Happy to share I got my ILR granted earlier this week in PEO Glasgow. I was under the Tier 1 General route with the 1 year as director of limited company (my 1st extension was based on this) and rest as permanent employment. I have also had a 2nd extension based on permanent employment.
Docs I submitted quoted below,
Docs I had in hand quoted below, did not submit, but came of use later on as I had to clarify something to the case worker (details below)1. Passport(s) both current and old, BRP and 2 photographs.
2. set(O) form
3. 12 month payslips
4. 12 month personal bank statements.
5. Letter of absence from employer (listing dates of annual leave and work related outside the UK)
6. Employment letter from employer
7. Life in the UK pass certificate
8. PBS summary printout listing my Masters degree with points awarded.
9. Original degree certificate (I was not planning on submitting this, but the friendly person collecting my documentation said it will be good if I can submit it if I have it in hand, so I did)
10. Photocopies of all of the above excluding item 9. For passports I had photocopies of all pages that had immigration stamps both in my current and old passport. This is mentioned as required in the set(O) form.
When submitting all supporting documentation, I was asked if I had ever been self employed or employed as director of a limited company during the entire 5 year period and in my case the answer was yes during the 1st year, so I was handed a form to fill up, which had questions such as quoted below,1. Five year employment history statement from HMRC showing pay, taxes paid for each tax year.
2. Original sets of supporting documentation that I had submitted for my 2 previous in-country extensions. which includes payslips, personal bank statements, letter from accountant etc, letters from employer etc.
3. Contract document for the first contracting assignment that was done via limited company.
4. Cover letter
5. Extra photographs
After I had given my biometrics and had photographs taken, I was met by the case worker for a clarification in my application.1. Which years during the last 5 years I was employed as limited company director.
2. If I had paid taxes and if yes which years as limited company director.
3. Did I fill up my Self Assessments myself or with the assistance of an auditor (if I had used an auditor, then their details were asked)
4. If the taxes paid to HMRC and the details in my Self Assessment were accurate ? If not, provided reasons below
She said that during my first extension in year 2012 I had claimed earnings of over 45K and was awarded 45 points, but what she was seeing in HMRC records was only records for 17500 or a shortfall of over 17500 to what I had claimed.
I had my 5 year HMRC statement in hand and I submitted that, which does not cover details of dividends, it only shows pay (salary) and tax paid which didn't add up. I then showed her my accountant letter which I had submitted at the time of my 1st extension which had details of salary, dividends, and invoices raised in the period by the company etc.
She took my accountant letter and said she will check and come back and came back in 10 minutes and confirmed the oversight from her end and asked me not to worry and everything was good up until this point.
Turns out, as my extension was in June 2012 and I had taken a significant chunk in dividends in May 2012, which wouldn't show up in April 2011 to April 2012 tax year and turns out that was the error she was making, she didn't consider that part of my earnings claimed for my extension in May 2012 which fell into April 2012 - April 2013 tax year.
In the next 30 minutes she walked back and said my application has been approved and ILR granted and her colleague will get in touch to hand over documents and approval letter etc. And I collected all docs and letter of approval in 10 minutes.
Overall it was a very smooth experience and staff were friendly.
A big thank you to the forum, moderators and everyone that contributes by sharing their own personal experiences both success stories or asking questions without which my journey to ILR wouldn't have been the same.
Happy to answer any questions.