FLR(M) Spouse Visa Extenstion

Hey everyone, hope you're all having a good holiday season


I will be applying to extend my FLR(M) Spousal Visa in the upcoming days and have a question as I have read conflicting advice online. My husband is a self-employed sole trader and has been trading for about 10 and a half months. I initially read that we would not be able to use this as obviously he has not yet done his taxes as he cannot do so until April. However, I also read a few cases people posted personally stating they we're self employed for less than a year, did not provide NI Tax contributions and we're successful so I KNOW it is possible.

We went to visit an accountant a few months ago to prepare paying our taxes. He will be sending us a letter confirming this, confirming he told us to come back in April to help us file and he has prepared our HMRC tax return documents. I will also be submitting proof of registration as a sole trader, proof we are waiting for self-assessment tax return and will make sure to go above and beyond to proof business is legitimate (flyers, invoices, proof of advertising etc.)

We will prove income with 12 months of bank statements, highlighted. We get paid every single month (have not missed one month) and make over the financial requirement.

Anyone else out there that can sure some success stories who have been down this route? It's hard as I've read such conflicting things online but I'm sure we will be fine and cannot be the only one in this situation.

Canadian2UK123 wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 22, 2019 6:16 pm

I will be applying to extend my FLR(M) Spousal Visa in the upcoming days and have a question as I have read conflicting advice online. My husband is a self-employed sole trader and has been trading for about 10 and a half months. I initially read that we would not be able to use this as obviously he has not yet done his taxes as he cannot do so until April. However, I also read a few cases people posted personally stating they we're self employed for less than a year, did not provide NI Tax contributions and we're successful so I KNOW it is possible.

This seems inconsistent with the financial requirement for self-employment being based on income from the last full financial year (Category F) or average of the last two full financial years (Category G). Equally much of the required supporting documentation is based on a full financial year having been completed. Not going to say it can't be done but it's unlikely to be easy or in any way a certainty. I would encourage you to continue to share your experience here, whatever the outcome, so we can all learn from it.

Requirements for self-employment income from page 60 of the guidance document linked below:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... -ext_1.pdf