Starting up my own limited company will this affect her visa?

[Jay Sata]

So if the OP started a limited company and paid himself as an employee of the company £18,600 per year as he intended too, then he would be liable for £1,300 class 1 National insurance.

And his company would also have to pay the employers NI...

Then maybe the company will have to register for VAT?

And then does IR35 apply?

The way it works is you pay yourself as an employee just under the personal allowance which is £9440 or £10,500 if you were born before 1948.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/personal-allow.htm

You are then allowed to pay yourself a dividend each year of £10,600 tax free making a total tax free income of over £20k.

Things like travel,vehicles,tools etc are deductible from company profits.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/cgt.htm#1

In the case of the OP the company could pay his wife a similar amount making a total tax free annual income of over £40k.

Once the company starts to make reasonable money he could also register for vat and make savings.

So how will this affect his wife's visa?

It will make gaining it a simple affair as NDT income for the first year should be well over 20k

IR35 does not apply as he is an employee of a company which initially will be undertaking

some work in Holland but no doubt will be looking for contracts elsewhere in the world.

As I keep stressing this is the sort of subject you discuss with an accountant who will suggest the best way to structure

your affairs.

[Tony M]

So if the OP started a limited company and paid himself as an employee of the company £18,600 per year as he intended too, then he would be liable for £1,300 class 1 National insurance.

And his company would also have to pay the employers NI...

Then maybe the company will have to register for VAT?

And then does IR35 apply?

The way it works is you pay yourself as an employee just under the personal allowance which is £9440 or £10,500 if you were born before 1948.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/personal-allow.htm

You are then allowed to pay yourself a dividend each year of £10,600 tax free making a total tax free income of over £20k.

Things like travel,vehicles,tools etc are deductible from company profits.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/cgt.htm#1

In the case of the OP the company could pay his wife a similar amount making a total tax free annual income of over £40k.

Once the company starts to make reasonable money he could also register for vat and make savings.

So how will this affect his wife's visa?

It will make gaining it a simple affair as NDT income for the first year should be well over 20k

IR35 does not apply as he is an employee of a company which initially will be undertaking

some work in Holland but no doubt will be looking for contracts elsewhere in the world.

As I keep stressing this is the sort of subject you discuss with an accountant who will suggest the best way to structure

your affairs.

The OP is in the UK. His wife is in Thailand, so any income she has cannot be used to meet the financial requirements for a visa. The OP cannot employ her in order to meet the financial requirements for a settlement visa to the UK.

You initially stated that the OP cannot use dividends to meet the requirement, now you are saying he can ( maybe because I informed you that he could ?). Make up your mind. Now you also say that the OP and his wife can jointly obtain an income of 40k to meet the visa requirement. I am informing you that they can't. So now you can change your advice yet again.

This is not a forum about how to start/run a business in the UK or anywhere else. This is a visa forum.

As usual, you make no apologies for giving wrong information and advice on visa matters, but just carry on digging yourself a deeper hole to fall into. The OP wants advice on how to qualify financially as a sponsor. You continue trying to impress everyone with your limited knowledge of anything that is visa related. Please just stop, or maybe find another forum where your "advice" will be welcomed.

[Jay Sata]

Go back and read what I wrote. You are quoting me out of context.

He is asking about the best way of paying himself to suit what can be the very complicated financial requirements for a self employed sponsor of a family settlement visa.

He is talking about a job in Holland not the UK. My advice on her being able to claim tax free income from the company under £20k had nothing to do with his visa application. I'm suggesting they can together earn around £40k tax free.

If he works as a NDT engineer he'll be hard pushed not to earn over £18500.

He can base his company anywhere he likes to make best use of tax arrangements. That why Paypal route

everything through Luxembourg which is where I would base my company if I was in the OP's shoes.

He has previously said he also earns money from gambling. He can pay this in to the company as a loan and then increase his income in the first year to exceed the £18600.

Instead of having a go at my let's hear your advice on how he should pay himself and structure his desire to get his spouse a visa.

Surrinder Singh is a more complicated method for sure.

[Tony M]

Go back and read what I wrote. You are quoting me out of context.

He is asking about the best way of paying himself to suit what can be the very complicated financial requirements for a self employed sponsor of a family settlement visa.

He is talking about a job in Holland not the UK. My advice on her being able to claim tax free income from the company under £20k had nothing to do with his visa application. I'm suggesting they can together earn around £40k tax free.

If he works as a NDT engineer he'll be hard pushed not to earn over £18500.

