Spousal Visa when Sponsor is a contractor

Hello,

I (British) am planning to sponsor my wife (Minnesota) to the UK - We got married in the US last year.

Question about the income requirement with regards to contractors. As a contractor, if I do not work then I don't get paid however every year I make more than the minimum income requirement. I work under an umbrella company who handles my payroll so i'm effectively employed by them. Is it sufficient to show my last 6 months of pay + a letter from my employer that i'm employed through them but not disclose any information of my yearly salary?

Thank you in advance!
Zipster

Welcome to the forum .

Do you pay taxes through PAYE, or do you file your own taxes each year? Just trying to work out if you will be classed as employed or self-employed for the visa.

You must explicitly state your annual salary on the application form, and this figure will be matched to the annual salary stated in your employer letter, payslips and bank statements... so there's no way around it.

If you are classed as employed, then your employer letter must state ALL of the following:
- job title and current annual salary (must be more than £18,600)
- length of employment
- length of time earning current salary (must be more than 6 months for Category A)
- type of employment

If you are classed as self-employed, then you can only use the income earned (after expenses but before tax) in the last full financial year ... for example, April 6th 2017 to April 5th 2018 (anything earned since April 2018 cannot be considered, as the current tax year is still ongoing) There are a number of different documents that are required, including HMRC registration, annual tax returns, payslips, bank statements etc.

Hello,

Thank you for getting back to me.

Yes I pay via PAYE however the way my umbrella company pays me is a minimum salary (£10k?) then anything over will be classed as a bonus. So every year I have a sizeable bonus

Sounds like I should not go down the salary route. Another option I have is the amount of savings I have in the bank. I do have over £63k in the bank and had been in there for more than a month - earned through my employment as a contractor. What sort of evidence must I provide apart from my bank statements? P60s? If P60s - can they be a print out as my company sends them electronically? Or perhaps I should reach out to HMRC for my tax history?

Hello,

Thank you for getting back to me.

Yes I pay via PAYE however the way my umbrella company pays me is a minimum salary (£10k?) then anything over will be classed as a bonus. So every year I have a sizeable bonus

Sounds like I should not go down the salary route. Another option I have is the amount of savings I have in the bank. I do have over £63k in the bank and had been in there for more than a month - earned through my employment as a contractor. What sort of evidence must I provide apart from my bank statements? P60s? If P60s - can they be a print out as my company sends them electronically? Or perhaps I should reach out to HMRC for my tax history?

Savings is the easiest category to use by far but you won't qualify until you've had at least £62,500 in the bank for at least 6 months.
You need to provide 6 months bank statements and a declaration as to the source of funds, this is one of the questions on the application.

It would help you if you read the following. 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636618/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_Final.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence

Hello,

Sorry I've had a typo in my previous post - I have had the £62,500 in my savings account for more than 6 months (over a year actually) because my wife and I were to'ing and fro'ing on whether we move to USA or UK. So that sounds great I can go down this avenue however how do I prove the source of this amount? This is cash earned through employment and I was wondering whether showing my last 3 P60s would suffice? or perhaps employment history through HMRC?

Thanks
Jon

Hello,

Sorry I've had a typo in my previous post - I have had the £62,500 in my savings account for more than 6 months (over a year actually) because my wife and I were to'ing and fro'ing on whether we move to USA or UK. So that sounds great I can go down this avenue however how do I prove the source of this amount? This is cash earned through employment and I was wondering whether showing my last 3 P60s would suffice? or perhaps employment history through HMRC?

Thanks
Jon

If the savings are from employment income, you simply state this as the source on the application form and provide 6 full months of bank statements (the balance of the account cannot have fallen below £62,500 for even 1 day during the 6 months).

the balance of the account cannot have fallen below £62,500 for even 1 day during the 6 months.

I have two accounts (current and savings)... so my current account is the one that fluctuates and the savings is the one that slowly grows. Intention is to send only my savings account as that has never gone down. That should be sufficient??

Thank you so much for the feedback

I have two accounts (current and savings)... so my current account is the one that fluctuates and the savings is the one that slowly grows. Intention is to send only my savings account as that has never gone down. That should be sufficient??

Thank you so much for the feedback

As long as the balance in the savings account was at least £62,500 every day for the entire 6 months, then yes, you only need to send the statements from that account, and the current account statements won't be relevant.

If you needed to combine the balances of the two accounts to meet the £62,500 requirement, then you would have to send statements from both accounts.

Ahh a fellow Minnesotian coming to the UK! My wife is from that part of the world

Good luck with the process