UTIAC (1) In an entry clearance case involving the issue of adequacy of maintenance, it will in general assist the First-tier Tribunal or, on appeal, the Upper Tribunal if, as part of the submission, a calculation is supplied which reflects the comparison between the applicant’s and sponsor’s combined projected income if the applicant for entry clearance were in the United Kingdom on the one hand and, on the other, the amount required to provide the maintenance at a level that can properly be called adequate.
(2) Income received and the projection for the figures which the applicant and sponsor have to be able to find should be expressed on a consistent and arithmetically accurate basis. Benefit is usually calculated on a weekly basis but is often paid fortnightly (employment support allowance and income support) or four-weekly (child benefit), while tax credits are calculated on a daily figure and paid in general weekly (child tax credit) or fortnightly (working tax credit). A month under the Gregorian calendar is not the same as four weeks and wrongly taking a four-week period of income as equating to a month risks a potentially significant detriment to an applicant for entry clearance.
(3) It is always essential that regard is had to the benefit rates applicable at relevant times; eg in entry clearance cases, the rates in force at the date of decision. The calculation of the benefit threshold figure is an academic exercise, but establishing the benefits which a sponsor and the applicant will actually be receiving on the applicant’s arrival is far from it. The most compelling evidence of receipt of income by way of social security is likely to be proof of receipt of funds into a person’s bank account. Notices of award are intrinsically less reliable. The position of tax credits is particularly complex.
(4) It would assist if entry clearance application forms were to include questions designed to elicit the information described above and if decisions of entry clearance officers included a calculation described in (1) above.
Storey, Peter Lane, Ward UTJJ
[2013] UKUT 84 (IAC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Immigration, Benefits
Leading Case
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.472138