Independent Contractor Financial requirements question

Hello Hello,

Im new here so please go easy on me!

We are gearing up to apply for the non-spousal partner visa since my girlfriend (American) and I (British) have now been living together in London for the last two years. It was all going well until we realised that we would not be able to combine our incomes. I am only working part time at the moment due to school so I only make around 12k a year and my girlfriend is also working part time due to her restrictions on her student visa. She is employed by an British NGO, has a contract with the NGO's US office (under their tax code) but gets paid in GBP here as a independent contractor.

She started volunteering for this NGO in May 2019 and signed her contract in September of 2019. I have read in the guidelines that if you are applying as a business owner/freelancer you need to provide one UK financial years worth of records (April-April) which she does not have since she only officially started getting paid in sep 2019. The NGO is willing to give her a full time contract with their UK office whenever she is able to work full time and is also offering to pay the costs of the visa if that makes any difference.

Does anyone know this area well and know of any solution/workaround to this?

In terms of savings we have worked out we would need around 34k to be able to make up the final 6k in income which we dont have right now so working her income out is out top priority.

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the forum .

Unfortunately, as your girlfriend has not been self-employed in the UK for a full financial year yet, you cannot currently qualify for an Unmarried Partner visa based on just your incomes, as only your income can count.

Assuming you don't have any other non-employment income at all, it doesn't look like you currently have any way to meet the financial requirement for the visa.

Honestly, I think your only option right now will be for you to wait until the end of the financial year in April 2021, when she has filed her taxes, and then you can combine your incomes and apply for the Unmarried Partner visa then.

Thank you for your reply! I have also come around to the idea that there might not be a logical way to get around this.
Her current student visa runs out in January so I assume she would have to go back to the US and then wait until April and then file her tax to then file from out of the UK to come back again? Do you know if there is much of a difference in timelines between filing from within vs out of the US?

A little more nefarious question I have is about the fact that apparently as long as one applies for this visa before the end of the current visa she is on, she can stay in the UK and keep working 20 hours (the student visa limit) until a decision is reached on her Non-spousal partner visa. Is that correct?
What would happen we submitted an application the day before her current student visa ended in which we combine the incomes (erroneously)? Im assuming there would be a phase of processing during which she would be able to stay; potentially until April rolls around at which point we could update the application with the up to date tax returns? Or is that not how the process works? Excuse my ignorance in advance on this stage of the process since we have been mainly focusing on getting our documents together at the moment.

I don't think self employment is permitted on a student visa.

Thank you for your reply! I have also come around to the idea that there might not be a logical way to get around this.
Her current student visa runs out in January so I assume she would have to go back to the US and then wait until April and then file her tax to then file from out of the UK to come back again? Do you know if there is much of a difference in timelines between filing from within vs out of the US?

Unfortunately, that's not an option if she wants to use her income... because in order for her income to count, she must have a valid UK visa that allows work. (Edited to add: however, larrabee has just pointed out that she is not allowed to be self-employed on a student visa, so her income cannot be used anyway)

But as soon as she has left the UK and her visa has expired, she will no longer have a valid UK visa that allows work, so her income can no longer be used to meet the financial requirements.

A little more nefarious question I have is about the fact that apparently as long as one applies for this visa before the end of the current visa she is on, she can stay in the UK and keep working 20 hours (the student visa limit) until a decision is reached on her Non-spousal partner visa. Is that correct?

That's correct (in fact, she can work full-time if she has finished her studies), however, she won't qualify to apply for the visa before December, as you do not meet the financial requirement, so it would be an automatic visa refusal.

What would happen we submitted an application the day before her current student visa ended in which we combine the incomes (erroneously)? Im assuming there would be a phase of processing during which she would be able to stay; potentially until April rolls around at which point we could update the application with the up to date tax returns? Or is that not how the process works? Excuse my ignorance in advance on this stage of the process since we have been mainly focusing on getting our documents together at the moment.

I would definitely not risk that. The visa will be automatically refused and she will only be given 14 days to either reapply or leave the UK. Processing times for FLR(M) visas are about 8 weeks, so chances are the visa would be refused around February or March maybe March and she would only have 14 days to meet the requirements or leave the UK.

However, even once April has rolled around, she will still have to file her tax returns and get all the paperwork in order, so it could potentially take another couple of months after April before you will be ready to apply.

Also, once she has a visa refusal on her record, that makes any future application she makes non-straightforward, which can extend processing times and she should apply for a visitor visa before attempting to visit the UK in future.

Edited to add: And given that she cannot be self-employed on a student visa, if you did attempt to apply for it, she could be banned from the UK for up to 10 years for working illegally on her student visa.

