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on May 27, 2022
Our client, a Canadian national, recently received fantastic news that his application for a Spouse visa from Canada was approved.
We were contacted by our client looking to join his spouse (a British national). The couple had been married a number of years and regularly met each other and were in communication with each other every day. Our client’s spouse had been working in the UK for around 18 months in full-time employment, but was employed on a zero-hours contract.
Due to work commitments, our client was unable to join his spouse earlier. He was concerned that the Home Office may not view his marriage as genuine and subsisting given the amount of time that they had spent apart. He was further worried about how the Home Office would view the zero-hours contract. His spouse was earning in excess of £18,600, but the hours were not confirmed or guaranteed.
He was eager to join his wife and advice from other legal advisors had so far put him off making a visa application to join his wife here.
We advised our client that time spent apart during a marriage did not necessarily mean that the Home Office would view this negatively. We advised him of the documents we would need to help show that despite the distance between the couple, they made every effort to remain in touch with each other and met each other as often as possible. We advised that the uncertainty around the relationship meant the supporting evidence would be key to making the immigration officer understand the nature of the relationship.
In terms of the financial requirement, we advised our client that zero-hour contracts are common in the UK and the Home Office would be aware of the types of documents applicants will have in this situation. We advised our client that in his particular circumstances, we would need to aggregate his spouse’s earnings over 12 months and would need a letter from her employer confirming her employment in both the present and the future.
We provided our client with a bespoke documents list based on his particular circumstances, which we relied on to support our legal representations which exceeded over 12 pages explaining how our client was able to meet the Immigration Rules relating to spouses.
Following the submission of the application, our client recently received the fantastic news this his application was approved, four weeks after the application was submitted. Our client commented on how “reassured” he felt having spoken to our director Amer Zaman, and after seeing the final application, he had felt “really confident” that we would receive a positive decision on the application.
If you find yourself in a similar circumstance, please contact Cranbrook Legal today for a quick chat to see how we can help you navigate the complex Immigration Rules. Our immigration team are experts in their field and are ready to assist you today.
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