A hodge-podge of questions ...

[zeke]

Greetings!

Here are my questions:

1. When writing my budget/list of expected costs, is it advisable for me to consider income tax and its impact on my monthly income? (I have found some weblinks that I think will enable me to approximate my income tax liability). what about NI tax? (I will probably be self-employed). How do I figure what I will be paying for NI? What about VAT? For example, when I go to www.workgateways.com/working-cost-of-living.html, or to our friend Ajay Kumar Singh's post at
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ommutation , should I assume that the costs listed there include VAT? Or must the VAT be calculated separately? What about council tax? Is there a standard formula for estimating amount of council tax? Or am I going to a level of detail in worrying about tax that HO will not expect to see in the HSMp application??

2. Ajay -- what do you mean by "commutation"? Does that mean transportation costs?

3. I am getting emails from HO which have different explanations of how they return HSMP documents to applicants. One email says that it is by recorded delivery; the other says that it is by standard mail. Does anyone know how documents are usually returned? Or is recorded mail and standard delivery the same thing (I don't think it is). By the way, one of the several canned emails I have received from HO says that I may arrange to have my documents returned by courier if I wish to do so, but that HO will not sign any paperwork or forms for the courier company. (Doesn't recorded mail give protection to the mailed package by providing a tracking number??)

3. What exactly is meant in the declaration in the HSMp application that I "intend to make the UK my main home"? I cannot get an answer from HO about this, and it seems like it would be an important thing for me to understand. Does it mean that I cannot think of my home country as my "main home"? That I must sell my house in my home country? Does it refer to physically remaining in the UK a certain number of months each year and restricting the amount of time I spend outside of UK? Why, oh, why isn't this important point more clearly explained in the application? Why is it assumed that I understand what this means? I DO intend to follow the rules, but I must know what the rules are in order for me to properly follow them, yes?

4. For purposes of avoiding the April 1 fee increase, is my application packet considered submitted prior to April 1 if it is postmarked before April 1, or must it physically be at Doncaster before April 1?

5. In the HSMP applicaiton where I show anticipated costs and amount I am bringing with me to UK, may I show letters on bank letterhead with bank official's signature which show 3 months bank balances, or MUST I show the statements themselves?

6. paying for HSMP processing -- is it OK for me to pay with my Visa credit card that I got in the USA? Will there be any problems with that?

7. Does anybody know if it is required that, along with the original documents I am including in my applicaiotn, that I must also include photocopies as well? The website of the British Embassy in USA says that if photocopies are not included, the application will be rejected! But (in one of the emails which actually addresses my questions to them), the HO officer said that he knows of no such photocopying requirement. Any thoughts?

[lynn132]

I'll give it a try:
1. I included council tax in my budget, estimated at 85 pounds/month.
2. ??
3. I received my documents and decision letter back in Texas via regular airmail.
4. I believe it has to be received before April 1 to avoid the higher fee.
5. Making the UK your main home means you spend at least 75 % of your time there, therefore you won't spend more than three months out of the UK your first year there. I don't think retaining property, such as a house, in the US makes a difference as long as you are in the UK nine months of the year
6. I paid my fee with my US credit card.
7. I included a full set of photocopies - my feeling was that it couldn't hurt and wasn't terribly expensive, so why not.

I hope this helps. I could PM you with the monthly budget I included if you think it would help you - it's based on living in Scotland and I had a friend there look at it to make sure it was fairly accurate.

[deborahCO]

I'll second Lynn's comments. I, too, included council tax in my estimation of income for the first year. Good luck!

[zeke]

deborahCo and lynn132,

The two of you always seem to know the kind of information I need.

Thank you both for your prompt and helpful replies.

lynn132 -- where did you find the specific information about parameters for time spent in the UK in order for it to be the "main home"?

[lynn132]

That's actually been the source of a great deal of debate, and I can't remember exactly where I read it. Check some of the FLR posts on the board, and in the meantime if I come across it I will post again. Sorry I can't remember at the moment - there's a lot going on!