - Hostile!

With the amount of money paid, you would think that they can just make a call to your university to confirm you did a Masters degree there in the Uk? how hard will that have been - very officious and cruel - Hostile![/quote]

Exactly what my husband said. He was fuming but they are always looking for an excuse to refuse someone and they chose that technicality for us.

chrisj2:
'My first refusal was a stupid mistake of submitting an original reference letter from school with a general training ielts test instead of the original certificate of my Uk master's degree certificate. In those few months I waited I went through all the immigration rules I could find.'

With the amount of money paid, you would think that they can just make a call to your university to confirm you did a Masters degree there in the Uk? how hard will that have been - very officious and cruel - Hostile!

They are not supposed to do that, the applicant is meant to submit documentations that proves beyond reasonable doubt...............

Ibkbosson:
With the amount of money paid, you would think that they can just make a call to your university to confirm you did a Masters degree there in the Uk? how hard will that have been - very officious and cruel - Hostile!

Exactly what my husband said. He was fuming but they are always looking for an excuse to refuse someone and they chose that technicality for us.

The onus is on the applicant and sponsor, to ensure that they give them no reason to reject their application. With that amount of money paid, it is expected that all dots and crosses are in place......

If you know that he can constantly do the overtime for six months at stretch or has constantly done it (prior to the time of submitting your application) and you/your hubby can prove this by showing the payslips (as you have said) which shows that his salary plus overtime totals more than 18600 per annum plus also you can back that up with showing the payments go into his personal accounts with a bank statement, then you are good to go. You don’t have to wait for the increment in salary and the extra 6 months.

But I must emphasise that you make sure all the conditions I stated above that surrounds the salary/overtime are met please. It is important even though very risky.

The SAFEST option from my experience is just to wait for the extra 6 months after the salary increment. That just gives you the “peace of mind”.

It’s entirely up to you to decide though

swtjane:
Thanks so much for your assistance. My husband earns £18000 per annum but due to the expense he makes in the office he earn above that. For example his salary is £15000 but his gross pay for the month was £15840 after adding up expenses and it is shown on his payslip. And please do you mean if dey increase his salary this month we have to start counting six months all over again.

Ibkbosson:
I'm not a slient follower obviously but I would like to post my timeline.
It's a YES!! For me
This is my second application
First application (standard application)- Abuja
Biometrics- May 31st 2017
NSF Email - August 17th 2017
I escalated 4 times. My husband's MP wasn't very helpful
November 22nd 2017 - Refusal for English requirement.

Second application ( priority)
Biometrics- June 1st
Escalated once on - July 13th
Contacted MP on August 8 he said decision was made August 7th
Decision made email - August 13th
Courier delivery - August 15th
vignette- August 14 - September 15

My first refusal was a stupid mistake of submitting an original reference letter from school with a general training ielts test instead of the original certificate of my Uk master's degree certificate. In those few months I waited I went through all the immigration rules I could find.

Happy for you and yours, good to hear the good news after the previous refusal.
Such a simple but costly error the first time around but now you can move on and think of something else.

All the best.

Ibkbosson:
With the amount of money paid, you would think that they can just make a call to your university to confirm you did a Masters degree there in the Uk? how hard will that have been - very officious and cruel - Hostile!

Exactly what my husband said. He was fuming but they are always looking for an excuse to refuse someone and they chose that technicality for us.

In as much as we sympathize with all candidates who get refused (and of cause I will admit that it is easier to say when you yourself don't get a refusal) but considering the number of applications submitted to UKBA on a daily basis from candidates all over the world, it would be very hard to expect the ECO to call schools or jobs to confirm these things.

Yes, the humane thing to do is make that call to the school but what is the limit, at what point do they decide which calls to make and the ones not to make. I do not think UKBA will have the resources or time to call for every error or omissions, that's a big burden, however, someday they might consider expanding their scope to be able to do this.

I do believe some ECOs will feel bad because they are not allowed to make these decisions to call or confirm such omissions, they are only working within the restrictions of the business or office. I hope you understand.

I will advise that we keep supporting each other by providing relevant information to members who need them. A post like the one from @ibkbosson goes a long way to prevent someone else from making the same or similar mistake.

