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ILR Application Success as Self Employed/Contractor

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:50 pm
by londumpster
Hello guys,

I applied for ILR in person at the Croydon PEO and my application was successful. It was pretty straight forward and to my surprise, the Immigration Officer didnt ask a single question or clarified anything. A person does the initial screening to check your form and documents when you arrive. Within 2 hours I had the stamped visa and passport. Was impressed with their service.

I applied under the Tier 1 (general) migrant category which included 2 years on WP and 2 years on HSMP and 1 year under the Tier 1 General Category.

I am Self Employed and run the business through my own Limited Company for the past year. I had carried a year's worth of payslip, personal/business bank statements. The person at the counter who does the initial screening asked me to submit only 3 months pay slips and Bank Statements

Here are the list of documents I submitted to the Immigration Officer

- Life in the UK Test Certificate
- 4 years P60s
- 3 Salary Slips (Salary that I take from my company)
- Last 3 months Bank Statements -Personal Account
- Last 3 months Bank Statements - Business Account
- Letter from Accountant confirming about my Ltd Company and break up of personal account (Salary/Dividend)
- Previous WP/HSMP/Tier 1 approval letters from the Home Office.

Apart from this I had carried a few of other documents which I didnt need to produce.

- 1 years bank statements
- BT Bill as address proof
- Limited Company Certificates
- Dividend Certificates
- P45s

Please feel free to ask any queries you may have.. Will try to help.

I wish you all the very best..

Regards

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:16 pm
by kmrk123
Congratulations!

I have an appointment this Friday in Croydon office!! Hope everything goes well!!!

Re: ILR Application Success as Self Employed/Contractor

Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:56 pm
by skoppuravuri
londumpster wrote:Hello guys,

I applied for ILR in person at the Croydon PEO and my application was successful. It was pretty straight forward and to my surprise, the Immigration Officer didnt ask a single question or clarified anything. A person does the initial screening to check your form and documents when you arrive. Within 2 hours I had the stamped visa and passport. Was impressed with their service.

I applied under the Tier 1 (general) migrant category which included 2 years on WP and 2 years on HSMP and 1 year under the Tier 1 General Category.

I am Self Employed and run the business through my own Limited Company for the past year. I had carried a year's worth of payslip, personal/business bank statements. The person at the counter who does the initial screening asked me to submit only 3 months pay slips and Bank Statements

Here are the list of documents I submitted to the Immigration Officer

- Life in the UK Test Certificate
- 4 years P60s
- 3 Salary Slips (Salary that I take from my company)
- Last 3 months Bank Statements -Personal Account
- Last 3 months Bank Statements - Business Account
- Letter from Accountant confirming about my Ltd Company and break up of personal account (Salary/Dividend)
- Previous WP/HSMP/Tier 1 approval letters from the Home Office.

Apart from this I had carried a few of other documents which I didnt need to produce.

- 1 years bank statements
- BT Bill as address proof
- Limited Company Certificates
- Dividend Certificates
- P45s

Please feel free to ask any queries you may have.. Will try to help.

I wish you all the very best..

Regards
Thanks for your post, it is very much helpful. I like to know that do I need to go for another extention or not? I came to uk on HSMP( starts from March 1st 2008 where as came on apr 29th 2008). till now I am in UK.

I came to UK 2months after getting HSMP visa. I have present visa till march 2nd 2013. Am I allowed to apply ILR in 2013 without going for next tier1(general) extention.

Re: ILR Application Success as Self Employed/Contractor

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:47 am
by gd_chandrasekar
Hi

I am in same scenario, i take 1000£ as salary and my wife also works in same company so she takes around 500£ which is sufficient for the monthly exp,and at year end (or quarterly) we take dividents.

Do you think this is good or increase the salary for the last 3 months and apply as a salaried rather than self-employed.

if its no trouble, is it possible to send me the template of the accountant document you submitted (after removign teh company names and other personal details)? So that I keep this ready just in case..

What do you suggest.


Thanks
londumpster wrote:Hello guys,

I applied for ILR in person at the Croydon PEO and my application was successful. It was pretty straight forward and to my surprise, the Immigration Officer didnt ask a single question or clarified anything. A person does the initial screening to check your form and documents when you arrive. Within 2 hours I had the stamped visa and passport. Was impressed with their service.

