Student dependent spouse.........

[heretic]

A friend of mine is a student dependent spouse and want to know if he is allowed to work as a self-employed person.

I am aware that student dependent spouses do not have any work restrictions if the student has a visa of 12 months or more but are they allowed to work as self-employed as well and what happens if there is less than 12 months left on the visa.

[John]

The length of time left on the visa is not important, and yes, a spouse dependant is allowed to be self-employed, but of course needs to comply with UK tax legislation. That includes telling HMRC of the existence of the business within the first 3 months of its existence.

Also appreciate that from the tax point of view being self-employed might not be the best option. It might be better to operate the business through a limited company, a company of which the person would be the sole shareholder and the sole director.

But no doubt professional advice is being sought about the starting of the business.

[heretic]

cheers John.............

[paribus]

Please do not make that mistake. A student dependent while being allowed to work full time without any restrictions is not allowed to be self employed in any way. I don't have an official home office link yet but I'll post it here shortly as soon as I do.

Don't make the mistake pls.

[John]

paribus, I shall be very interested to read the link you will provide substantiating that comment.

Clearly the student visa holder is not allowed to be self-employed, and indeed is limited in hours during term-time, but their dependent?

Edit : Just been looking further into this matter. Rule 6 of the Immigration Rules is just a load of definitions, the most useful one probably being of Public Funds. However Rule 6 also includes the following definition :-

"employment" unless the contrary intention appears, includes paid and unpaid employment, paid and unpaid work placements undertaken as part of a course or period of study, self employment and engaging in business or any professional activity.

So given that being self-employed is "engaging in business", and Rule 77, which deals with student dependant visas, includes :-

Employment may be permitted where the period of leave granted to the student or prospective student is, or was, 12 months or more.

-: it therefore follows that because of the definition of "employment" in Rule 6, the person is allowed to be self-employed.

[paribus]

John I might have jumped the gun on this one.

This is coming as a revelation to me being a foreign student here with a dependant. I had always thought that a dependant could not take up self employment because they have a section on the VAF-1 form where they ask if you intend to set up a business while in the UK. I believe your visa would be refused outrightly if you (as a student dependant) indicate yes to this question.

Your post made me do some emergency research now and I found from the link below:

http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/student/info_s ... family.php

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Work
If you, the student, have been granted leave to be in the UK for 12 months or more, your family members should automatically be given permission to work. It is, therefore, important that any family member who is making an immigration application separately from you has evidence of how long you are allowed to be in the UK as a student, usually in the form of the relevant pages of your passport.

Before starting work in the UK, your family member should check what conditions are attached to the immigration permission on his or her entry clearance or residence permit. If s/he is allowed to work, the only condition will be No recourse to public funds. This means that your family member can take up full-time or part-time employment, be self-employed or set up a business. If the words 'No work' or 'Work prohibited' appear on the entry clearance or residence permit, your family member is not allowed to undertake any work, paid or unpaid.

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I couldn't believe my eyes that I've been in the UK for close to 10 months now with my family thinking that my wife is not allowed to set up a business or be self-employed. I'm hitting myself again now as there are so many things she could have done by way of business during this time period.

My apologies for any confusion out of ignorance. However I'll still want to be double sure that this is actually allowed by the home office rather than just a loophole that could be exploited.

Thanks John

[John]

paribus, no problem, that is the purpose of this Board, to pass useful information around. Please see my edited post above.