Meeting the financial requirements as an IT Contractor using an Umbrella Agency working intermittent contracts

[WonderBread]

Hi guys,

My wife's visa expires in August, at which point we are hoping to apply for Indefinite leave-to-remain as she will have been here 5 years.

I am not working at the moment as we have been living off savings while I tried starting my own business, we do not have enough savings to use this to meet the financial requirements so I will have to do some contract work.

I’m an experienced Software Developer so can earn £400+ per day on a contract basis.

At this rate I could cover the £18600 in 2.5 months if I can count Gross income and 3.5 months if its Net

I do not have a limited company and would be using an Umbrella company to process my payments, I would officially be an ‘employee’ of that Umbrella Company. I would be on a ‘fixed-term’ contract with a software company, this might be 3, 6, or 12 months etc.

In an ideal world I would work just enough time to cover the sponsorship requirements so I can get back to trying to launch my own business.

We also recently launched my wife’s Sports Spammy Spammer business and are starting to generate an income from that, however, we will only have been running for 8 months by the time we apply so have none of the usual financial stuff to show them

MY QUESTION/S :

Do I need to be ‘employed’ at the time of the application or is the fact that I have earned enough in the previous 6 months okay considering I’m doing contract work?

If I need to be employed at the time of application is it okay to have only been employed for the previous 4 months provided I have earned enough?

Do I need to have a fixed-term contract that extends after the date of application?

Does it literally come down to the numbers or do they apply some degree of thinking? i.e. is it worth explaining that I’m a skilled professional with a language that is in massive demand (Python) and I’m choosing to be unemployed to start my own business as well as my wife being able to make money with her Spammy Spammer business etc or is it purely about making £18600?

Any insight greatly appreciated!

Sam : )

[zimba]

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