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Hi Everyone,

I went to the PEO last week for ILR through T1 General and provided all my SA302s for all previous applications. I am self-employed and have always submitted my tax on time and have never had any amendments etc. The caseworker after a few hours gave me a letter saying that the application needs verification checks and said to me that everything else is OK with your application but I need to confirm your earnings from HMRC. I told her that I had already obtained SA302s from HMRC and had submitted them with my application but she said that she needs to verify them on her own. Has anyone else had any such experience? I thought they had the HMRC data and they could verify it there and then? If anyone has had similar experience, could you please explain how long did it take for them to take a decision? Any feedback will be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

If you search this forum, you'll find endless experiences similar to your own. It's almost standard practice now for applicants with current or past self-employment that the HO will conduct independent verification checks with HMRC.

This has mainly come about as a result of abuse of the system by those under certain immigration routes - with T1G applicants being affected significantly. E.g. Tax evasion, late amendments and inflating income during previous applications to meet income points thresholds and subsequent amendments etc...

I'd suggest reading the experiences on this forum to get a sense of those, and understand the scale of the problem. If your tax affairs are in order, and you have a clean employment history it will just be a matter of waiting for the HO to do their independent verification checks with HMRC.

cs95tdg wrote:If you search this forum, you'll find endless experiences similar to your own. It's almost standard practice now for applicants with current or past self-employment that the HO will conduct independent verification checks with HMRC.

This has mainly come about as a result of abuse of the system by those under certain immigration routes - with T1G applicants being affected significantly. E.g. Tax evasion, late amendments and inflating income during previous applications to meet income points thresholds and subsequent amendments etc...

I'd suggest reading the experiences on this forum to get a sense of those, and understand the scale of the problem. If your tax affairs are in order, and you have a clean employment history it will just be a matter of waiting for the HO to do their independent verification checks with HMRC.

Sorry but My question was not regarding the rational behind the verification etc. I have not read a lot of posts but I have come across a couple at least. They both said that HO did their verification on the same day and refused/granted the ILR. I thought they had the data available to them to verify the HMRC data there and then. The posts I have seen on the forum also suggest that they verified the income on the same day and either refused or granted the ILR (which makes me assume that they have the HMRC data available to them and the verification can be done on the same day). In my case, HO said that they want to verify with HMRC but not really sure why they didn't verify on the same day if they had the data available to them.

I am not scared of anything because I have already submitted my SA302s which I obtained from HMRC and have always submitted my returns on time but I was a bit curious why they didn't verify it the same day like they did in others case. I wanted to know if anyone has had similar experience and how long did it take for HO to verify those documents ?

sehrish87 wrote:I thought they had the HMRC data and they could verify it there and then

They probably have access to data, so that they can verify that the income and tax statements that you submit have not been made up, for example.

But at the moment, as cs95tdg mentioned, self-employment earnings at any point in the past are particularly under the scanner and it seems sensible that people with specialist knowledge of it in HMRC look into it, as opposed to a Home Office caseworker, who could possibly look at the data, but not necessarily have any understanding of it.

sehrish87 wrote:Sorry but My question was not regarding the rational behind the verification etc. I have not read a lot of posts but I have come across a couple at least. They both said that HO did their verification on the same day and refused/granted the ILR. I thought they had the data available to them to verify the HMRC data there and then. The posts I have seen on the forum also suggest that they verified the income on the same day and either refused or granted the ILR (which makes me assume that they have the HMRC data available to them and the verification can be done on the same day). In my case, HO said that they want to verify with HMRC but not really sure why they didn't verify on the same day if they had the data available to them.

While I don't know the in's and out's of how the HO do their checks, what appears to be happening in most recent cases where self-employment income is concerned is that they differ the checks to be done later with assistance from HMRC. One other note observed by members on this forum is that HO only has access to HMRC data up to a certain date, and not necessarily the latest to be able to verify. As you've stated, there are also those who are given a decision on the day itself, it may mean that they have been able to verify and reach a refusal/approval decision, either independently against past HMRC records themselves or with direct input from HMRC on the given day.

I'd say what happens could also vary from how an individual case worker perceives the evidence provided and decides to proceed, so not really an exact science. Most employed applicants who make a same day application, usually appear to get decision on the day, but then again not all do.