Tier 1 (General) Extension - Limited Company

[LHuang]

My Situation:
Director of a limited company, owns 70% share, minimum salary, have drawn dividend quaterly from the company's profit. Current leave expires in mid November.

Questions:
1. Would I be categorised as self-employed?
2. Solicitor said Liverpool PEO doesn't accept applications from self-employed; Another post in this forum said Glassgow PEO also doesn't accept such applications. Will I be better off posting the application?
3. Some say the new visa will give 2/3 years starting from the date of expiry of the previous visa if you apply within 3 months in advance, even for PEO applications. Is that true?
4. A friend in the exact same situation was asked to produce evidence of Class 2 NI paid - I believe we shouldn't have to pay unless we're registered with HMRC as self-employed or sole trader which we are not. The definition of “self-employed” seems to be different for UKBA and HMRC. How should I deal with this situation.
5. Have people in similar situations applied by themselves and succeeded or used solicitors instead?
Thanks,
Lin

[LHuang]

Forgot this one:
If my income is significantly higher than the first application, should I reduce the no. of months for which the claim is made, say to 6 months, so that I don't get unecessary extra points which I may have to match when I apply for PR.
Or if it doesn't affect the next application, should I claim for the full 12 months to make my application stronger?

[LHuang]

Can anyone provide an anwer?
Would really appreciate.

[tier1_aspirant123]

My Situation:
Director of a limited company, owns 70% share, minimum salary, have drawn dividend quaterly from the company's profit. Current leave expires in mid November.

Questions:
1. Would I be categorised as self-employed?
as per UKBA you are self employed
2. Solicitor said Liverpool PEO doesn't accept applications from self-employed; Another post in this forum said Glassgow PEO also doesn't accept such applications. Will I be better off posting the application?
i am not sure let other members reply
3. Some say the new visa will give 2/3 years starting from the date of expiry of the previous visa if you apply within 3 months in advance, even for PEO applications. Is that true?
as per current rule if your first visa is 2 years u will get 3 years extension and if it is 3 years u will get 2 years extension
4. A friend in the exact same situation was asked to produce evidence of Class 2 NI paid - I believe we shouldn't have to pay unless we're registered with HMRC as self-employed or sole trader which we are not. The definition of “self-employed” seems to be different for UKBA and HMRC. How should I deal with this situation.
AFAIK sole trade has to pay class 2 NI and i think in ur case u have to pay class 1 NI as u draw salary
5. Have people in similar situations applied by themselves and succeeded or used solicitors instead?
search this forum u will find several people who gone ahead without solicitor
Thanks,
Lin

[tier1_aspirant123]

Forgot this one:
If my income is significantly higher than the first application, should I reduce the no. of months for which the claim is made, say to 6 months, so that I don't get unecessary extra points which I may have to match when I apply for PR.
Or if it doesn't affect the next application, should I claim for the full 12 months to make my application stronger?

no u dont have to show same level of income or more during your ilr or extension. u just need to score minimun number of points

[LHuang]

My Situation:
Director of a limited company, owns 70% share, minimum salary, have drawn dividend quaterly from the company's profit. Current leave expires in mid November.

Questions:
1. Would I be categorised as self-employed?
as per UKBA you are self employed
2. Solicitor said Liverpool PEO doesn't accept applications from self-employed; Another post in this forum said Glassgow PEO also doesn't accept such applications. Will I be better off posting the application?
i am not sure let other members reply
3. Some say the new visa will give 2/3 years starting from the date of expiry of the previous visa if you apply within 3 months in advance, even for PEO applications. Is that true?
as per current rule if your first visa is 2 years u will get 3 years extension and if it is 3 years u will get 2 years extension
4. A friend in the exact same situation was asked to produce evidence of Class 2 NI paid - I believe we shouldn't have to pay unless we're registered with HMRC as self-employed or sole trader which we are not. The definition of “self-employed” seems to be different for UKBA and HMRC. How should I deal with this situation.
AFAIK sole trade has to pay class 2 NI and i think in ur case u have to pay class 1 NI as u draw salary
5. Have people in similar situations applied by themselves and succeeded or used solicitors instead?
search this forum u will find several people who gone ahead without solicitor
Thanks,
Lin