I applied under the Tier 1 (general) migrant category which included 2 years on WP and 2 years on HSMP and 1 year under the Tier 1 General Category.

I am Self Employed and run the business through my own Limited Company for the past year. I had carried a year's worth of payslip, personal/business bank statements. The person at the counter who does the initial screening asked me to submit only 3 months pay slips and Bank Statements

Here are the list of documents I submitted to the Immigration Officer

- Life in the UK Test Certificate
- 4 years P60s
- 3 Salary Slips (Salary that I take from my company)
- Last 3 months Bank Statements -Personal Account
- Last 3 months Bank Statements - Business Account
- Letter from Accountant confirming about my Ltd Company and break up of personal account (Salary/Dividend)
- Previous WP/HSMP/Tier 1 approval letters from the Home Office.

Apart from this I had carried a few of other documents which I didnt need to produce.

- 1 years bank statements
- BT Bill as address proof
- Limited Company Certificates
- Dividend Certificates
- P45s

Please feel free to ask any queries you may have.. Will try to help.

I wish you all the very best..

Regards

Re: ILR Application Success as Self Employed/Contractor

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 1:26 pm
by shs213
[quote="gd_chandrasekar"]

I am in same scenario, i take 1000£ as salary and my wife also works in same company so she takes around 500£ which is sufficient for the monthly exp,and at year end (or quarterly) we take dividents.

Do you think this is good or increase the salary for the last 3 months and apply as a salaried rather than self-employed.

[quote="londumpster"]

to be safe; I would take a dividends leading up the 3 months of your ILR backed up by letters from your accountant should do....

If your self employed salary is not the only form of income so it should be OK.

I wouldn't worry too much....

Good Luck....

Re: ILR Application Success as Self Employed/Contractor

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:01 am
by gd_chandrasekar
Hi

Thanks for your suggestion.

I checked with my accountant, he never did that before so he was asking for a sample letter format.

It will be great if you could you share a letter format for the same?

Thanks
shs213 wrote:
gd_chandrasekar wrote:
I am in same scenario, i take 1000£ as salary and my wife also works in same company so she takes around 500£ which is sufficient for the monthly exp,and at year end (or quarterly) we take dividents.

Do you think this is good or increase the salary for the last 3 months and apply as a salaried rather than self-employed.
londumpster wrote:
to be safe; I would take a dividends leading up the 3 months of your ILR backed up by letters from your accountant should do....

If your self employed salary is not the only form of income so it should be OK.

I wouldn't worry too much....

Good Luck....

Re: ILR Application Success as Self Employed/Contractor

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:59 am
by shs213
[quote="gd_chandrasekar"]Hi

Thanks for your suggestion.

I checked with my accountant, he never did that before so he was asking for a sample letter format.

It will be great if you could you share a letter format for the same?

Thanks

[quote="shs213"][quote="gd_chandrasekar"]

sorry I dont have the letter format, It was couple of years back...

I sugges you include these in the letter;

the letter should be addressed to HO,
State that your the only director,
You are entitled to 100% of the earnings as dividends + salary...
Provide your actual earnings for the last year or so...
signed by the accountant you should be Ok...

Another cheeky method is to call up couple of solicitors and say you are interested to apply ILR through them and explain your situ, they will give you an idea of what should include in your accountant's letter...

hope this helps...

Good Luck!

Re: ILR Application Success as Self Employed/Contractor

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:14 pm
by gd_chandrasekar
Thanks mate..

I have posted a new topic on this, hope some one out there can provide me this format, if not then i will do what you said...
shs213 wrote:
gd_chandrasekar wrote:Hi

Thanks for your suggestion.

I checked with my accountant, he never did that before so he was asking for a sample letter format.

It will be great if you could you share a letter format for the same?

Thanks
shs213 wrote:
gd_chandrasekar wrote:
sorry I dont have the letter format, It was couple of years back...

I sugges you include these in the letter;

the letter should be addressed to HO,
State that your the only director,
You are entitled to 100% of the earnings as dividends + salary...
Provide your actual earnings for the last year or so...
signed by the accountant you should be Ok...

