BritCits

Good news

We had some nice news - an update to Aimie's story, which you can read here :

http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/aimie.html

Via Facebook, today :
OMG!!!! Our solicitor has just rang me and David has been given leave to remain for a further 2 years!!!!!!! Woooohhoooooo

Fantastic news !!!

Aimie and David explain :

'DAVID'S student visa was due to expire on 30th January this year. We waited until the 26th to submit the application so that I could complete my academic year, and make other plans if required.
Because I obviously don't have a job that earns £18600 - we were looking at alternatives.

To explain the timeline: I started university in Sept 2011. Before that I had a minimum wage job that was full time, so in that tax year I got my full time wage for a good chunk of the tax year. I received student finance on top of that.

When I started university, I kept my job but only worked out of term. I also got a second job in locally at a fast food restaurant. On top of that, I at the university as a student ambassador - meaning I then had a total of three jobs, plus student finance, plus a bursary from the university. (Editor's note: Crikey!).

In July last year I left both jobs at fast food restaurants, and started work in a call centre. This was only for two months over summer but I got full time wages. After summer I had to leave my full time job at the call centre and started working at a cinema, which is where I work now.

David had and still has a part time job. He has that job for ages now so his income was counted towards the requirement, and because we are married the university gave us another bursary and student finance increased their grant.

In the application, we included all of my payslips since 2008, and Davids from 2011, and every letter from the university and student finance, also letters from past and present employers authenticating our wage slips. David also made a calculation sheet which we included in the application that took our current jobs average weekly wage into account and other income from the last 12 months which all in total made just over the requirement.

Our only worry was that I no longer worked at some of the jobs, and because of the fact that they take the lowest payslip to calculate the average pay, and some weeks we had not worked so they may have taken £0 for those jobs. Our solicitor also put a cover letter on our application saying that they believe we fulfil the financial requirement but if they (the UKBA) don't believe we do, they (the solicitors) believe that we also fall under the category of 'insurmountable circumstances' that I cannot go to Colombia due to university commitments, danger and language reasons (even the Foreign office advises against all travel to Colombia).

We believe that they looked at our application, saw how genuine it was and all of the supporting evidence and preparation, probably looked at the genuineness of our application, and basically we - and our solicitor - built an absolutely cast iron case.

Well done!

Editor's note : Fortune favours the well-prepared.

Aimie has also supplied a list of the contents of the application :

'WE divided our application into 4 sections:
-Key documents
-Genuineness of relationship
-Wedding
-Finances

Key Documents:

-An index
-A letter from me as the ‘sponsor’
-Bankers draft for payment
-David's BRP
-David's passports
-Aimie's passports
-David's police certificate
-Marriage certificate
-David's Masters' degree
-David's deed poll where he removed his second surname (note - David comes from a Spanish-speaking country where two surnames are the norm)

Genuineness of relationship:

-Index
-Timeline of photos of us together and with both families
-A letter from Aimie's mom in support
-A letter from the maid of honour in support
-A letter from the best man in support
-Proof of Aimie's student status
-Tenancy documents from student accommodation
-Letter from bank upon opening joint bank account
-Letter from landlord addressed to us both confirming our deposit
-Tenancy agreement
-Letter from council confirming health and safety and no overcrowding
-Electoral role letters to Aimie
-Letter confirming home insurance addressed to both of us.
-Water bill addressed to both of us
-Electricity bill addressed to both of us
-TV licence letter
-Finance loan letters
-Mobile phone bill letters
-Amendments to car insurance letters after marriage
-Graduation cards to David

Wedding:

-Index
-Explanatory notes about the wedding i.e dates planned, notice, venue, guests, bestman, bridesmaids etc.
- Photos of bridal party, family and guests at the wedding.
-Wedding cards
-Receipt for notice

Finances:

-A very long explanatory note which follows the guidelines pdf very well. Splitting the notes up into categories like the guidance. Category A describing income from employment, and category C describing income from grants etc.
-Payslips from all of our employers from the last 4 years for Aimie and almost 2 for David.
-P60’s for both of us.
-Letters from previous and current employers authenticating payslips and confirming employment dates.
-Current employer contracts for both of us.
-Student finance breakdowns
-Letters from the university confirming bursaries
-Bank statements for all bank accounts for previous 12 months, including joint bank account which shows bills going out.
-Emails from David's job offer and prospective job contract

What we think may be important is that we were completely transparent. We showed them everything there is to show. Each section had a letter explaining why we had included the documents we did. And as David said earlier the application was very positive and confident.