He can base his company anywhere he likes to make best use of tax arrangements. That why Paypal route

everything through Luxembourg which is where I would base my company if I was in the OP's shoes.

He has previously said he also earns money from gambling. He can pay this in to the company as a loan and then increase his income in the first year to exceed the £18600.

Instead of having a go at my let's hear your advice on how he should pay himself and structure his desire to get his spouse a visa.

Surrinder Singh is a more complicated method for sure.

My advice was given in post #8. Did you read it ? It said :

But, if it gives you a job that will pay enough to meet the financial requirement after 6 months, then I think that is the way to go. Then start your own business once the visa is issued.

All of your nonsense about setting up a business in Luxembourg, joint incomes, NI, etc, has nothing to do with meeting the OP's stated intention of getting a visa for his wife as soon as possible. If your statement about "claiming a tax fee income of 20,000K had nothing to with his visa application", then why bring it into this forum. It is irrelevant. Don't you understand that ?

You are a troll in this forum. You make statements to cause controversy. You post links to everything you can find, and those links have little or nothing to do with the subject in hand. As I said, please stop posting, or find another forum where your posts will be welcomed.

[7by7]

Sata, yet again, as you have in other topics, as well as giving incorrect immigration advice yourself you are advising the OP to speak to an accountant!

If the OP wants professional immigration advice then he should speak to a professional advisor (OISC registered if in the UK) or a solicitor who specialises in immigration matters; not an accountant.

Horses for courses; if my teeth hurt I go to the dentist, not a chiropodist!

BTW, JusticeFT96, TonyM is a highly respected, professional immigration advisor with many years experience. Ignore the troll and listen to TonyM.

[overherebc]

I have sub-contracted under my own limited company for over 10 years and would never go back to PAYE. Make sure you do your research thoroughly, there is a lot to it. Seen many guys get into problems with it. The crucial thing is good advice and being responsible. Don't try and fiddle the taxman because if you do and he finds out, he'll make your life hell.

Good luck!

As well as the tax man do not ever think about trying to pay late or not pay the VAT man. They have more power than you would believe.

Also consider some sort of pension scheme that you can pay into. It's getting to the position where you have to wait later in life all the time for your UK gov pension.

Edited September 12, 2013 by overherebc

[bobrussell]

Sorry to piss on your cornflakes, so to speak.. but if you need to ask advice on Thai Visa for that sort of Tax/Company law related to the United Kingdom, you are already doomed to failure. Do yourself a big favor and get some reliable local advice in the UK.

As I read it, the OP is not asking about UK tax and/or company law; he is asking about the best way of paying himself to suit what can be the very complicated financial requirements for a self employed sponsor of a family settlement visa.

Such questions is what this forum is for.

Sorry... I read the OP very slowly and carefully and I see no mention of that.

If you take the trouble to read the title of the thread you will see that this is exactly what the OP was asking. He can run his business however he and his accountant see fit but it is the implications for a visa application for his wife that he was asking about.

There is a world of difference between meeting the requirements as an employee and someone self-employed. I have no particular expertise on the financial requirements but at least I can take the trouble to read the OP's original question.

Edited September 12, 2013 by bobrussell

[Basil B]

Go back and read what I wrote. You are quoting me out of context.

He is asking about the best way of paying himself to suit what can be the very complicated financial requirements for a self employed sponsor of a family settlement visa.

He is talking about a job in Holland not the UK. My advice on her being able to claim tax free income from the company under £20k had nothing to do with his visa application. I'm suggesting they can together earn around £40k tax free.

If he works as a NDT engineer he'll be hard pushed not to earn over £18500.

He can base his company anywhere he likes to make best use of tax arrangements. That why Paypal route

everything through Luxembourg which is where I would base my company if I was in the OP's shoes.

He has previously said he also earns money from gambling. He can pay this in to the company as a loan and then increase his income in the first year to exceed the £18600.

Instead of having a go at my let's hear your advice on how he should pay himself and structure his desire to get his spouse a visa.

Surrinder Singh is a more complicated method for sure.

As I understand he would have to be out of the UK at least 18 months before he was not liable for tax (and NI) in the UK. furthermore the OP is questioning whether this was a suitable route to demonstrate a income of over £18,600 PA,

I would also point out UKBA could still turn down his application if they had good reason and if they were aware his income was based on short term contracts they could consider that a good reason, also, as by what has been said the OP was a professional gambler and probably would not have a any means to demonstrate a previously good steady income.

