Buying a Business in UK - Visa issues?

[backtofront]

If I buy a business in the UK is there anyway I can get a work permit for my wife other than the settlement visa? To qualify for that the business would have to pay me two thousand a month for twelve months, yes? How does one get a work permit as a Wok cook? Do Wok cooks get work visas?

 

[steve187]

a settlement visa for your wife requires your income to be a minimum of £18,600 annually from an employer, self employed would have to have one years books showing that amount

 

lots of threads on here do some research

 

work permits are a whole new can of worms.

[backtofront]

Am already looking into the settlement visa. Have two boys so the qualifying income is closer to 25k a year. What I was wondering is whether we could buy a business and then employ her as a Wok cook and get her a work permit?

 

[sappersrest]

Sorry but it won't be possible un limited fines plus jail .

https://www.gov.uk/employing-staff There is an online tool to check eligibility.

 

[7by7]

1 hour ago, sappersrest said:

Sorry but it won't be possible un limited fines plus jail .

https://www.gov.uk/employing-staff There is an online tool to check eligibility.

 

Indeed, there are severe penalties for employing someone who does not have the right to work in the UK. But the OP is asking about a work visa, which if issued would allow his wife to work. She would also be allowed to work if in the UK with a spouse visa.

 

7 hours ago, backtofront said:

How does one get a work permit as a Wok cook? Do Wok cooks get work visas?

Usually, no. You, as her potential employer, would need to become a licensed sponsor and get a certificate of sponsorship for her. To do this you would need to show that there is a shortage of wok cooks in the UK such that you need to import one from outside the EEA. Unless you can show she has exceptional talent which no one in the UK can replicate.

 

See Tier 2 (General) visa and the Home Office guidance to staff and Sponsorship: guidance for employers and educators.

[gandalf12]

if he can get her a NI number then she can work. NI is a National Insurance number just for the record. I got my wife one but that was a few years ago so the rules may have changed but it was on a settlement visa.

[Eff1n2ret]

9 minutes ago, gandalf12 said:

if he can get her a NI number then she can work

Not before she has acquired the right to work she can't. See this page:-

https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number

In your wife's case her right to work was consequent on her settlement visa.

[bobrussell]

An NI number is an administrative tool for the UK social security system and some aspects of tax.

It is not linked to the right to work therefore cannot be used to identify if someone is entitled to work or not. 

 

[rasg]

12 hours ago, backtofront said:

Am already looking into the settlement visa. Have two boys so the qualifying income is closer to 25k a year. What I was wondering is whether we could buy a business and then employ her as a Wok cook and get her a work permit?

 

Are you a Brit? If that is the case and the two boys are yours and your wife is Thai, your boys are Brits too.

 

If not, on top of the £18,600 annual income needed for your wife on a settlement visa, each child will add £2.400 each needed on your annual income. An annual total of £23,400.

 

As has been mentioned, a work visa is a completely different animal.

 

Let us have more information.

[Tony M]

5 hours ago, rasg said:

Are you a Brit? If that is the case and the two boys are yours and your wife is Thai, your boys are Brits too.

 

If not, on top of the £18,600 annual income needed for your wife on a settlement visa, each child will add £2.400 each needed on your annual income. An annual total of £23,400.

 

As has been mentioned, a work visa is a completely different animal.

 

Let us have more information.

 

For a wife plus two children it's 24,800 GBP.   It is 3,800 for the first child, then 2,400 for each additional child.

[rasg]

I stand corrected.

[gandalf12]

14 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Not before she has acquired the right to work she can't. See this page:-

https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number

In your wife's case her right to work was consequent on her settlement visa.

Agreed

[backtofront]

12 hours ago, rasg said:

Are you a Brit? If that is the case and the two boys are yours and your wife is Thai, your boys are Brits too.

 

I got my Brit passport through my grandfather. The boys might be eligible for some sort of visa as my mother, their grandmother was born in the UK. The problem is my wife.

