Child maintenance while he’s hardly working due to visa

[Koijoi]

My ex partner is not from the UK and he submitted a leave to remain application after our son was born. He has been sending money here and there but I realised I am probably not getting as much as if I put him on child maintenance, and it would be a guaranteed regular payment. His other baby also receives child maintenance but he does not see her.
He is begging for me to wait until his visa has been processed because then he could get a more stable job with more hours, and I think he’s panicking that CMS will take more when he needs to “pay his rent”. I do believe it’s true he isn’t working much but he would have savings.
Should I completely disregard all that and just put him on it as it could be months til his visa comes out (if at all but I do hope so), or should I continue to be “understanding”….

I’m an immigrant and went through the process. If your ex is here legally, on a visa that allows him to work, then there is no restriction for the number of hours nor type of job he can do while sitting fur his ILR.

The only impact would be how many days a year he is out if the country, if his job is keeping him out if the country for extended periods of time.

otherwise, he’s just feeding you a story so he doesn’t have to pay appropriate maintenance for the child you share together.

He signs up for shifts but I think there aren’t many shifts to go around. He said though he’s had his right to work and rent suspended while the visa is processed.
Are you saying though he can just get another job??

I also don’t know though as the job he started when he first arrived in the country has ended, I think that would’ve been his sponsored one

I went through the CMS and I may be wrong but they base it purely on income from working - I don’t know if or how they account for savings.

They only review this once a year and whilst the non resident parent is meant to report if there is a change in their income, I’m sure most wouldn’t unless that income went down not up.

So you might actually be better off waiting (if you can) until he has a decent job and then go as your payments will be calculated on a higher income and then reviewed yearly.