And as I stated he would also have to consider "IR35":

IR35 is the United Kingdom tax legislation designed to tax "disguised employment" at a rate similar to employment. In this context, "disguised employees" means workers who receive payments from a client via an intermediary and whose relationship with their client is such that had they been paid directly they would be employees of the client.

first lines from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IR35

Edit in:

Seems you can be non resident and not pay tax from the day after you leave the UK:

When are you non-resident for UK Income Tax?

You'll be treated as non-resident from the day after you leave the UK if you can show:

• you left the UK to go abroad permanently or your absence and full-time work abroad lasts at least the whole tax year
• your visits to the UK are less than 183 days in a tax year and average less than 91 days a tax year over a maximum of four consecutive years

The same applies to your spouse, civil partner or partner.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/tax-leave-uk.htm#1

Edited September 12, 2013 by Basil B

[Kevin1908]

If you take the trouble to read the title of the thread you will see that this is exactly what the OP was asking. He can run his business however he and his accountant see fit but it is the implications for a visa application for his wife that he was asking about.

There is a world of difference between meeting the requirements as an employee and someone self-employed. I have no particular expertise on the financial requirements but at least I can take the trouble to read the OP's original question.

Can we get one thing straight. As a Director of a Limited Company he will not be self employed, only in the cock eyed view of UKBA will he be considered self employed. HMRC will consider him as employed and PAYE is applicable on earnings. Unless he declares nothing and pays all dividends but that is bonkers given the personal allowance.

I think as other people have said, keep the earnings at £18600 so satisfy the visa then do dividends with the rest. I don't understand why UKBA have to consider workers working through a limited company as self employed provided there is earned income exceeding £18600 per annum.

[Kevin1908]

As I understand he would have to be out of the UK at least 18 months before he was not liable for tax (and NI) in the UK. furthermore the OP is questioning whether this was a suitable route to demonstrate a income of over £18,600 PA,

I would also point out UKBA could still turn down his application if they had good reason and if they were aware his income was based on short term contracts they could consider that a good reason, also, as by what has been said the OP was a professional gambler and probably would not have a any means to demonstrate a previously good steady income.

And as I stated he would also have to consider "IR35":

IR35 is the United Kingdom tax legislation designed to tax "disguised employment" at a rate similar to employment. In this context, "disguised employees" means workers who receive payments from a client via an intermediary and whose relationship with their client is such that had they been paid directly they would be employees of the client.

first lines from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IR35

Edit in:

Seems you can be non resident and not pay tax from the day after you leave the UK:

When are you non-resident for UK Income Tax?

You'll be treated as non-resident from the day after you leave the UK if you can show:

• you left the UK to go abroad permanently or your absence and full-time work abroad lasts at least the whole tax year
• your visits to the UK are less than 183 days in a tax year and average less than 91 days a tax year over a maximum of four consecutive years

The same applies to your spouse, civil partner or partner.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/tax-leave-uk.htm#1

I have not read anything to suggest that the op would be captured by IR35. I haven't heard of anybody being affected in about 10 years. Only in the early days did you hear of people being caught.

I am not sure how the UKBA would know what his contractural requirements were. His contcat of employment is with his own Limited Company, that is all they will see.

[Jay Sata]

Kevin

Nice to read a post from someone else who has experience of running a limited company instead of relying on search engines.

From previous posts the OP is also a successful gambler so if he wanted he could channel winnings through the firm and

declare it. As I understand it there is no tax on winnings but there is nothing anywhere to say you can

not put it through a ltd company.

He can get the company secretary to issue a contract of employment and a letter to substantiate it and the accountants will back that up with

a letter stating his earnings as an employee which is all that the UKBA need.

As an aside I can never understand why small self employed tradesmen avoid what is a tax benefit and a protection against being sued on a personal level.

Edited September 12, 2013 by Jay Sata

[Tony M]

If you take the trouble to read the title of the thread you will see that this is exactly what the OP was asking. He can run his business however he and his accountant see fit but it is the implications for a visa application for his wife that he was asking about.

There is a world of difference between meeting the requirements as an employee and someone self-employed. I have no particular expertise on the financial requirements but at least I can take the trouble to read the OP's original question.

Can we get one thing straight. As a Director of a Limited Company he will not be self employed, only in the cock eyed view of UKBA will he be considered self employed. HMRC will consider him as employed and PAYE is applicable on earnings. Unless he declares nothing and pays all dividends but that is bonkers given the personal allowance.

