FLR(M) - Category A or Category B?

I'm finding myself confused over which category to apply under for my FLR(M) extension - Cat A or Cat B? My husband is currently full-time employed with a salary of £60,000 per year. He started this role on 10 September 2020, and will be reaching six months in the role on 10th March, but my BRP expires on 16th March so there won't be time to get his March payslip before applying. Prior to that he was contracting (he's a programmer) for about a year and a half through his limited company, earning well over the minimum requirement.

Am I correct in thinking we will need to apply under Category B (12 months of payslips) instead of Category A, because although he will have 6 payslips (September, October, November, December January, February), it's technically just short of six calendar months? My husband thinks it won't matter because he earned £30,000 with those 6 payslips, but I think UKVI will insist it needs to be 6 calendar months, hence requiring 7 payslips.

If we do have to use his contracting income, would Category B be correct? He worked through his own limited company and was paid via monthly salary deposits and dividends, which he has the documentation for. But then I look through the forums and see advice saying it would be counted as self-employed income, even though the UKVI advice is that it's fine to use salaried income from a limited company that the sponsor is a director of.  It's all a bit mind scrambling I'm afraid!

I'm finding myself confused over which category to apply under for my FLR(M) extension - Cat A or Cat B? My husband is currently full-time employed with a salary of £60,000 per year. He started this role on 10 September 2020, and will be reaching six months in the role on 10th March, but my BRP expires on 16th March so there won't be time to get his March payslip before applying. Prior to that he was contracting (he's a programmer) for about a year and a half through his limited company, earning well over the minimum requirement.

You will be Category B, as he will not have 6 full months of payslips by the time you apply for your visa.

In order to qualify under Category A, you would need payslips going all the way back to August 2020 (the 6 months you would have to cover would be August 28th to February 28th)... but he hadn't started the job yet at that point, so you cannot meet Category A.

Am I correct in thinking we will need to apply under Category B (12 months of payslips) instead of Category A, because although he will have 6 payslips (September, October, November, December January, February), it's technically just short of six calendar months? My husband thinks it won't matter because he earned £30,000 with those 6 payslips, but I think UKVI will insist it needs to be 6 calendar months, hence requiring 7 payslips.

Yes, he will need to apply under Category B. If he tries to apply under Category A, the visa will be refused.

So, he will need to provide the payslips and bank statements covering February 2020 to February 2021

And you also provide:
- a letter from his current employer
- job contract
- latest P60 (if he has one)

If we do have to use his contracting income, would Category B be correct? He worked through his own limited company and was paid via monthly salary deposits and dividends, which he has the documentation for. But then I look through the forums and see advice saying it would be counted as self-employed income, even though the UKVI advice is that it's fine to use salaried income from a limited company that the sponsor is a director of.  It's all a bit mind scrambling I'm afraid!

Since he has already earned £30,000 from his current job since September, he already meets the Category B requirements without using his self-employment income, so actually you don't even need to include it.

Thanks for your reply!

So if we apply under Category B, his salary from the past 5ish months will be enough? I'm still a little bit confused - do we still need to provide the payslips from Feb 2020 until he started his role in September, even though he made more than enough from September until February 2021?

Thanks for your reply!

So if we apply under Category B, his salary from the past 5ish months will be enough? I'm still a little bit confused - do we still need to provide the payslips from Feb 2020 until he started his role in September, even though he made more than enough from September until February 2021?

What you need to show for Category B is:

1. a current job paying £18,600 or more... it doesn’t matter how long you have held the job

2. total income of £18,600 or more before tax, earned at any point in the last 12 months. It can be from any jobs held, and it doesn’t have to be a regular monthly salary.

As an example, someone who has earned the following would meet the requirements:
Feb-April 2020: £4,000 earned
April-June 2020: unemployed
June-August 2020: £5,000 earned
Aug-Sept: unemployed
Oct-Feb 2021: £10,000 earned
Total earnings = £19,000 ... requirement met

Or
Feb-Oct 2020: unemployed
Nov-Feb 2021: £20,000 earned
Total earnings = £20,000... requirement met

As he has earned more than £18,600 in the last 5 months, that meets the requirements of £18,600 earned in the last 12 months already, without actually needing to show any other income.

So you would provide:
- all his payslips from the new job
- bank statements from February 2020 to February 2021

Normally I would recommend including all the payslips from the whole year, but if it was self-employment income, that makes it tricky as there are a ton of documents you need to provide to show self-employment income, and it doesn’t seem worth it if you can meet the requirements without it.


