ILR Application Questions

Hi, I will be submitting my ILR application early June but trying to get organised now and have a couple of questions if anyone is able to assist?

Financial requirement (Self-Employment) – I recently made the decision to not return to my job after maternity leave so we will be applying based on my husband’s self-employment. Looking through the guidance, we are confident his accountant can provide all documentation required, however, I have not read or found nearly as much information on using self-employment, so I am worried about making sure all evidence is in the right format, correct date range, etc. Does anyone have any experience applying based on self-employment that can share any information?

Accommodation – We bought our house just over a year ago, however, due to delays at land registry they still have not processed our application. Would it be sufficient to submit our latest mortgage statement (issued in February), latest Council Tax and a letter / evidence from our solicitor confirming when the application was made to land registry in place of the deed? Is there anything specific we would need to include?

Thank you!

Hi, I will be submitting my ILR application early June but trying to get organised now and have a couple of questions if anyone is able to assist?

Financial requirement (Self-Employment) – I recently made the decision to not return to my job after maternity leave so we will be applying based on my husband’s self-employment. Looking through the guidance, we are confident his accountant can provide all documentation required, however, I have not read or found nearly as much information on using self-employment, so I am worried about making sure all evidence is in the right format, correct date range, etc. Does anyone have any experience applying based on self-employment that can share any information?

Accommodation – We bought our house just over a year ago, however, due to delays at land registry they still have not processed our application. Would it be sufficient to submit our latest mortgage statement (issued in February), latest Council Tax and a letter / evidence from our solicitor confirming when the application was made to land registry in place of the deed? Is there anything specific we would need to include?

Thank you!

The reason you've not seen much about the self employment category is that it's much more difficult than any of the others and we advise everyone to avoid it unless there's no other option.

All I can do is point you to the guidance.

.7. In respect of self-employment in the UK as a partner, as a sole trader or in a franchise all of the following must be provided:
(a) Evidence of the amount of tax payable, paid and unpaid for the last full financial year.
(b) The following documents for the last full financial year, or for the last two such years (where those documents show the necessary level of gross profit as an average of those two years):
(i) annual self-assessment tax return to HMRC (a copy or print-out); and
(ii) Statement of Account (SA300 or SA302).
(c) Proof of registration with HMRC as self-employed if available.
(d) Each partner’s Unique Tax Reference Number (UTR) and/or the UTR of the partnership or business.
(e) Where the person holds or held a separate business bank account(s), bank statements for the same 12-month period as the tax return(s).
(f) personal bank statements for the same 12-month period as the tax return(s) showing that the income from self-employment has been paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.
(g) Evidence of ongoing self-employment through the provision of at least one of the following: a bank statement dated no more than three months earlier than the date of application showing transactions relating to ongoing trading, or evidence dated no more than three months earlier than the date of application of the renewal of a licence to trade or of ongoing payment of business rates, business-related insurance premiums, employer National Insurance contributions or franchise payments to the parent company.
(h) One of the following documents must also be submitted:
(i) (aa) If the business is required to produce annual audited accounts, such accounts for the last full financial year; or
(bb) If the business is not required to produce annual audited accounts, unaudited accounts for the last full financial year and an accountant’s certificate of confirmation, from an accountant who is a member of a UK Recognised Supervisory Body (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) or who is a member of the Institute of Financial Accountants, The Association of Authorised Public Accountants, The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, the Association of International Accountants and The Association of Accounting Technicians;
(ii) A certificate of VAT registration and the VAT return for the last full financial year (a copy or print-out) confirming the VAT registration number, if turnover is in excess of £79,000 or was in excess of the threshold which applied during the last full financial year;
(iii) Evidence to show appropriate planning permission or local planning authority consent is held to operate the type/class of business at the trading address (where this is a local authority requirement); or
(iv) A franchise agreement signed by both parties.
(i) The document referred to in paragraph 7(h)(iv) must be provided if the organisation is a franchise.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1039148/1.7_-_Financial_requirement.pdf

Do you have savings you could use instead? The requirement for ILR is less, 16+18.6= £34,600

For the accommodation, that sounds good. You might include proof of the purchase too, just for completeness.

Thank you so much for your reply!

We have just moved some money around to have the savings route as an option (normally we are far more organised, but since we thought I would be going back to work and could use my employment, we didn't think we would need it and wasn't in the right type of accounts).

Just one question on this - if the money was moved into a savings account today 4th April, could I apply exactly 6 months from now (4th October) once it has been in there for exactly 6 months or do I need 6 full months worth of bank statements? My BRP expires 7th October so we would be cutting it VERY close and wouldn't have time to wait for the October bank statement to come through.

Thank you again for your help!

Thank you so much for your reply!

We have just moved some money around to have the savings route as an option (normally we are far more organised, but since we thought I would be going back to work and could use my employment, we didn't think we would need it and wasn't in the right type of accounts).

Just one question on this - if the money was moved into a savings account today 4th April, could I apply exactly 6 months from now (4th October) once it has been in there for exactly 6 months or do I need 6 full months worth of bank statements? My BRP expires 7th October so we would be cutting it VERY close and wouldn't have time to wait for the October bank statement to come through.

Thank you again for your help!

The full 6 month time frame needs to be covered but it doesn't need to be by your regular statements. You can go into your branch and have them print out statements for either the full 6 months or use your paper statements to to cover everything but the last month then just have them print a partial statement up to the date you are applying.