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ILR (spouse, 5-year route) - will accepting COVID-19 self-employed support endanger our visa?
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:18 pm
by crispy
My accountant has emailed to say I'm eligible for assistance from the recently-announced Coronavirus income support scheme for the self-employed. It would certainly be helpful.
My wife is on the 5-year route spouse visa and we're 11 months away from our ideal premium service centre appointment date, at which we'd apply for her ILR. Her visa is dependent on our COMBINED income. We have already made enough money to meet the financial requirement for the relevant financial year (the one that is about to end).
I don't want to wreck our now-clear run at the visa by accepting public funds. DOES this count as public funds and/or will the exceptional situation of the pandemic into account?
Thanks for any suggestions/guidance.
Re: ILR (spouse, 5-year route) - will accepting COVID-19 self-employed support endanger our visa?
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:39 pm
by geoeng
crispy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:18 pm
DOES this count as public funds and/or will the exceptional situation of the pandemic into account?.
Very little official guidance on this. It would be easy, but not necessarily correct, to guess at an answer and assume it would not be considered public funds, but it may be best to contact the coronavirus immigration help centre (details in link below) to see if they have anything official to say on this matter.
However, any public funds you receive and are entitled to as a British citizen (or person settled in the UK) would not affect your wife's application, it is only her who would not be able to receive public funds (in the event the self-employment support scheme is classified as such).
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus ... -residents
Re: ILR (spouse, 5-year route) - will accepting COVID-19 self-employed support endanger our visa?
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 9:23 am
by physicskate
geoeng wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:39 pm
crispy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:18 pm
DOES this count as public funds and/or will the exceptional situation of the pandemic into account?.
Very little official guidance on this. It would be easy, but not necessarily correct, to guess at an answer and assume it would not be considered public funds, but it may be best to contact the coronavirus immigration help centre (details in link below) to see if they have anything official to say on this matter.
However, any public funds you receive and are entitled to as a British citizen (or person settled in the UK) would not affect your wife's application, it is only her who would not be able to receive public funds (in the event the self-employment support scheme is classified as such).
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus ... -residents
Agreed there is (as of yet) very little official guidance. I DO KNOW (for a fact) that this money will still be consdered taxable income, and so there is no reason it cannot be counted as income for a spouse visa.
Re: ILR (spouse, 5-year route) - will accepting COVID-19 self-employed support endanger our visa?
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 11:39 am
by crispy
geoeng wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:39 pm
any public funds you receive and are entitled to as a British citizen (or person settled in the UK) would not affect your wife's application, it is only her who would not be able to receive public fund
Oh! Cool. Even though we're being assessed on our
combined income? Setting aside the coronavirus situation, I could always have applied for benefits if needed? (Not that they ever were).
Re: ILR (spouse, 5-year route) - will accepting COVID-19 self-employed support endanger our visa?
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:07 pm
by sophielbw91
Interested in hearing thoughts on this. I think it would be ok since it is extraordinary circumstances. When I spoke to HMRC they had no clue
Re: ILR (spouse, 5-year route) - will accepting COVID-19 self-employed support endanger our visa?
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:48 pm
by sophielbw91
I did speak to an immigration lawyer who said:
The government has issued guidance stating that no one should be disadvantaged because of current circumstances. That being said the guidance itself is not particularly detailed on how this will be implemented by the HomeOffice. If you accept government funds this in itself will have no impact on your application. Will you still be earning over £18,600, or will you be earning under that amount? If you continue to earn above the threshold you have nothing to worry about.