If You are a Pensioner – Submit These Documents with Your UK Spouse Visa Application

If You are a Pensioner – Submit These Documents with Your UK Spouse Visa Application

This article is part 5 of 6 of ‘What are the Supporting Documents to Prove the UK Spouse Visa Financial Requirement?’ article series.

You can read the previous article from this series HERE.

I’ve also created the online course, explaining how to check if you meet the financial requirement and what information you need to provide with the application. You can find out more about the course HERE.

As you may recall from the previous article in this series, the Home Office accepts only five sources of income, which we can further subdivide into seven categories:

1. Employment income (categories A and B)
2. Non-employment Income (category C)
3. Savings (category D)
4. Pension (category E)
5. Income from self-employment (categories F and G)

Now let us have a look at specific documents, which you may consider submitting if you are a pensioner.

 

Only Two Documents

Pension Authority

Luckily for pensioners, the Home Office will be happy if you submit only two types of documents.

1. an official letter or some other document from:

• The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Alternatively, a letter may be form other government department or agency, including the Veterans Agency. In this letter, the agency will need to confirm that you receive the basic state pension or the additional or second State Pension.
• Alternatively, if you are getting your pensions abroad, the UKVI will accept a letter from an overseas pension authority. However, if you are getting your pension in foreign currency, the Home Office will use only oanda.com to check the exchange rate on the date of application. Therefore, you need to check this website for currency rates before applying.

 

What Will the Home Office Treat as Your Pension?

The Home Office takes a positively flexible approach with regards to this. In fact, a letter from any pension company will do. As long as it confirms your pension entitlement and the amount you are getting. If you withdraw any funds from your pensions account before, the agency would need to reflect this in their letter too.

The Secretary of State will accept the following as your pension:

• War Disablement Pension
• War Widow’s/Widower’s Pension and any other pension or equivalent payment for life made under the War Pensions Scheme
• the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme and also
• the Armed Forces Attributable Benefits Scheme

 

Which Sources will the UKVI Disregard?

• Loans and credit facilities
• Income-related benefits: Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or Support (or any equivalent) and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.
• Contributory benefits: contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance and Incapacity Benefit.
• Unemployability Allowance, Allowance for a Lowered Standard of Occupation and Invalidity Allowance under the War Pension Scheme.
• Child Benefit.
• Working Tax Credit.
• Child Tax Credit and also
• Universal Credit.

 

Bank Statements

Also, a somewhat predictable second document you’ll need to submit in support of your application is your bank statement. It needs to cover any period in the last 12 months. In other words, this bank statement should clearly show a payment (s) of the pension into your bank account. They also accept the statement if it is in your partner’s name or paid into a joint account.

If You are a Pensioner – Submit These Documents with Your UK Spouse Visa Application:

Changes

If you expect your pension agency to increase payments or provide you with a lump sum in the near future (ideally with the next 12 months), then you should consider including this information too. Most likely that the decision-maker will disregard this information to calculate your Minimum Income Requirement. However, it will most definitely strengthen the credibility factor of the application, providing extra reassurance that you will not become a burden on the UK welfare system.

 

About this Article and How to Get Further Help

This article is a part of the article/video series called “What are the Supporting Documents to Prove the UK Spouse Visa Financial Requirement?’

This article/video series consists of the following six parts:

1. General Rules for All Categories
2. Employment Income Documents for British Spouse Visa Applications (Categories A and B)
3. Non-Employment Income Documents for British Spouse Visa Applications (Category C)
4. Cash Savings – Documents to Provide with Your UK Spouse Visa Application (Category D)
5. Pension Income and the Exempt Category- Documents to Provide with UK Spouse Visa application (Category E and exempt category) and also
6. Self-Employment – Documents to Provide with UK Spouse Visa application (Categories F and G)

Finally, I’ve written the above articles and created six videos to help you understand one area of law, which a number of people find very confusing. These articles clarify which documents you need to submit to prove that you meet the financial requirement of your UK Spouse visa application. In addition, if you would like to understand the nature of the financial requirement of your British Spouse visa application, you’ll benefit tremendously from attending THIS ONLINE COURSE.