 

[backtofront]

20 hours ago, 7by7 said:

To do this you would need to show that there is a shortage of wok cooks in the UK such that you need to import one from outside the EEA. Unless you can show she has exceptional talent which no one in the UK can replicate.

 

Thx. Would love her to demonstrate how a phad kaphroa should be cooked. But I doubt they would see the humour in this.

[rasg]

2 hours ago, backtofront said:

I got my Brit passport through my grandfather. The boys might be eligible for some sort of visa as my mother, their grandmother was born in the UK. The problem is my wife.

Well worth checking then as far as the kids are concerned. Settlement visa, then Further Leave to Remain (FLR), then Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). About £7K in visa fees over five years. English language test (A1) and a TB test are also needed for a settlement visa.

 

Are you currently in Thailand then? Do you have an income there? Savings of £62,500 will allow you to get a Settlement visa without an income. As Steve said earlier in the thread, If you rely on income from a business and you are self employed you need 12 months accounts showing the £18,600 pa and that you have paid tax on it for your wife only.

 

[backtofront]

As unpleasant as it might be I think I am going to have to get a job and if not work for myself. Could qualify with savings but it would mean liquidating everything we have built up here. That would mean foregoing the pleasure of returning to finish off the lotus pond that will never get finished.

 

Want to see what we can do for the boys. But when I first enquired it didn't look too promising. I get the distinct impression we are not wanted. 

[7by7]

5 hours ago, backtofront said:

 

I got my Brit passport through my grandfather. The boys might be eligible for some sort of visa as my mother, their grandmother was born in the UK. The problem is my wife.

 

 Not sure what you mean by this.

 

There are basically two types of British nationality; British not by descent and British by descent.

 

British not by descent means that you are British in your own right. Either because you were born in the UK or a qualifying territory and at least one of your parents was British or settled there; or through naturalisation (if an adult at the time) or registration (if a child at the time) as British.

 

British by descent means that you were born outside the UK or a qualifying territory and at least one of your parents was British not by descent.

 

British nationality can only descend one generation, so whilst you could have inherited it from either of your parents, you could not have inherited from a grandparent.

 

If you are British by descent then your children will only be automatically British if they were born in the UK or a qualifying territory, unless when they were born you were a British citizen working abroad in Crown service, designated service or service of a European Community (EC) institution.

 

That's a basic explanation of what is a complex subject; you can use Check if you're a British citizen to check for sure; remember to answer the questions as if you were your sons.

 

However, if they are not currently British it may be possible for you to register them as such; provided you do so before they reach 18. See Application to register child under 18 as British citizen: form MN1

[backtofront]

What I think they qualify for through grandma is an Ancestry Visa. This allows them to work in the UK for five years after the age of seventeen. So it doesn't really help. But what I found interesting was that the site I was looking at said that the Ancestry Visa allows ones family to accompany the holder. 

 

If this is still the case it would mean that if I wasn't a Brit (which I should still be) I could apply for an Ancestry visa and get my family in no problem. But as a citizen its six months minimum. Going to check that for interest only. 

[blackcab]

On 24/10/2017 at 3:25 PM, rasg said:

Settlement visa, then Further Leave to Remain (FLR), then Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). About £7K in visa fees over five years. English language test (A1) and a TB test are also needed for a settlement visa.

 

If this route is taken, at what point would a Thai spouse be eligeable to work without having to apply for a work visa?

[theoldgit]

12 hours ago, blackcab said:

 
If this route is taken, at what point would a Thai spouse be eligeable to work without having to apply for a work visa?

As soon as she/he sets foot in the UK, it might be prudent to take possession of the Biometric Residence Card and obtain a NI number first.



Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[backtofront]

On 10/28/2017 at 12:31 PM, blackcab said:

 

If this route is taken, at what point would a Thai spouse be eligeable to work without having to apply for a work visa?

My understanding is that once she qualifies for a settlement visa, it enables her to stay and work for the next 30 months.