The minimum financial requirement of £18600 is probably etched in the minds of those who are and have applied for a UK settlement visa. The financial burden, the complex circumstance you and your spouse may have that has a direct effect to your spouse visa application and the uncertainty if your application is going to get approved is a perfect recipe for mental and emotional disaster.
One complex issue I usually hear from other applicants and their spouses is the confusion on the matter of meeting the minimum income threshold set by the Home Office. The Appendix FM Financial Requirement (Family Members-Specified Evidence) holds the key to most if not all the questions and uncertainties there is. That is, if we ever get past the technicality of it all!
I just would like to discuss in here a few of the things I think might be of help to those who are still in the process of collecting documents as evidence and at the same time trying to get a grip the business of it all. First, I’d like to emphasize the difference between a salaried from a non-salaried income. The photo below is a screenshot from the Appendix FM-SE found in the UK government website (link shown above).
That being out of the way now, I know most of you can’t wait to ask the questions: Is overtime accepted as a form of income to reach the financial requirement? If so, how is it done? How is it calculated?
To answer the first question, yes, overtime is accepted as an additional source of income to meet the minimum income threshold, and so are the commission-based pay and bonuses. You will be able to find the rule regarding the matter in the Appendix FM-SE, Calculating Gross Annual Income, Paragraph 18 (f).
If you are using overtime to augment your base salary to meet the financial requirement, you have to bear in mind that you MUST use the LOWEST basic pay in the last 6 months before the date of your visa application. Let’s say for example, you have the following 6 gross salaries. The lowest pay is £1000, which gives you a £12000 per annum gross income. Knowing full well that the minimum income threshold needed to apply for a visa is £18600 per annum, you clearly need £6600 to be able to fulfill it.
Month 1 : £1150 Month 2 : £1000 Month 3 : £1100
Month 4 : £1050 Month 3 : £1210 Month 6 : £1000
This is how you calculate your overtime and check if it being added to your annual gross pay fully augments and helps you reach the elusive minimum income threshold of £18600 per year. Let’s take into consideration the following overtime pays you received in the last 6 months prior to your application.
Month 1 : £250 Month 2 : £450 Month 3 : £550
Month 4 : £730 Month 3 : £660 Month 6 : £700
If you add them all, it’ll give you a sum of £3340. You have to divide the sum by 6 months then multiply the quotient by 12 months (annum).
(£3340/6)*12 = £6680 Annualized overtime
Now, let’s check if you finally meet the financial requirement by adding the gross annual income and annualized overtime
Gross Annual Income £12000
Annualized Overtime £6680
Total £18680♥♥♥♥
Looks like you made it just barely but hey ho! You meet the £18600 FR!
Freddy's Musings 
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