Can I Bring My Wife Into the UK if I File Bankruptcy? – Tom

“Dear Jon,

i have financial problem since 2008.owed over 32000 from credit cards and different creditors.
went on repayment plane for 3 years.since last year i couldn’t pay the instalments,

my question is
if I declare my self bankrupt can i own a car ?
how long the bancrupcy remain?and how does its effect my life?
can i bring my wife to uk during bancrupcy?
i will be thankful to you for your help.
with regards

tom”

Tom,

You have a few questions there, and some good ones. I can understand your concerns about going bankrupt and also sponsoring your wife, and I’ll try to give you the answers you need.

You can have a car if bankrupt, but there are a few requirements to do this. You will have to show a need for a car, such as for work, medical issues, family concerns/transport, etc, and there would need to be no public transport in your area or if you work unsocial hours.

The car would also have to be of modest means, which by letter of the rules means valued at less than 1K, although 2K has been acceptable.

If you can meet these requirements, and show you can afford the costs associated with owning a car, you can have one if bankrupt.

You are bankrupt usually for a period of 12 months, but bankruptcy does stay on your credit history for six (6) years.

As for how bankruptcy affects your life, depends on you and what life you have. If you own property, then bankruptcy may be an issue. For many people it really doesn’t have any long-term affect outside of relieving the stress of the debts and allowing them to get a fresh start. Some jobs can be affect by going bankrupt, but they usually are in banking, mortgages, etc.

Sponsoring your wife for a Visa is more of an Immigration issue and should be discussed with the Home Office.

I can say that there is no checking as to if you are bankrupt or not in sponsoring someone, but you may very well need to be able to show you can support that person as depending on what country they may be coming from, if non-EU, they may not be allowed to work, or may find it difficult to initially find work.

Some spousal Visa’s do allow the immigrating spouse to work, but some can have restrictions. The issue the government takes is they do not want someone to move to the UK and immediately need state assistance or benefits.

In addition, the cost of a spousal Visa isn’t cheap. If you showed you had a few thousand in savings and went bankrupt, the Receiver may want part of this for the bankruptcy, and in order to obtain a spousal Visa you would need to show sufficient funds to afford the Visa and move.

Once discharged from bankruptcy, any money you have in the bank is no longer an issue.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Jon

Jon Emge is an experienced UK debt advisor who has helped thousands and thousands of people in the UK to deal with problem debt. Jon specialises in finding good solutions for problem debt using a variety of UK specific techniques.

If you have a question you’d like to ask about how to get out of UK debt, just use the online form. I’m happy to help you for free.