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Hmm, I hope that would be sufficient because it would make my life a lot easier! But if we were to provide his bank statements from February 2020 to February 2021, they will show the deposit of his salary and dividends from his limited company. Would that raise a flag with UKVI if we haven't indicated we are using that income for our application? We wouldn't be able to say he wasn't working for those months because there is evidence in his bank statements that he was.


It looks like this is what we would need to provide for his limited company income, which would be a hassle but he has an accountant that can get most of it:

9. In respect of income from employment and/or shares in a limited company based in the UK of a type specified in paragraph 9(a), the requirements of paragraph 9(b)-(e) shall apply in place of the requirements of paragraphs 2 and 10(b).
(a) The specified type of limited company is one in which:
(i) the person is either a director or employee of the company, or both, or of another company within the same group; and
(ii) shares are held (directly or indirectly) by the person, their partner or the following family members of the person or their partner: parent, grandparent, child, stepchild, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or first cousin; and
(iii) any remaining shares are held (directly or indirectly) by fewer than five other persons.
(b) All of the following must be provided:
(i) Company Tax Return CT600 (a copy or print-out) for the last full financial year and evidence this has been filed with HMRC, such as electronic or written acknowledgment from HMRC.
(ii) Evidence of registration with the Registrar of Companies at Companies House.
(iii) If the company is required to produce annual audited accounts, such accounts for the last full financial year.
(iv) If the company 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 Recognized 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.
(v) Corporate/business bank statements covering the same 12-month period as the Company Tax Return CT600.
(vi) A current Appointment Report from Companies House.
(vii) One of the following documents must also be provided:
(1) 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.
(2) Proof of ownership or lease of business premises.
(3) Proof of registration with HMRC as an employer for the purposes of PAYE and National Insurance, proof of PAYE reference number and Accounts Office reference number. This evidence may be in the form of a certified copy of the documentation issued by HMRC.
(c) Where the person is either listed as a director of the company, or is an employee of the company, or both, and receives a salary from the company, all of the following documents must also be provided:
(i) Payslips and P60 (if issued) covering the same period as the Company Tax Return CT600.
(ii) Personal bank statements covering the same 12-month period as the Company Tax Return CT600 showing that the salary as a director or employee of the company (or both) was paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.
(d) Where the person receives dividends from the company, all of the following documents must also be provided:
(i) Dividend vouchers for all dividends declared in favour of the person during or in respect of the period covered by the Company Tax Return CT600 showing the company’s and the person’s details with the person’s net dividend amount.
(ii) Personal bank statement(s) showing that those dividends were paid into an account in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly

I've just had a brainwave - could we just use my income from February 2020 - September 2020, and then use his income from September 2020 - Feb 2021? That would be ideal as there wouldn't be any gaps and we don't have to mention his company at all. I stopped working in October to start my own company but I wouldn't mention that.

I've just had a brainwave - could we just use my income from February 2020 - September 2020, and then use his income from September 2020 - Feb 2021? That would be ideal as there wouldn't be any gaps and we don't have to mention his company at all. I stopped working in October to start my own company but I wouldn't mention that.

That won't actually help anything, as you would still need to provide 12 full months of bank statements for him AND also 12 full months of bank statements for you... which means double the amount of paperwork.

The requirement is that the payslips and bank statements you provide must cover a FULL 12 months... except that you may not actually have 12 months of payslips if you weren't employed in every month of the year.

You have to provide 12 months of bank statements because it's a requirement, but the ONLY reason they need to see the bank statements is to verify each payslip deposit... so it should be the case that they only look at the bank statements for the months you have provided a payslip and will ignore the transactions on the other bank statements.

In which case, they should check the September to February bank statements for the payslip deposits, see that he has earned more than £18,600, and tick the box to say he meets the requirement.

They shouldn't even need to look at the Feb to Sept bank statements  (again you are only providing 12 months because it says you have to and you don't want to risk a refusal by providing only 5 months).

If you're worried about them questioning the pay deposits on the Feb to August bank statements though, you can always include a note in a cover letter stating that he was self-employed until September, but that you meet the requirements without using that income so you are not including it.

It looks like this is what we would need to provide for his limited company income, which would be a hassle but he has an accountant that can get most of it:

The issue is that 'most of it' isn't good enough. If you choose to include the self-employment income and you are missing even 1 of those documents, or 1 of the documents isn't in the right format, the visa can be refused... which is why self-employment income should only be used as an absolute last resort if you cannot meet the requirements without using it (but you can).

So, by suggesting that he doesn't include the self-employment income because he already meets the requirements without it, I'm trying to prevent the risk of a refusal because of a mistake with the self-employment documents.