Self-Employment, Ilr And Financial Requirements.

[quadisking]

I am looking for help and advice specifically from 7by7 and/or VisasPlus.

My Thai wife and my son (who is therefore a British citizen in his own right) came to England in Nov 2010, my wife on a spouse visa. We are now at the time for my wife to apply for ILR. I thought it was a formality, but now I am very concerned having only recently read the new financial requirements (as of July).

As soon as we returned to the UK we registered a business partnership (husband & wife). We have accounts for a full trading year (April 2011 - 2012). I refer to 5.4.2 Category F : Self-Employment (last financial year). "Where the self-employed person is in a partnership agreement, the income will be the gross taxable profits from their share of the business. Allowances or deductable expenses which are not taxed will not be counted towards income".

Profit & Loss Accounts for the business show:

Gross Profit - 26,134

Expenses - 13,230

Net Profit - 12,904

(Drawings - 22,824).

In addition, my wife also has a part time job from which she has also taken £2,730 for the year. We also have savings of £10k between us, but this apparently counts for nothing as the two cannot be combined.

My question is this.. will we meet the financial requirements? We need to have a gross income of £18,600 per annum . It's the 'Allowances or deductable expenses which are not taxed will not be counted towards income' bit which concerns me, as our net profit + p/t employment = £15,634 which will be about £3k per annum short of the required amount.

I don't want to submit the application if we don't meet the requirements and end up with us losing £1k, in addition to this what is even more concerning for us is that our son is autistic. He has settled into school very well in the last term and is making significant progress. If my wife does not get ILR for whatever reason, the implications could be catastrophic. If the application fails does this mean she has to return to Thailand?? If this is the case then we will all have to go, expecting him to cope with staying in England without his mum is unthinkable, so we really don't have any other option. There is a special dispensation for if the sponsor is in receipt of disability allowance (whereby the financial requirements are no longer required), but what happens when I am in receipt of disability allowance for our child (who is dependant on both parents)??

I would be very grateful for any help or advice given, we are possibly in a nightmare scenario whereby we fall marginally short in every conceivable category,

[englishinsiam]

The minimum income is only for new applications after Oct 13 or thereabouts.

You fall into the old category same as we do.

So I am sure you have enough income but one of the experts will come on and clarify this.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect App

[VisasPlus]

This is from the UKBA website. My bold type :

09 July 2012

A number of changes to the Immigration Rules come into effect on 9 July 2012. These changes will affect non-European Economic Area (non-EEA) nationals applying to enter or remain in the UK under the family migration route.

These changes will define the basis on which a person can enter or remain in the UK on the basis of their family or private life, unifying consideration under the rules and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

If you already have leave to enter or remain in the UK, on the basis of being the spouse or partner of a settled person, you will need to meet the rules which were in force before 9 July 2012 if you apply for settlement.

[quadisking]

Thanks very much for the information, that reads pretty conclusively, what a relief.

Very confusing because the financial requirement rules on page 2 reads:

The financial requirement is applicable to those applying under the following provisions of Appendix FM of the Immigation rules:

* EC-P (entry clearance/leave to enter as a partner)

* R-LTRP (leave to remain as a partner)

* R-IRLP (indefinite leave to remain as a partner)

* EC-C (entry clearance/leave to enter for a child or person with limited leave to enter or remain as a partner or parent)

* R-LTR-C (leave to remain for a child of a person with limited leave to enter or remain as a partner or parent).

I initially read that to mean that as my wife is applying for ILR after 9th July that we would need to meet the financial requirement.

Underneath this section it also reads 'The financial requirement only applies to those applying in Appendix FM set out above if paragraph EX.1 has not been applied. Where paragraph EX.1 applies, a financial requirement does not need to be met'.

What is paragraph EX.1 relating to? Does this mean EC-P? i.e. if the applicant already has EC-P, then the R-LTRP, R-ILRP, EC-C and R-LTR-C are no longer relevant because the applicant already has EC-P?

If somebody could help me to clarify this I would be very grateful, sorry if this is very clear to others, but it's very confusing to me.

[7by7]

As VP has already said, your wife applied for her initial visa before 9th July 2012, therefore these new rules do not apply to her; her ILR application will be made under the old rules.

Ignore the new requirements and anything to do with them; they do not apply to your wife.

