Hope you all are doing well!
I'm a IT professional and I've recently moved to UK on a Tier 1 (General) Visa. I need some suggestions and I'll be thankful if you can share your experiences and guide me.
As you all know, for extending a Tier 1, we have to obtain points for the salary earned during the last 12 months (from application date). My visa is valid for another 12 months and I would need to earn at least 40,000 GBP during next 12 months. The market seems to be slow and I might have to wait for a couple of months to get my 1st role in UK. Assuming that I get my 1st job in January with a salary of around 45k, I'll be able to declare a salary of only 9 months (as I would have to apply for visa extension in October) which would be less than the requirements for visa extension.
One solution that came into my mind is to start my own company and try to get some projects for web design and development. I'm not familiar with the regulations and I'll appreciate if you can help with your comments on the following :-
1. Can I start my own company and get some small projects along with a full-time job? Are there any hassles or liabilities attached with opening a company?
2. Or should I get some projects for now under my company name and then shut down the company when I get a new role (if I cannot run a company along with another job)?
3. If I get clients who are willing to pay by cash, can I simple collect the amount and deposited into my company bank account? Will it be a sufficient proof of my company's earnings or do we need proper documentation about how we received the payments and from whom?
looking forward to your reply!
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Cheers
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Sunny