I think as other people have said, keep the earnings at £18600 so satisfy the visa then do dividends with the rest. I don't understand why UKBA have to consider workers working through a limited company as self employed provided there is earned income exceeding £18600 per annum.

You are very right about the UKV&I view on what constitutes self-employment. Up until as recently as last week, sponsors who are part of the HMRC accepted CIS scheme ( Construction Industry Scheme) were treated as self-employed. Last week UKV&I amended the immigration rules to allow sponsors under the CIS scheme to be treated as salaried employees.

In fact, when these current rules came into force sponsors, if they were directors of their own companies, had a choice of being treated as self-employed or as salaried employees. UKBA ( as was) changed that option to the current requirement. Maybe it needs some pressure to make them change it back.

[Jay Sata]

You are confusing issues surrounding the building industry and the CIS with directors/employees of limited companies.

The CIS scheme was set up to tackle tax avoidance in the building industry.

The OP is planning to work in non destructive testing which is used in the aerospace and oil industries and he plans to take an initial contract in

Rotterdam.

[Tony M]

Kevin

Nice to read a post from someone else who has experience of running a limited company instead of relying on search engines.

From previous posts the OP is also a successful gambler so if he wanted he could channel winnings through the firm and

declare it. As I understand it there is no tax on winnings but there is nothing anywhere to say you can

not put it through a ltd company.

He can get the company secretary to issue a contract of employment and a letter to substantiate it and the accountants will back that up with

a letter stating his earnings as an employee which is all that the UKBA need.

As an aside I can never understand why small self employed tradesmen avoid what is a tax benefit and a protection against being sued on a personal level.

And how does that help the OP get his wife here as soon as possible ? Setting up his own company requires him to declare himself as a director of that company. There is therefore a record at Companies House. And an internet/online check is one of the first things that the ECO will do. If you are suggesting that he doesn't declare himself as a director/owner of his own company, then he may well find himself in some serious trouble ( or rather his wife will when her visa is refused). Don't you think that there will some close scrutiny of an application which has sponsor who doesn't pay any tax in the UK, and who provides payslips showing that ?

You seem to still be missing the point, maybe because you believe yourself to be more learned than everyone else, but the OP's best, and easiest, way to meet the financial requirement is to take a paying job for 6 months. Stop trying to impress with your tax - avoidance schemes and concentrate on the visa aspect. Or will you never learn ?

[Tony M]

You are confusing issues surrounding the building industry and the CIS with directors/employees of limited companies.

The CIS scheme was set up to tackle tax avoidance in the building industry.

The OP is planning to work in non destructive testing which is used in the aerospace and oil industries and he plans to take an initial contract in

Rotterdam.

I'm not confusing anything, nor am I confused about anything. And, I wasn't replying to you. I was replying to Kevin1908 on the point about UKV&I's view on salaried employment and self-employment.

You are a troll, and the sooner you leave the forum, the better. I don't want to have anything more to do with you. I will not respond to your troll posts, except to point out to other members when you are giving poor advice.

[7by7]

Nice to read a post from someone else who has experience of running a limited company instead of relying on search engines.

Running a limited company does not mean that one has any knowledge of or expertise in UK immigration law and the requirements of same.

TonyM has vast amounts of both; he does not need to use search engines!

He can get the company secretary to issue a contract of employment and a letter to substantiate it and the accountants will back that up with a letter stating his earnings as an employee which is all that the UKBA need.

As usual, you are wrong; he'll need more than that!

See Appendix FM-SE - Family members - specified evidence and Annex FM Section FM 1.7.

Now, Sata, both of these are fairly complicated; so you'll need to find an adult to explain them to you.

[Kevin1908]

And how does that help the OP get his wife here as soon as possible ? Setting up his own company requires him to declare himself as a director of that company. There is therefore a record at Companies House. And an internet/online check is one of the first things that the ECO will do. If you are suggesting that he doesn't declare himself as a director/owner of his own company, then he may well find himself in some serious trouble ( or rather his wife will when her visa is refused). Don't you think that there will some close scrutiny of an application which has sponsor who doesn't pay any tax in the UK, and who provides payslips showing that ?

You seem to still be missing the point, maybe because you believe yourself to be more learned than everyone else, but the OP's best, and easiest, way to meet the financial requirement is to take a paying job for 6 months. Stop trying to impress with your tax - avoidance schemes and concentrate on the visa aspect. Or will you never learn ?

I am unaware that there is any requirement to declare yourself as a Director of a company that you own or part own shares in. I have seen clients stipulate in any contract that the person that they are employing is a Director of the company. I don't think HMRC give 2 hoots who is the Director. Not sure about how UKBA see it. If you are not a Director then you are just an employee so will need to earn at least £18600 per annum.

