Is the bulk of your savings from the sale of your house?

You need to focus on back up documents for your savings so do not include tax returns.

 

No the bulk of the savings isnt from the sale of the house, the sale of the home was split with my mom and sister. I only received about $50k from that.
Most of my savings have come from my business which began doing really well last year.

I started my bank account around 2012, and by the end of 2016 I managed to save up about $45k. That money came from my business, and the refinancing of our home in 2014 (I got about $15k).

By the end of 2017 I had around $400k which I earned from my business, and now I have $800k.

 

I'll be honest, you aren't making it easy on yourself by not having a separate account.

What you need to do is show a paper trail of how you accumulated £62,500. You need to focus on your savings, not your income and even if your savings is derived mostly from your income your income from 2018 is largely irrelevant as most of that will not have been held in your account for the last 6 months. They only care about your £62,500 in savings and that you have held that amount for at least 6 months and your account hasn't dipped below that in the last 6 months. They don't care if there has been a recent large accumulation. Remember, this is about your savings, not your income. If you include your payslips from 2018 this will likely cause confusion as they will think you are relying on income rather than savings.

Tax returns don't prove that you have money in savings.

It's going to be obvious by your last 6 months of bank statements that you meet/exceed the requirement. I would suggest that you use the sale of your house because you have the paperwork for that and a couple of examples of large payslips pre-2018. You should also include a letter of explanation stating that you stating how you accumulated your savings and there you can explain that aside from the proceeds of a house sale, your savings have come from your self-employment earrings.

 

Thank you for the honesty, it allows us to be better prepared.

I'll be honest, you aren't making it easy on yourself by not having a separate account.

I would love to start another separate account right now, but I just cant bring myself to wait another 6 months.

You need to focus on your savings, not your income and even if your savings is derived mostly from your income your income from 2018 is largely irrelevant as most of that will not have been held in your account for the last 6 months. They only care about your £62,500 in savings and that you have held that amount for at least 6 months and your account hasn't dipped below that in the last 6 months.

Okay, I'll definitely keep out the 2018 payslips. Although I use that bank account regularly it hasn't dropped below the £62,500, for over a year now (since June 2017 to the exact).

Tax returns don't prove that you have money in savings.

My thought process with including the 2017 tax return was that it would show my yearly earnings and that part of my savings came from my income, but I understand how that could be confusing so I wont be including them.

I would suggest that you use the sale of your house because you have the paperwork for that and a couple of examples of large payslips pre-2018.

Okay, so I'll definitely include the paperwork for the sale of the house. How many payslips should I include? Technically, one payslip along with the sale of the house is enough to cover the savings requirement. Should I add about three payslips for safe measure?

Also, should I include the money I received from the time we refinanced the house in 2015 (I received $18,000) or is that too long ago?


As of right now, to prove that I meet the financial requirement I plan to include documents from:
The sale of the house Oct. 2017 - Received $56,000
One months earnings Oct. 2017 - $77,000
6 most recent bank statements

 

Sorry to add another question, all the documents regarding the sale of the home are going to be in my maiden name. Will that be a problem?

 

It's a common occurrence, not an issue if it's clear that maiden/married name belong to the same person

 

Sorry to bring up this topic again, but I didnt want to create a new one regarding the same thing.

I wanted to get someones opinion, on whether or not I should hire an immigration advisor/consultant in regards to meeting the financial requirement.

Just to recap, my husband and I have two options to meet the financial requirement:

1) As I've explained in a previous post, I (American citizen) have the 62,500 that is required. The issue is, I didnt create a separate account for that money. Instead, its in my main checking account (which I have full access too). I have around $800,000 in that account, which I accumulated from my job (im self-employed) and the sale of my home. Ive been over the 62,500 for over a year now, and its never dropped below.

We always assumed it would be best to use my account since it shows that we have more than enough to meet the requirement.

2) Now, my husband does have a separate savings account. Hes been over the 62500, for exactly 6 months. Hes had this savings account for 12 years. Hes never had any huge deposits, its all been savings from work. He has had a few large deposits these last 12 months since his job (he's also self-employed) has done well, and since his pay checks go directly into his savings account.


With a visa application being so important, its critical that we do everything right. We arent sure what option to go with, and how much information we need to show. So, we're wondering is getting an advisor is the best choice.

 

You have everything you need to meet the financial requirement so there is nothing much a lawyer can add.

As I said, the important thing is a paper trail. Additionally, you need to make a declaration which will go to further explain where the money came from.

You both have plenty of money and have held it for at least 6 months so you are in the enviable position of being able to choose whose savings to use.