Thanks for your reply. Really appreciate it.
Just a couple of questions:
With regard to 3, I was actually asking whether you get the 3 years starting from approval date or expiry date of the previous visa. To get the latter, some say you have to apply within 3 months, some say 1 months, others say it depends on whether you apply in person or by post. I'd like to get a definitive answer.

With regard to 4, I agree with you. But my payslips doesn't show the class 1 NI payments because as a director you pay at the end of the year after taking into account of all salaries in the year - this is what my accountant told me. So my friend is stuck cus he can't provide evidence for either Class 1 or Class 2 NI payments apart from an explanation from the accountant. Apparently this is not good enough for the case worker.

[tier1_aspirant123]

oh sorry... i am not aware of any specific rule about applying 3 months in advance, i think it is up to the case worker's discretion if to give you visa from date of current visa expiry or from the date of approval(given that approval date is before current visa's expiry date )

about class 1 NI yes i think generally accountants ask to pay it in month of feb and march but better wait for someone on this forum who had similar experience

[gaurav76.5]

yoiu would to pay class 1 NI..although that doesn't effect extension..You can afterwards you get your extension if you want...

For ILR home office does check whether you have paid your taxes or not so before ILR make sure you have paid all your taxes..

There is no criteria og granting visa leave if you apply before 1 month or 3 month..in most of the cases if you apply early you will get the starting date of visa early which would mean you will fall short of qualifying residential period of 5 years for ILR...

what's your immigration history as in on which visa you have entered and for how long you have been in UK ???

[LHuang]

yoiu would to pay class 1 NI..although that doesn't effect extension..You can afterwards you get your extension if you want...

For ILR home office does check whether you have paid your taxes or not so before ILR make sure you have paid all your taxes..

There is no criteria og granting visa leave if you apply before 1 month or 3 month..in most of the cases if you apply early you will get the starting date of visa early which would mean you will fall short of qualifying residential period of 5 years for ILR...

what's your immigration history as in on which visa you have entered and for how long you have been in UK ???

Thanks for your reply.
Both me and friend have paid Ni for sure. It's just that we haven't paid anything since April this year because we dont start to pay until our accumulative salary reaches a certain level. It's standard, according to my accountant. But home office doesn't seem to understand that and is threatening to cancel the application.

I see so I should apply within a month of my visa expiry?

I've been in the Uk for the last 7 years, have been on student, psw visa and most recently tier 1 visa for the last 1 year and 7 months.

[LHuang]

about class 1 NI yes i think generally accountants ask to pay it in month of feb and march but better wait for someone on this forum who had similar experience

You are spot on. I paid last tax year in March and so did my friend.

[gaurav76.5]

thats OK then...you wld be safe just apply before your visa expire so that you dont fall short of residential period of 5 years

[tier1_aspirant123]

yeah generally if you use 12 months earning period and you have been contracting through your own company then at least once you should have made class 1 NI payment you can point that out in your cover letter and if it belongs to last financial year then specify that for current financial year you will be paying it in coming feb and march... ideally it should not be a problem its like company or personal tax return it is not necessary that during application you would have filed the returns for claimed earning period you could do that in future i.e. sometime after the application is made

[LHuang]

yeah generally if you use 12 months earning period and you have been contracting through your own company then at least once you should have made class 1 NI payment you can point that out in your cover letter and if it belongs to last financial year then specify that for current financial year you will be paying it in coming feb and march... ideally it should not be a problem its like company or personal tax return it is not necessary that during application you would have filed the returns for claimed earning period you could do that in future i.e. sometime after the application is made

I'll do that. I'll get my P60 for the last year and provide a letter from my accountant to explain this as well.