[bangkockney]

Just to echo what Tony has said, but appears to have been lost in the noise.

You are desperate to sort your partner's visa and you have the option of 6 months work in the UK salaried, as an employee.

Take that route, get your family unit sorted, and then based on how your new line of work pans out, take a view whether to incorporate or not.

Honestly, all this talk of Luxembourg, streamlining for tax immediately etc, is a distraction from what it appears you want most: your family together.

Good luck.

[JusticeFT96]

Thanks everyone for the posts and the helpful information.

Nearly everything that people have posted has been told to me by others over the last few days. Taxes, dividends, working out of the country etc etc.

Once my wife has a visa I will be doing the dividends stuff, employing her and paying her a salary as my secretary, it may actually get her off her lazy backside for once

I have no problem paying myself the money that I need to meet UKBA requirements even though I am just starting up this would only take 4 months to reach. The 10k threshold and child tax benefits I wouldnt pay that much tax anyway and I have no problem paying the tax until she gets a settlement visa, its a small price to pay! Obviously once she has that visa I can then go down the route of employing her, paying dividends, paying myself less etc. I have an appointment with my accountant on Monday, he can make things much clearer for me, once he has informed me all about what I need to do with the business I will then get in touch with a Visa agency and find out exactly the best route to go down to get them here quickly. Whilst she is here I will most likely work those 6 months, if I cant get her a settlement visa after then I will look for some work abroad, if I cant get any then it will most likely mean her going back to Thailand for another 6 months which would be horrible as my son will be at the age where he should start going to pre school and interacting with other children and learning etc.

I take it she couldn't get a work visa if I offered her a job as she isnt a skilled worker is she? She cant work on a tourist visa also? I doubt we will live in the UK for that long anyway, I just want to get some good experience here with NDT clear the credit card and then save up a bit of money to use on a deposit in another country thats warmer. I could even move back to Thailand if I could get good contracts in Asia or near by but this is all guesswork.

The accountant will clear a lot of things up for me I am sure on Monday.

Once again thanks for all your replies!

[Tony M]

And how does that help the OP get his wife here as soon as possible ? Setting up his own company requires him to declare himself as a director of that company. There is therefore a record at Companies House. And an internet/online check is one of the first things that the ECO will do. If you are suggesting that he doesn't declare himself as a director/owner of his own company, then he may well find himself in some serious trouble ( or rather his wife will when her visa is refused). Don't you think that there will some close scrutiny of an application which has sponsor who doesn't pay any tax in the UK, and who provides payslips showing that ?

You seem to still be missing the point, maybe because you believe yourself to be more learned than everyone else, but the OP's best, and easiest, way to meet the financial requirement is to take a paying job for 6 months. Stop trying to impress with your tax - avoidance schemes and concentrate on the visa aspect. Or will you never learn ?

I am unaware that there is any requirement to declare yourself as a Director of a company that you own or part own shares in. I have seen clients stipulate in any contract that the person that they are employing is a Director of the company. I don't think HMRC give 2 hoots who is the Director. Not sure about how UKBA see it. If you are not a Director then you are just an employee so will need to earn at least £18600 per annum.

There is no such requirement, but for the purpose of the immigration rules you have to be, basically, either a salaried employee or self-employed. It is, of course, a little more complicated than that, as the Home Office would hate for it to be simple ! But, when sponsoring a visa applicant, the sponsor makes a declaration about his employment. If he is a director of his own company ( and a simple online check will reveal this), and he states that he is a salaried employee (effectively getting around all the requirements for company tax returns, etc) then he will have made a false statement, and the visa application could fail.

The Home office have made several changes to the requirements since they were introduced in June 2012, mainly due to pressure form those who have tried to meet the requirements and failed because they were unworkable. In a recent High Court judgement, Mr Justice Blake said :

"the rules are so onerous in effect as to be an unjustified and disproportionate interference with a genuine spousal relationship”. ..The consequences are so excessive in impact as to be beyond a reasonable means of giving effect to the legitimate aim”.

The Home Office are considering the implications of that judgement where it relates to the financial threshold ( and hopefully in other areas too ).

[stament]

If you take the trouble to read the title of the thread you will see that this is exactly what the OP was asking. He can run his business however he and his accountant see fit but it is the implications for a visa application for his wife that he was asking about.