[quadisking]

OK, thanks for the additional confirmation. I didn't mean to doubt what VP said, I was just very nervous about it all.

Am I correct in thinking that we need to use application form Set M Version 09/12, and that as my wife entered the UK on 15th Nov 2010 we can now submit the application because the 2 year probationary period is coming up (and we can submit the application up to 28 days before the 2 year period is up) ??

Thankyou very much again for all the help and advice that you have given me both now and in the past, I am very, very grateful.

[7by7]

Yes, that is the correct form. Read it and the guidance notes carefully; see Completing application form SET(M) and the links from there.

You may want to consider applying through the Settlement checking service, if available near you.

When attending your appointment, a trained local authority officer will:

• check you have completed your SET(M) form correctly;
  
• check you have paid the correct application fee;
  
• copy and return your valuable documents; and
  
• ensure your application is valid and post it to us.
  

There will be a fee for this, set by the local authority concerned.

ILR postal applications can take 3 to 6 months to process, usually closer to 3 than to 6. She can apply in person for a same day decision; but it costs £1377 as opposed to £991 for a postal application. I recommend that she only applies in person if she absolutely, definitely must have her passport back within the next 6 months; the postal fee is extortionate enough, why give them more?

The earliest she can apply is 28 days before the second anniversary of her first arrival in the UK as your spouse; i.e. 28 days before 15/11/12. The latest is the day her spouse visa expires.

[quadisking]

Many thanks for the information. I've downloaded the form from the main link and I saw your link to the guidance notes on completing the application form previously. I don't have any real problems with the application, the questions seem relatively straightforward I think.

My wife doesn't need her passport or any other documents back in any particular hurry, so she will submit the application by post. Like you say, can't see any point in paying more than we need to, especially because it doesn't seem to me like the trained local authority officer can be all that much help really considering my wife will still have to complete the application herself and submit all the supporting documents, and from what I have read the officer cannot provide any advice so seems like we would be paying the extra for next to nothing. I'm sure that even I can manage checking that the application has been fully completed accurately, especially with the guidance notes to assist. And then check that we have included all the supporting documents, passport photos, payment etc as there is a full checklist at the end of it.

Thanks again, your help is invaluable

[7by7]

Just to point out that the using the settlement checking service is not the same as applying in person.

If you use the settlement checking service the local authority will check the application, copy and return your documents, except your wife's passport, and post the application to the UKBA.

Applying in person means attending a UKBA public enquiry office and submitting the application directly to the UKBA for a same day decision.

[malct]

Ok, I am a little confused here, By saying that if your not in a hurry for your ILR, Then apply by post which can take upto 6 months, visa's will expire under 4 months depending on when applying for the ILR, So if the Visa expires on the 1st Jan 2013 and your applying on the 1st nov, That only gives you 2 months, and what if you don't get your passport back after the expiry date?

Going in person to the UKBA and submitting by hand might be a issue if you don't have the application form filled in correctly or missing a document, It maybe a long drive back home. we plan to get the paperwork checked at the local office when the time comes just for piece of mind, If however your missing a document and you need to make another appointment at the checking office, do you have to pay again?

sorry to go off on the subject while the heading is under self empolyment

Edited October 27, 2012 by malct

[ThaiVisaExpress]

Ok, I am a little confused here, By saying that if your not in a hurry for your ILR, Then apply by post which can take upto 6 months, visa's will expire under 4 months depending on when applying for the ILR, So if the Visa expires on the 1st Jan 2013 and your applying on the 1st nov, That only gives you 2 months, and what if you don't get your passport back after the expiry date?

Going in person to the UKBA and submitting by hand might be a issue if you don't have the application form filled in correctly or missing a document, It maybe a long drive back home. we plan to get the paperwork checked at the local office when the time comes just for piece of mind, If however your missing a document and you need to make another appointment at the checking office, do you have to pay again?

sorry to go off on the subject while the heading is under self empolyment

Whilst your application is being processed you are fine don't worry about visas expiring.

[7by7]

Indeed, provided her current visa is still valid when she submits her application it will be automatically extended until the ILR decision has been made.

Whether the checking service would charge again if you had to return with a missing document; I don't know. The service is run by local authorities who set their own charge; check with the one nearest to you who offers the service (not all do).