Spouse Visa - Sponsor Proof of Income

[JacketandCoat]

Hi there,

I'm just about to send my application off to the BHC in Canberra, but want to make sure of a couple of things before I do...

My husband is a freelancer, so I've listed him as self-employed as this was the best description of his employment status, although it's not as simple as that - he does his own tax, but doesn't run as a business exactly - he works on contract for various companies.

To prove his income, would it be sufficient to include copies of all the invoices he's issued in the past year, with bank statements showing the money has been paid into his account?

We have roughly 30,000 GBP in our UK savings account so will they even care too much about current employment?

And finally, does anyone have any idea of current processing times for Australia?

Thanks for your help!
Jess

[Casa]

Has he submitted a self-assessment tax return to HMRC? If so, he should submit a copy of the status of account.
Normally applications submitted in Australia take an average of 12 weeks to process.

[JacketandCoat]

He has, but only the self-assessments themselves. Will these be sufficient?

Also, can we send his original passport instead of a notorised copy?

[Casa]

Personally, I wouldn't recommend sending the original passport. He could be without it for a considerable time.
When he submitted the self-assessment tax return, did he do this on-line or by paper submission? Following this he should have received a statement from HMRC. Does he have an accountant?
The savings will strengthen the application, but the ECO will want to see evidence of the source of the savings.