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Hi. I will be moving to London soon from Italy with my Japanese wife and she's planning to apply for a RC once there.
From what I understand she's legally entitled to receive it as long as I demonstrate to exercise Treaty rights in the UK.
Our situation is pretty straightforward and I don't see why we should have problems, but there are different ways to prove to exercise TR and my situation is this: I will not need a job in the UK straight away because I am currently a consultant for an Italian company and it's my intention to keep this position that allows me a great deal of flexibility and a satisfactory salary. We decided to move to London essentially because it's the right place for the job of my wife which is a niche. That means that I'll keep traveling between UK and Italy but I can do plenty of work from UK too so practically it's not a problem at all.
What I would like to know is what is the best way for me to prove I'm exercising Treaty rights in the UK cause I feel I have two options:
1) as an employed person of an Italian company that is in the position to perform his job from a remote place (thus providing Italian payslips, Italian contract, etc), apart from residing in the UK at least 6 months a year. But that means also that I wouldn't pay taxes in England because the source of my income is in Italy;
2) as an economically self-sufficient person who can easily look after his wife too in the UK. I have enough money in my bank account to prove that I can easily provide a comfortable living for the two of us in the UK without requiring public funds. On top of that those savings will not run out because I'll keep working, thus earning further money as a consultant.

I feel the 2nd option is probably better because it basically requires to provide only bank statements but I would like to have your opinion on the matter.
I'm not sure how often HO rings in order to gather more evidence, but what happens if they ring while I'm abroad for work? Would it generate further delays and hassles to the RC issuance?

Thank you so much for your help!

I would go for option 1. Just provide payslips.

Why do you think option 2 is easier to prove? It's probably not.

Also option 2 requires you to have health insurance (Comprehensive Sickness Insurance). As a side note, I suggest you also get an Italian EHIC (medical card) for both of you before moving to the UK. Might become handy sometime later.

As for your tax comment, I believe you will need to pay UK tax if you reside in the UK for more than 183 days a year but this is something you should check with a tax advisor (there are also double taxation treaties which need to be checked).

Jambo wrote:I would go for option 1. Just provide payslips.

Why do you think option 2 is easier to prove? It's probably not.

Also option 2 requires you to have health insurance (Comprehensive Sickness Insurance). As a side note, I suggest you also get an Italian EHIC (medical card) for both of you before moving to the UK. Might become handy sometime later.

As for your tax comment, I believe you will need to pay UK tax if you reside in the UK for more than 183 days a year but this is something you should check with a tax advisor (there are also double taxation treaties which need to be checked).

Hi Jambo, thanks a lot for your reply. I thought that option 2 was easier to prove because as long as one shows that has enough money in his bank account, it should be it.
About the health insurance, I think that we don't need one because we both have an Italian EHIC which entitle us to receive the NHS services in case of need. I haven't investigated this further, though.

Regarding option 1, I was just worried that it would raise suspicions to provide Italian payslips for someone that decided to move to another country. But probably they don't care that much about that. At the end of the day if someone can work remotely, he should be free to live anywhere he wants as long as he has the right to do so.

Just to clarify on the health insurance.

You don't need health insurance in order to have access to NHS. Any UK resident is entitled to have that.

You do need insurance to be considered as exercising treaty rights as a self sufficient (and to be able to become a permanent resident after 5 years).

The fact that in practice you don't need/use the insurance is not relevant. You need it to qualify as a self-sufficient. You don't need it if you are a worker.

Italian EHIC can be considered as insurance.

Jambo wrote:Just to clarify on the health insurance.

Italian EHIC can be considered as insurance.

This is a very helpful confirmation. I talked with a solicitor in London a few weeks ago and she told me that my wife needed a health insurance even though she has an Italian EHIC. I thought it didn't make sense that assertion but hadn't had the chance to investigate further.
Thank you very much!

By the way, is there anybody who can confirm me if being employed by an Italian company with an Italian contract stipulated in Italy and no reference to where I'll be performing my job can be considered exercising Treaty rights in the UK as long as I live there?
THanks.