Another cheeky method is to call up couple of solicitors and say you are interested to apply ILR through them and explain your situ, they will give you an idea of what should include in your accountant's letter...

hope this helps...

Good Luck!

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:03 pm
by girishsl
Hi

I am working as an IT contractor in the UK working through my limited company. I am eligible to apply for ILR now.

Which category should I apply? Employed or Self employed? My Accountant says I am employed as I my company pays me the salary and dividend. Self employed are those who work without limited company.

Please let me know urgently.

Regards

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:55 pm
by gd_chandrasekar
If you take a monthly gross salary above 2000£ then i think you can apply as a salaried.

there is no limit or requirement of salary though, the above amt just make sense.

girishsl wrote:Hi

I am working as an IT contractor in the UK working through my limited company. I am eligible to apply for ILR now.

Which category should I apply? Employed or Self employed? My Accountant says I am employed as I my company pays me the salary and dividend. Self employed are those who work without limited company.

Please let me know urgently.

Regards

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:10 pm
by girishsl
Thanks for your reply.

My salary plus dividend is more than £2000 per month. In the SET(O) ILR application form I have to choose a category in section 9 H between Employed and Self Employed.

I am not sure if I am employed if I work through a limited company.

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:05 pm
by gd_chandrasekar
Hi

if you include divident then not sure whether it comes under salaried or self-employed. I have seen some post of self-employed who had their own company.

If you dont show divident at all, then you can apply as salaried. I did that for my HSMP extension, I showed only payslips and bank statement. I increased my salary to the level so that I can get points under finanace.
then i applied as salary category. Got my Tier 1.
girishsl wrote:Thanks for your reply.

My salary plus dividend is more than £2000 per month. In the SET(O) ILR application form I have to choose a category in section 9 H between Employed and Self Employed.

I am not sure if I am employed if I work through a limited company.

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:48 am
by shs213
girishsl wrote:Hi

I am working as an IT contractor in the UK working through my limited company. I am eligible to apply for ILR now.

Which category should I apply? Employed or Self employed? My Accountant says I am employed as I my company pays me the salary and dividend. Self employed are those who work without limited company.

Please let me know urgently.

Regards
Girish - you are self emplyed. The reason is you are not a permanent emplyee of a company. You raise invoices for your consultancy work through y our ltd company - from what I know that is self emplyed...

I used to contract via ltd company when i applied for my HSMP renewal - I applied as self emplyed.... Regardless of your take home...

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 3:46 pm
by girishsl
Thanks for the reply. Yesterday I got ILR from Liverpool office. Actually I applied as Employed as per the advise of my accountant. Thanks a lot guys for your help.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:23 pm
by shs213
girishsl wrote:Thanks for the reply. Yesterday I got ILR from Liverpool office.
Congrats!!

What docs did you submit? Did you book your PEO over the phone?

One last question, you seem to be based in London, why Liverpool PEO? I got my ILR coming up, trying to find the luckiest PEO office :-)

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:34 pm
by 1664
Hey SHS213 when are you applying for your ILR?
You applying under HSMP JR?

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:25 pm
by girishsl
I booked the appointment over phone a month ago. I was told that there are no appointments available at Croydon. Liverpool was the earliest available so booked it. I took following documents,
- HSMP work permit
- all P60s
- Last 6 month pay slips
- 4 years of personal bank statements
- Letter from my Account mentioning my salary and dividend for the duration of my IT contracting

At the PEO I was just asked for 3 month bank account statement and pay slips. I also provided letter from Accountant. It was bit surprising. I fall in the HSMP JR category requiring 4 years for ILR.

Regards

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:46 am
by shs213
1664 wrote:Hey SHS213 when are you applying for your ILR?
You applying under HSMP JR?
i am applyingin June, I fall under 5 years in WP+HSMP+T1... I fall under Pre-06 HSMP JR - but i wouldnt be using that route as I only have done 4 years in HSMP. SO i iwll use WP+HSMP+T1 = 5years...

I have started to look at the available dates, they are releasing week beging 7-june, i am waitin for the week begining 14th June to book...

Congrats Girish...