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Basically your options are:

1) She finds a UK employer who is willing to sponsor her for a Tier 2 work visa, and she applies for it before her visa expires in December (meaning she can stay in the UK while it is processing).

2) She returns to the US in December and lives there until you have finished your studies and you have a job that pays £18,600 which meets all the requirements (i.e. you may have to work there for 6 months first if you have not earned £18,600 in the previous 12 months)... then once you can meet the financial requirement using only your income, she can apply for the visa to come back to the UK

.What you can and cannot do
You can:

study
work as a student union sabbatical officer
You may be able to work - how much depends on what you’re studying and whether you’re working in or out of term-time.

You cannot:

claim public funds (benefits) and pensions
work in certain jobs, for example as a professional sportsperson or sports coach
be self-employed
study at an academy or a local authority-funded school (also known as a maintained school)
If your application is successful, you’ll be told what you can and cannot do on a Student visa.

https://www.gov.uk/student-visa

I don't think self employment is permitted on a student visa.

Ah, yes, very good point.

In my first reply, I missed that she was on a student visa.

Thank you everyone for your replies! I think you are certainly right that including anything to do with her theoretically being self employed will not work for the application.
Since this does not seem to be an option I have a few questions about the savings route. Do you guys know if an inheritance can be used to show funds owed/possessed? Say if an inheritance had been being processed for the last 6 months (but there are documents from 6 months ago showing what I am owed) would that count towards savings?  Also what is the rule on joint accounts? Would it be okay to have the savings in an account with my parents names on it in addition to my name?

Thank you everyone for your replies! I think you are certainly right that including anything to do with her theoretically being self employed will not work for the application.
Since this does not seem to be an option I have a few questions about the savings route. Do you guys know if an inheritance can be used to show funds owed/possessed? Say if an inheritance had been being processed for the last 6 months (but there are documents from 6 months ago showing what I am owed) would that count towards savings?  Also what is the rule on joint accounts? Would it be okay to have the savings in an account with my parents names on it in addition to my name?

Please don't ignore the fact that if she is self employed, she is violating the terms of her student visa. You really don't want to go in to your partner visa journey with her having a poor history.

The inheritance would have to have been in your name and under your control for a full 6 months before you could use it.
Financial accounts for savings can only be in the name of the sponsor, the applicant or both jointly.

If your family wanted to, they could gift you the money but it would then still have to be held for the full 6 months. And it must be a genuine gift with no intention of repayment.

Since this does not seem to be an option I have a few questions about the savings route. Do you guys know if an inheritance can be used to show funds owed/possessed? Say if an inheritance had been being processed for the last 6 months (but there are documents from 6 months ago showing what I am owed) would that count towards savings?  Also what is the rule on joint accounts? Would it be okay to have the savings in an account with my parents names on it in addition to my name?

An inheritance can be used, however the money must have been in your own bank account for at least 6 FULL months before you apply for the visa... if the balance in your bank account has fallen below £62,500 for even 1 day in the 6 months, it will not meet the requirements.

The money must be held in an account in either:
- your name only
- your girlfriend's name only
- you and your girlfriend's names jointly

I believe that if the account is in joint names with anyone else other than your partner, then the total amount in the account will be considered 'split evenly' between all the account holders, and only your portion can be considered for the visa... so, for example, if the inheritance is in an account in your name and your parents' names jointly (3 names on the account), then only 1/3 of the money will be considered 'yours' and can be used for the visa requirements (i.e. if there is £100,000 in the account, only your share, £33,333, of it can be used towards the visa requirements)

Also, bear in mind that if your girlfriend does end up leaving the UK in December, unless she can apply for the visa immediately, you will likely no longer qualify as Unmarried Partners, because you will not be living together anymore and won't be able to meet the '24 consecutive months of living together before applying' requirement.

So, if she did have to stay in the US for a few months before she could qualify to apply for the visa, you would likely need to actually get married first before she could qualify for a visa as a spouse.

Please don't ignore the fact that if she is self employed, she is violating the terms of her student visa. You really don't want to go in to your partner visa journey with her having a poor history.

The University of Warwick has a list of some of the things that are self employed and therefore a breach of the Tier 4 visa.

https://warwick.ac.uk/study/international/immigration/tier4/working/self_employment_examples.pdf

Okay, I have a bit of an update!!
So my gf talked to her employer and they (after some negotiation) are okay to retroactively put her on a zero hour contract since the beginning of her officially working for the organisation. She then talked to HMRC and one can apparently retroactively pay taxes and NI and then retroactively create payslips for the last 6 months. I am a little worried that some part of this will not be allowed but havent been able to find any specific rules against this. Does anyone have any experience with a case like this? Or know of anything to be careful about when retroactively producing payslips?
Thanks in advance!