There is a world of difference between meeting the requirements as an employee and someone self-employed. I have no particular expertise on the financial requirements but at least I can take the trouble to read the OP's original question.

Can we get one thing straight. As a Director of a Limited Company he will not be self employed, only in the cock eyed view of UKBA will he be considered self employed. HMRC will consider him as employed and PAYE is applicable on earnings. Unless he declares nothing and pays all dividends but that is bonkers given the personal allowance.

I think as other people have said, keep the earnings at £18600 so satisfy the visa then do dividends with the rest. I don't understand why UKBA have to consider workers working through a limited company as self employed provided there is earned income exceeding £18600 per annum.

Good comment re UKBA view and actual HMRC view, and therein lies the problem I suspect. UKBA probably don't understand the difference I'm guessing and this could, could cause problems perhaps, although it shouldn't do as the person is an employee. If we knew for certain that UKBA classifies the individual as an employee, there would be no risk. However, I'm not certain - is anyone else, is there some documented clarification or policy on this from UKBA? If they are unsure do they contact HMRC - unlikely as from all my experience with Govt departments, the right hand doesn't seem to talk to the left hand. Therefore, a risk in doing it this way, but perhaps getting some sort of letter from HMRC clarifying that the individual is indeed an employee not self-employed would help? Whether they would do that of course is an entirely different matter, but a P60 should help.

OP - good luck and do feed back any results from your application as it would be good for future applicants.

All - there is some good helpful advice on here and all is given with the best intentions, mine too, but I'm no expert so I suggest as others have you do take proper advice whether it be from immigration experts (such as some of the members on here) and an accountant.

[stament]

Kevin

Nice to read a post from someone else who has experience of running a limited company instead of relying on search engines.

From previous posts the OP is also a successful gambler so if he wanted he could channel winnings through the firm and

declare it. As I understand it there is no tax on winnings but there is nothing anywhere to say you can

not put it through a ltd company.

He can get the company secretary to issue a contract of employment and a letter to substantiate it and the accountants will back that up with

a letter stating his earnings as an employee which is all that the UKBA need.

As an aside I can never understand why small self employed tradesmen avoid what is a tax benefit and a protection against being sued on a personal level.

And how does that help the OP get his wife here as soon as possible ? Setting up his own company requires him to declare himself as a director of that company. There is therefore a record at Companies House. And an internet/online check is one of the first things that the ECO will do. If you are suggesting that he doesn't declare himself as a director/owner of his own company, then he may well find himself in some serious trouble ( or rather his wife will when her visa is refused). Don't you think that there will some close scrutiny of an application which has sponsor who doesn't pay any tax in the UK, and who provides payslips showing that ?

You seem to still be missing the point, maybe because you believe yourself to be more learned than everyone else, but the OP's best, and easiest, way to meet the financial requirement is to take a paying job for 6 months. Stop trying to impress with your tax - avoidance schemes and concentrate on the visa aspect. Or will you never learn ?

I agree with you and you have stressed this several times. The OP wants to know what the quickest way is to get his family over here (whilst meeting of course the UKBA financial requirements as well as non-financial). It seems, as a secondary point he would also like to do it in the way that means he pays the least tax possible. Which we can all agree is preferable to each of us should we be in his position.

HOWEVER, the primary and overriding concern is getting his family over here as quick as possible. So if going down the LTD company route delays things or indeed if there is a risk of his application being rejected, then surely this isn't the favoured and sensible option for the OP, since then he would have to apply again. It may be that if one route gives him a more favourable chance of success and quicker (and I must add I don't know if going down the Ltd company route would delay things) then surely that route should be the one the OP selects should it not?

Again, I strongly advise the OP to contact a specialist in Immigration (there are contacts here on the forum) and an accountant.

[stament]

Just to echo what Tony has said, but appears to have been lost in the noise.

You are desperate to sort your partner's visa and you have the option of 6 months work in the UK salaried, as an employee.

Take that route, get your family unit sorted, and then based on how your new line of work pans out, take a view whether to incorporate or not.

Honestly, all this talk of Luxembourg, streamlining for tax immediately etc, is a distraction from what it appears you want most: your family together.

Good luck.

YOU'VE HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD. Sorry I only read this after my last two postings. I couldn't agree more my dear learned friend.

Bite the bullet take the tax hit, and get your family over here asap. That's the quickest and easiest route available which it seems is your primary concern. I'm sure as a successful professional gambler you can make up a bit of lost tax money in no time - probably just tea money for you!

On a side note can one of these successful gamblers on here teach me how to win?