Thank you all, all the best.

oxygyne:


In as much as we sympathize with all candidates who get refused (and of cause I will admit that it is easier to say when you yourself don't get a refusal) but considering the number of applications submitted to UKBA on a daily basis from candidates all over the world, it would be very hard to expect the ECO to call schools or jobs to confirm these things.

Yes, the humane thing to do is make that call to the school but what is the limit, at what point do they decide which calls to make and the ones not to make. I do not think UKBA will have the resources or time to call for every error or omissions, that's a big burden, however, someday they might consider expanding their scope to be able to do this.

I do believe some ECOs will feel bad because they are not allowed to make these decisions to call or confirm such omissions, they are only working within the restrictions of the business or office. I hope you understand.

I will advise that we keep supporting each other by providing relevant information to members who need them. A post like the one from @ibkbosson goes a long way to prevent someone else from making the same or similar mistake.

Thank you all, all the best.

Why would they bother when the sole aim of this expensive process is revenue driven?

They reject your application, because you could not be bothered to put in the leg work. They know you are only presented with 2 choices.......

1 - Waiting on appeal (almost forever)
2 - Pay for another application


Majority would choose the latter (inturn generating more £ for the coffers)..........

Lexusgs430:


Why would they bother when the sole aim of this expensive process is revenue driven?

They reject your application, because you could not be bothered to put in the leg work. They know you are only presented with 2 choices.......

1 - Waiting on appeal (almost forever)
2 - Pay for another application


Majority would choose the latter (inturn generating more £ for the coffers)..........

I agree with you!

oxygyne:


I agree with you!

Hence we say, no wuru wuru, no cutting corners...... Providing the right documentations and ensure they are in date........ If you want to ask for extra sheets afterwards, no wahala...... Just submit right and you can topup with extra........

Lexusgs430:


Hence we say, no wuru wuru, no cutting corners...... Providing the right documentations and ensure they are in date........ If you want to ask for extra sheets afterwards, no wahala...... Just submit right and you can topup with extra........

At the end of the day, we are saying the same thing..lol

Do not expect the ECO to do for you what you can do yourself. shikena!

Please o, does this mean if I want to submit an Ielts test result for the application I have to submit my degree certificate as well?

Actually you do not need to submit your educational qualification/s. IELTS General Training result is all you need.

Where some people have fallen foul is in assuming that because they have a bachelors, masters or even PHD from a Nigerian University then they should be exempt. Or as in the case of ibkbossun, she had the IELTS but did not attach (as i understand) and somehow did not even attach the certificate from her UK Masters degree... Kinda confusing to be honest...

Some have done some penny pinching by not spending on IELTS test but gone the NARIC route and some have just attached letters from their NJA university - the latter not clever at all. Another #70,000 out of more than 1 million naira spent is just what it is...

chrisj2:
Actually you do not need to submit your educational qualification/s. IELTS General Training result is all you need.

Where some people have falling foul is in assuming that because they have a bachelors, masters or even PHD from a Nigerian University then they should be exempt. Or as in the case of ibkbossun, she had the IELTS but did not attach (as i understand) and somehow did not even attach the certificate from her UK Masters degree... Kinda confusing to be honest...

Some have done some penny pinching by not spending on IELTS test but gone the NARIC route and some have just attached letters from their NJA university - the latter not clever at all. Another #70,000 out of more than 1 million naira spent is just what it is...

Ok thanks.

Loritess:
Please o, does this mean if I want to submit an Ielts test result for the application I have to submit my degree certificate as well?

Nooo. The ielts test I submitted was general training test which wasn't acceptable. It wasn't general training for UKVI.
This time around I just submitted only my UK master's degree certificate. Is yours a degree from the Uk

Sorry, i did say that I was confused. I have not done any of the English test but my spouse will be doing one.

For clarification sake:

IELTS Life Skills A1
This test is for those who need to prove their English speaking and listening skills as part of their application to UK Visas and Immigration for Family, Spouse or Partner visa.

Ibkbosson:


Nooo. The ielts test I submitted was general training test which wasn't acceptable. It wasn't general training for UKVI.
This time around I just submitted only my UK master's degree certificate. Is yours a degree from the Uk

Oooh, I see what you mean, sorry about that.