ILR - Ancestry route

[searcher74]

Hi all,

Here is my situation.

I have a UK Ancestry Visa expiring this year. I want to apply for ILR in June.

I am a permanent PAYE employee.

I also make and sell childrens clothing on Etsy in my spare time. I started doing this in December 2015 and set up a private limited company for this small business. So far I have sold a few items in the last 5 months with about 300 pounds of revenue, but the business hasn't turned a profit yet due to upfront costs (sewing machine, overlocker etc).

Do I need to provide any documentation on this business? I have scoured the Set O form, but for my application route (UK Ancestry), there is no request anywhere for anything specific. It doesn't ask you "are you the Director of a Private Ltd company" or anything similar. It asks for "Evidence of your finances" under 12A and I have 5 years of P60s for PAYE and 12 months pay slips and 12 months bank statements.

It should be made clear that the company has only existed for 5 months so there is no tax liability yet, nor even a requirement to file a first year's accounts.

Any clues?

[geriatrix]

No need.
There is no requirement to declare "all" sources of income (to UKVI).

[searcher74]

Are you sure this is correct?

My understanding is that there is an absolute requirement for Directors of Private Ltd companies to file for self assessment.

Now the company in question was formed in November last year.

My question I guess therefore becomes: is there a requirement to file your.companies annual accounts and a self assessment before the ILR date of June this year, even though there is no need to do this yet as the deadline for self assessment is October?

Thanks.

[geriatrix]

My understanding is that there is an absolute requirement for Directors of Private Ltd companies to file for self assessment.

Don't confuse HMRC with UKVI.

Read 12A and 12Q of the SET(O) form.

[searcher74]

You're absolutely right that the requirements stem from different departments of the state, but I've seen a lot of people on here come a cropper on ILR through not having their tax affairs in order recently which suggests UKVI certainly take information from HMRC and act on it!

[geriatrix]

1. The cases your refer to are the ones where the migrant was in UK as a "economic" migrant at some point in their qualifying period. You are not in UK as an economic migrant (e.g. - HSMP / WP / PBS).
2. Even in the cases your refer to, there is no requirement for declaring all sources of income to UKVI ... but any income declared in the past to UKVI for the purpose of applying for further leave as a economic migrant must have been the same as declared to HMRC and all taxes due on that must have been paid (i.e. no tax evasion).
3. If an economic migrant is employed and self-employed, but is able to score points as required under immigration rules using either the employment or the self-employment (only one of the two), there is no requirement under immigration rules that dictates that the migrant to declare the source of income that was not used to score points to UKVI.
4. You are only aware of the refusals (because of tax discrepancies) because people inflated their incomes to score points but deflated their income to HMRC, resulting in tax underpayment. But are you aware of cases where someone had multiple sources of income but only used one source of income to score points and have had no problems in their settlement application? No! Why? Because there was no requirement to do so .... they had more income than declared to UKVI (which UKVI never needed to know) and paid much higher taxes (that UKVI can see on their systems). UKVI is concerned about people who inflated incomes in the past resulting in tax avoidance / evasion / underpayment .... not about people who have declared more income to HMRC and paid more taxes.
5. How does UKVI figure out whether there is a tax due? Only when they notice a difference in income has been declared to UKVI (inflated) .... which is necessity for for economic migrants in the years of their extensions and settlement .... than what is declared to HMRC in that year (deflated). For the rest of the years, UKVI has no clue ... because the income is only declared to HMRC ... so UKVI has nothing to compare it with? For such years they can only check if there is any outstanding tax that remains to be paid.


You are a migrant who is applying for settlement under the "ancestry" route. Your extensions were not and settlement is not dependent on your income - unlike an economic migrant.


Yes, you are legally bound to declare all income to HMRC but there is no requirement to declare all sources of income to UKVI! If you wish to do, that is your choice .... it is not a compulsion or a requirement.

[searcher74]

I can only thank you for such a detailed and complete response.

Many thanks.

[searcher74]

Hi guys,

I bank with First Direct, I have always used paperless billing.

