Settlement Visa Query - Self Employed

[confusedukdesi]

Hello All,

I am a British naturalized citizen and finally I am in a position to file my family's settlement visa. I will be filing for 3 dependents. Wife and two sons, 6 years old. As you can imagine, it's a lot of money for us with the IHS fee etc, and we are super stressed about getting everything right.

Brief Immigration History:

My wife had been with me for a 11 month period in 2010 after our marriage but I switched to ILR in May 2011, and she was only 20 yrs then. For spouse of ILR, minimum age requirement was 21. So she went back to India, and I continued for another year and got my citizenship. Immediately after, I also went to India as we were blessed with twin boys. As the boys were born before I was naturalized, they are not entitled to British passports and will be on dependent visas. We all stayed in India for 5 years and then I got this job opportunity to come back to UK.

I have been working in UK via my own company, and I completed one year in June, so planning to apply under Category F. Its been a difficult time away from family, trying to collect all documents painstakingly.


Queries:

Filling application:

Should I detail my wife's immigration history in additional notes section? The case worker could wonder why we didn't settle in the first instance when she was here in 2010.

Financial Evidence

Is gross income calculated for the company's financial year (June '17- Jun '18 in my case), or is it the self assessment tax year (June '17 - Apr'18). Fortunately, I meet the requirement in both periods but would like to fill the form with the correct figures.

Subsisting Relationship.
we have been married for 8 years and will provide proof in terms of Whatsapp logs, photos. However, my original marriage certificate is laminated. Will this be an issue? Also, I have not made any transfers for family maintenance in the past year. We had some savings\investments in India and we have been living off that. Will this be a problem? We are trying to keep all possible funds in UK as we will need them in our initial settling in period.

Accommodation:
I am currently living with a friend and I will be signing a tenancy agreement to rent a house in November. Even if we apply in October, it is unlikely they will be here before that. Is this OK? A tenancy agreement with a future date? Or do I need to move into the property before I apply?

Application process.
I am still a bit confused about how the documents are sent. My understanding is that my wife can take all her proofs (English A1 test, TB certs, Marriage cert) to the vfs centre and they will scan it, and then she can post it to Sheffield.
All my (Sponsor) documents including (Acco proof, subsisting relationship, financial evidence) can be sent to Sheffield directly from UK.

Is my understanding correct? Or do I have to send everything to her, so she can take it to VFS?
Also, the 28 day rule applies only to bank statements and payslips or is it for all documents (like Current Appointment Report, SA302 etc)


I know its a long post and I thank all experts in advance. The process has been so stressful that we have re-considered it so many times, as our life in India is currently well settled with kids going to school etc. We are doing it mainly for the future of kids as we hope British nationality will help them. Hopefully, we are making the right choice.

Looking forward to your replies.

[Londoner007]

Filling application:
No need to tell them why you didnt apply its none of their business.

Subsisting Relationship:
They will look to see if relationship remained in the 8 years. So send them proof of calls records maybe every 3 months or so.

Some money transfers in the 8 year period, gifts, trips and visits. Just enough to show in 8 years you had a relationship, you dont need to show you spoke everyday!
Send the original laminated with a photocopy too.

Accommodation:
You need to show at application date there was sutiable accomodation, so your future tenancy will cause a refusal.

If you are staying with your friend, you will need landlord permission or registry details etc if your friend owns the house. You will also need a House Insepction report to show adequete space avalibe.

Application process:
Depends on which service you use at the VFS. If you use scanning service then all documents and passport is submitted in the VFS.

If you are just submitting biometrics, make sure only passport is submitted and all other support documents are send to Sheffield directly. Alot of people get TB cert, English test etc posted to UK from spouse then add their payslips etc and post the whole bundle to Sheffield from within UK.

[confusedukdesi]

Thank you for your comments Londoner007.

I was not away from the family for all 8 years, only the last 15 months or so - waiting for my company's financial year to end. I will include pics and WhatsApp logs. Also, i visited them thrice so will share air tickets etc.

I didn't realize we could not submit documents at VFS and just do the bio-metrics. In this case, should we just say to the VFS staff that we will take responsibility of getting documents to Sheffield?

Any comments on the following:
"Financial Evidence

Is gross income calculated for the company's financial year (June '17- Jun '18 in my case), or is it the self assessment tax year (June '17 - Apr'18). Fortunately, I meet the requirement in both periods but would like to fill the form with the correct figures.

Also, the 28 day rule applies only to bank statements and payslips or is it for all documents (like Current Appointment Report, SA302 etc)"

Also, I am not using a solicitor at this point? Is a solicitor absolutely recommended? Would like to hear from others, if they used one or not?

[Londoner007]

If given choice I would highly recommend that you only submit bio-metrics and passport at the VFS and then send all support documents to Sheffield.

There have been cases where the VFS offices themselves dont know the rules and people have been ill-advised on what the submission process is. Then it resulting in not all documents being sent to missing UKVI, which resulted in refusals.

[Londoner007]

Self-employment requires very specific documents and I am sure other members will correctly advise you on what they did to fulfil the requirements.

Solicitor is not always required for straightforward applications. Sometimes solicitors themselves have made the basic of errors. If you feel you need some advise these forums have vast amount of knowledge to get you started, then if you still think you require a solicitor, at least you will have an idea of the process yourself.

[confusedukdesi]

Hi All,

I am getting closer to making our application.

Any comments on the following would be very much appreciated.
"Financial Evidence

Is gross income calculated for the company's financial year (June '17- Jun '18 in my case), or is it the self assessment tax year (June '17 - Apr'18). Fortunately, I meet the requirement in both periods but would like to fill the form with the correct figures.

Also, the 28 day rule applies only to bank statements and payslips or is it for all documents (like Current Appointment Report, SA302 etc)"