What is Appendix FM-SE?

Appendix FM-SE is the part of the UK Immigration Rules that lists the specified evidence applicants must provide for family visas under Appendix FM. It sets the exact documents for income, savings, benefits, marriage and English language. Where Appendix FM says evidence must be specified, this appendix says what that evidence is.

How Appendix FM-SE works

Appendix FM-SE sets out the specified evidence applicants need to provide to meet the requirements of Appendix FM.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} In Appendix FM, the word “specified” means specified in Appendix FM-SE, unless otherwise stated.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members}

To meet the financial requirement, an applicant must meet three things. These are the level of income that applies to the application, the permitted sources of income and savings with their time periods and permitted combinations, and the evidence required for each source relied upon.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} So the appendix works with the minimum income requirement and the adequate maintenance test. It does not set the income level. It tells the applicant how to prove it.

GOV.UK gives a summary for applicants. It lists bank statements, 6 months of payslips and a dated employer letter on headed paper as examples, and tells applicants to follow the detailed guidance for other income types.^{[3]Home Office, Family visas: Information and evidence you must provide}

What the appendix covers

All of the above is set out in the appendix itself.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} The savings rules are explained in the cash savings requirement entry. The English language rules are in English language requirement.

The general rules in paragraph 1

Several rules apply to every kind of financial evidence.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence}

• Bank statements must come from a financial institution within Appendix Finance, be in the right name or names and cover the period specified. They must be on official stationery or be electronic statements with a bank letter or stamp.
• Payslips must be formal payslips showing the employer’s name, or come with a signed employer letter saying they are authentic.
• Promises of third-party support are not accepted, except in limited cases. These include maintenance from a former partner, a gift of cash savings held for 6 months and a maintenance grant or stipend.
• All income and savings must be lawfully derived.
• Documents not in English or Welsh need a full, dated, verifiable translation.
• Evidence of a period that ends with the application date must be dated no earlier than 28 days before it.

If the Home Office has reasonable cause to doubt a document and cannot verify it, the document is discounted.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members}

Missing or wrong documents

Paragraph D of the appendix gives the decision-maker some flexibility. If an applicant sends a sequence with a document missing, a document in the wrong format or one without all the specified information, the decision-maker may write and ask for it. The reply must arrive within the reasonable time set. They will not ask where the application will be refused for other reasons.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} Documents sent after the application are considered only where these provisions apply.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} A decision-maker may also exercise discretion where a document cannot be supplied for a valid reason, for example because it is not issued in a particular country or has been permanently lost.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} The Home Office guidance says it can grant despite minor evidential problems, but not where specified evidence is missing entirely.^{[4]UK Visas and Immigration, Family Migration: Appendix FM and Appendix HM Armed Forces - minimum income requirement (caseworker guidance, version 13.0)}

Example

Sam is applying from abroad to join his wife Rachel, who has worked for the same UK employer for 9 months.

• Payslips: the 6 months before the application
• Letter from the employer: confirms the job, gross annual salary, length of employment and contract type
• Personal bank statements: the same 6 months, showing salary paid into an account in Rachel’s name or Rachel and Sam’s joint names

If the June bank statement is missing from the series, the decision-maker may write and ask for it, and must set a reasonable time to reply. They are not obliged to do so if the application is going to be refused anyway.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} The most recent bank statement must also be dated no earlier than 28 days before the application date.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence}

What people get wrong

Appendix FM-SE decides what counts. A source of money that is real but not evidenced in the way the appendix requires cannot be counted.

Three consequences follow from the text. The first is the 28-day rule: evidence dated earlier than 28 days before the application date for a period ending at the application date does not meet the rule.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} The second is the name on the account. Personal bank statements must be in the name of the applicant, the partner or both, unless the appendix says otherwise.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence} The third is that gross income needs proof. Where the gross pre-tax amount cannot be properly evidenced, only the net amount counts, even towards a gross income requirement.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: family members specified evidence}

The bottom line

Appendix FM-SE is the evidence rulebook for Appendix FM. It sets what documents prove each source of income, savings, marriage and English language, and the format they must take. The decision-maker has some flexibility on missing documents, but it is limited and discretionary. Before an application, each source of money should be checked against the paragraph that covers it.