I have requested 12 months worth of full bank statements from them.

They have sent these in the post to my home address. However, they say "Duplicate Copy" on the statement pages. They are otherwise identical to originals I guess as they are sent via the post.

Will these be "ok" for UKVI?

[geriatrix]

Yes.

[searcher74]

No need to get them stamped?

[geriatrix]

No.

Duplicate on the statement means an exact reproduction of the original issued earlier. In other words, a reprint of the original.

[searcher74]

Hi all

I have my PSC ILR application next month and luckily enough for me, this is the month that my cheapo employer decided to move to electronic payslips.

I've seen conflicting advice on this on the forum.

Should electronic payslips be:

Printed on company headed paper
"Authenticated" by HR (whatever authenticated means, I'm not sure in this context)
Accompanied by a "confirmation letter" (whatever that is)
Or all 3.

?

Many thanks.

[geriatrix]

With online payslips, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Stamped and signed by HR / your line manager should be fine.

[kautya]

With online payslips, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Stamped and signed by HR / your line manager should be fine.

This. I applied recently with payslips printed on plain A4 paper but authenticated/signed by HR. You can provide contact details of your salaries department in case they need to contact/verify.

[searcher74]

Hello again friends,

I have a question regarding allowable absences from the UK for a UK Ancestry Visa.

This is the relevant quote from the guidance document on calculating continuous period in the UK:

In the categories below, absences must be for reasons connected with the applicant’s
purpose for being in the UK or for serious or compelling reasons:

 UK ancestry
 business person
 investor
 innovator
 writer, composer, or artist
 retired person of independent means
 highly skilled migrant programme (not applying under the HSMP Forum judicial review)

This is my question:

I have had some period of unemployment during the last 5 years. During these periods I have had some holiday period absences outside the UK (only a handful of days, so the yearly limits are not in question here).

Would these be considered "connected with the applicant’s purpose for being in the UK" for a UK ancestry visa?

Or are you only allowed to leave the country if you are in paid employment?

Thanks in advance.

[CR001]

You will be fine with your few absences.

[searcher74]

Hello again friends

Will 3 month's worth of payslips and bank statements be sufficient, alongside a recent (within 2 weeks of PSC appointment) reference from my employer stating my annual salary?

Thank you.

[searcher74]

bump

[searcher74]

Sorry to keep bumping - just wondering if 3 months worth of payslips and bank statements (as mentioned in the form itself) will be sufficient?

[CR001]

Should be fine. Most people take more just in case.

[searcher74]

Thanks very much CR001

A further question, this time on PAYE Tax. I have only ever been an employee and have only ever paid PAYE basic rate tax.

I have all 5 past tax year P60s:

2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16

I have spoken on the phone with HMRC to see what figures they have on their system to check against the information I have on my P60s / P45s / P800s

For the 2012/13 tax year I had 3 different employers. The employer who I was with at the end of the tax year obviously gave me my P60. Under the section on the P60 for Pay / Tax from "Previous Employment" it only reflects my 2nd employer for the tax year.

However, the official figures that HMRC have on their system do correctly reflect all 3 periods of employment, including the first employment. The issue was that the 2nd employer did not receive a P45 from me, so when I received a P45 from the 2nd employer to move to the third, that P45 only reflected pay to-date from the 2nd employer themselves, not the 1st employer as well.

The P800 I received from HMRC after the 2012/13 does show correctly income from all 3 employments and the tax I paid (I was in fact due a refund that tax year).

I guess my question is - if my P60 for that tax year is not 100% correct, showing that I paid less tax than HMRC is saying I paid, is that even an issue?

I would think it is more of an issue when your documentation shows you as claiming to have paid more tax than HMRC has records of you paying?

[CR001]

It should not be an issue.

[searcher74]

It should not be an issue.

And I guess even if it is raised, I have the P800 original document for the tax year to show the caseworker, which does reflect the correct amount of income and tax and will be inline with what they are viewing from HMRC on their own systems.