Ten Year Employment History

[Rizcon]

I'm putting this question on behalf of my family friends as they are in need of some of experienced members and moderators opinion regarding their AN application which is in process.
They consulted a famous Immigration solicitor in London before sending AN forms to HO. Both husband and wife are in full time employment ATM and started a business back in 2010 and forced to close the business within 6 months due to heavy losses.The solicitor filled the AN forms for both of them and didn't put any self employment information in 10 years employment history.According to him,HO is after the employment history, not the self employment period.
Most of the time during last 10 years, they were in full time jobs and are paying their tax through their employer(PAYE).
Both of them are confused due to this issue as they didn't mention any self employment period in 10 years work history.Will it be a problem, if HO find out about it and they put the deception charges on them?

[noajthan]

I'm putting this question on behalf of my family friends as they are in need of some of experienced members and moderators opinion regarding their AN application which is in process.
They consulted a famous Immigration solicitor in London before sending AN forms to HO. Both husband and wife are in full time employment ATM and started a business back in 2010 and forced to close the business within 6 months due to heavy losses.The solicitor filled the AN forms for both of them and didn't put any self employment information in 10 years employment history.According to him,HO is after the employment history, not the self employment period.
Most of the time during last 10 years, they were in full time jobs and are paying their tax through their employer(PAYE).
Both of them are confused due to this issue as they didn't mention any self employment period in 10 years work history.Will it be a problem, if HO find out about it and they put the deception charges on them?

It's all about 'good character'.

Applicant is responsible for vouching for the completeness & veracity of the application they submit;
they do this by signing the Declaration regardless of whichever 'famous' lawyer they may hire to fill out the papers.

Self-employment is another form of economic activity just as much as regular employment.

It will be a problem if HO decides there is deception going on here, (possibly coupled with other signs of 'poor character' such as tax irregularities).

Alternately, it may be overlooked as an 'honest mistake';
there are no hard & fast rules on good character & that option is also at caseworker's discretion.

[Rizcon]

Thank you for your reply.
There were no intentions to hide this information and tax matters were fine. Only reason not to show this piece of information was the wording in the form AN where it just only ask for the history if some one is employed and getting paid through employer(PAYE)
According to the understanding of the solicitor, if HO is after self employment history,they should have clearly asked for it in the application form as they do for the citizen of EU countries in the same form.
If HO put the charges of deception, then will it be a ban for 10 years or some thing else?

[noajthan]

Thank you for your reply.
There were no intentions to hide this information and tax matters were fine. Only reason not to show this piece of information was the wording in the form AN where it just only ask for the history if some one is employed and getting paid through employer(PAYE)
According to the understanding of the solicitor, if HO is after self employment history,they should have clearly asked for it in the application form as they do for the citizen of EU countries in the same form.
If HO put the charges of deception, then will it be a ban for 10 years or some thing else?

The form for naturalisation has nothing to do with EU forms.
You would be ill-advised to use such an EU specialist when applying for naturalisation, espeially if they are so unaware of such nuances.

Even a private person applying by themselves (or via NCS) would be well advised to read the accompanying guidance notes.
In the 'documents required to be submitted' summary you will see references to tax documents in the context of self-employment.
So clearly self-employment is a factor in employment history..

One would expect (& in fact demand) that any lawyer worth his salt would be up to speed & fully aware of such requirements.
The applicant (not the lawyer) still signs (& is responsible for) the legal Declaration.

As to the general question of possible consequences to immigration-related deception, yes, a 10-year bans is a possible sanction exercised by HO..

That does not mean in your case you face a 10-year ban for 'honestly overlooking' one snippet of information.
The caseworker may write & ask for clarification, especially if they see discrepancies between the application form & other records & datasources they will crosscheck.
But you will be in the hands of the caseworker to weigh your application & act accordingly.