ILR Approved(Employed + Self Employed)

[sharmao]

By God’s Grace, best wishes of friends and family and all the help from all wonderful people on this forum I got my ILR approved on 07th march PEO Croydon.
I wanted to post this sooner but some travel and some other engagements kept me away but thought of posting it today at the first instance.

Application Detail:
Category: Tier 1
Dependents: 0
Total fees paid: 1900
PEO: Croydon
Employment status: Director of a limited company (Since October 2015) prior to that Full time employment since 2011.
Out of UK absences: less than 180 in total
Earning Required Band: (£ 35000 – £ 39999) = 20 Points, Points Claimed for earnings: 25 Points
Tax affairs: All taxes paid PAYE, got the Tax history from HMRC well in advance prior to the appointment. First VAT return submitted on time as well before the visa appointment for self employment..
Initial application made in Dec 2010, entered UK in March 2011. After that 2 extensions done (One in October 2012 another in November 2014)
Employment + Self employment (since last six months)
Period claimed: 1 Feb 2015 to 31 Jan 2016 with nothing claimed for November 2015(as I was between jobs and no earnings for the month)

Core Documents Submitted:
1. Covering letter ( detailing all the documents submitted, points claimed for each of the section with relevant evidence description and any additional information required for the application purposes)
2. Accountant letter detailing gross and net dividend detail (On accountant letter head and signed by FCA-ICAEW CA)
3. 09 month salary slips (Stamped and Signed by Payroll team)
4. 2 month dividend vouchers (Stamped and Signed by Accountant)
5. Personal bank account statements
6. Business bank account statements
7. LIUK certificate
8. Passport
9. BRP
10. Original Degree, PBS Printout awarding 10 points (selected Tier 2 General in PBS calculator)
11. Appointment checklist
12. Payment Receipt
13. Detailed Spreadsheet explaining UK absence
14. Absence letter from previous employer(s)
15. 2 Photographs

*Also took photocopies of the above documents wherever required.

Overall Experience:
Reached at 8:00 at lunar house, was let in and straight to the arrivals section. My appointment was at 08:20 and there were only a few people ahead of me. After registering the case I was immediately called for document submission. No questionnaire was given to me or to anyone else along with me so might be that the questionnaire thing is not yet applicable for Croydon.

Document submission was very fast and smooth and I was asked only two questions:
1. Was I known by any other name in the past? (Answer was No)
2. Do I have any convictions against me? (Answer was No)

After that straight away called for biometrics and was told to wait in the cafeteria. So everything was done by 08:45. While sitting in the cafeteria I was able to see the application being progressed from one stage to another and at 10:15 I was called to come and collect the documents. That is when I was handed out the Approval letter and the original documents. No questions were asked and having an early appointment meant I was able to come out of lunar house by 10:30.

A few Pointers (I have tried capturing some key things/concerns/dilemma that I faced and people might face while completing their application):

1. In the process of applying for the ILR I had lots of queries which might be applicable for a lot of applicants going forward, so thought of collating them all out in this post. Many thanks to all those who provided their guidance in getting these queries resolved:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/indefi ... l#p1305486

http://www.immigrationboards.com/indefi ... l#p1316251

2. I left the payment details section blank and it was ok as confirmed by the case worker at the time of document submission
3. I did not have any home office reference number so left the section blank.
4. I claimed for previous earnings from Feb 2015 until Jan 2016 with first 9 months coming from salary from permanent role, nothing claimed for Nov 2015 and the remaining 2 months were claimed based on dividend payments.
5. I took a lot of additional documents with me like VAT certificate, P800 notices, and Employment history from HMRC, P60 etc. but was not required to submit anything apart from the core documents.
6. I had a UK absence in 2011 for 21 days where in I had left my job while and went to India before coming back and joining the new role. I did not submit any proof for this nor mentioned it anywhere and it was all ok.
7. In terms of bank statement, the following were the last transactions on each of the bank statements:
a. Personal Bank Statement: 29th January 2016
b. Business Bank Statement: 31st January 2016
And the PEO appointment was on 07th March 2016 and I had no issues with this whatsoever.


All in all I think what you need is good preparation, perseverance and clarity on the application process. This forum is too valuable and provides real good guidance by the fellow members and if you are careful, have paid all your taxes and been a good law abiding citizen then you don’t need to worry at all. I also had the urge to go through a solicitor initially but then going through the available documentation and also the help and guidance on the forum negated that thought.

All the best to future applicants and will be more than happy to provide any support or guidance.

[sharmao]

Also to add, that I got the BRP within 2 days with a validity until 31/12/2024.

[Samsaro]

Brilliant, happy for you.

Cheers,
Sam.