Working remotely to satisfy financial requirements?

[Rubbish]

Hi

I'm British and currently living in NZ with my Kiwi partner. We'd like to move to the UK together. It's a bit awkward trying to get a UK job before we move, so I was wondering would working remotely for an NZ company count as employment to satisfy the financial requirements. My pay would be well over the £18k needed but would probably go into my NZ bank account. Would it help of they paid into my UK account?

[Wanderer]

They'd need to operate a UK payroll or speak to HMRC to operate some easier scheme they do for small operations.

Tax is due where the work is done so Hector the Taxman will want his cut, so that means you will need to read up on DTA agreements or engage a Tax specialist. Don't turn a blind eye to it, one thing that's happening now is the taxman is getting very aggressive and now we see a lot here refused visa extensions etc for tax anomalies.

[Rubbish]

Hmm that sounds like a pain. What if I switched to working as a contractor, effectively being self employed and paying the UK tax myself? If I did that I wouldn't have been self employed for very long so maybe that wouldn't be good enough to prove income.

They sure make this difficult, even for people on a fairly decent wage.

[CR001]

Just out of interest, does your partner have any British born grandparents?

[Wanderer]

Hmm that sounds like a pain. What if I switched to working as a contractor, effectively being self employed and paying the UK tax myself? If I did that I wouldn't have been self employed for very long so maybe that wouldn't be good enough to prove income.

They sure make this difficult, even for people on a fairly decent wage.

Could do that, contracting isn't self employed though. If your employer is willing to go down that route you could use an umbrella, you'd be an employee of that, assign your contract to it, and draw it all as salary as a bona-fide employee. You'd be caught by IR35 so no point going limited. SE is possible but you'd need 12 months accounts for the spouse visa.

[Rubbish]

@CR001 Unfortunately not, her family has been in NZ for many generations.

@Wanderer The umbrella company looks like a good option. I've never looked into something like that before. I guess they sign a contract with my employer to guarantee the minimum salary before I come over. I'll certainly check that out. Thanks for your help.

[secret.simon]

@CR001 Unfortunately not, her family has been in NZ for many generations.

Remember that all that she needs is one grandparent born in the UK-could have migrated to New Zealand after birth with their parents-to qualify for a UK Ancestry visa, which is much easier to get than a spouse visa.

Then again, as you are a British citizen, you can always try the Surinder Singh route via Ireland. You will still need to be working in Ireland for you to qualify, but there is no minimum salary requirement.