Thanks for the advice.
I am not working. I am in the UK. My student visa expired on 30 Jan 2016. I had zero income, so I am relying on my partner's income.
My partner is the sole director of a limited company. The company was incorporated in April 2015. He called up UKVI and told them, being a new company, he does not have a "last full financial year", but he was able to shorten the financial year for the visa application, and produce the annual accounts, etc. It is legal to have a financial year less than 12 months but not more than 12 months in the UK. UKVI confirmed on the phone that it will be okay as long as he met the financial requirement in the 9 months.
My visa expiry date was 30 Jan 2016. Another dilemma he had was whether to officially end the financial year on mid-Jan or 31 Jan. Ending the financial mid-month is possible, but it is better on month end from an accountant's perspective. We called UKVI and they said we can consider submitting the application later, there is a 28 days grace period. We decided to send our application on 30 Jan 2016 (so as not to overstay), with a cover letter stating we will send the annual accounts in 1 Feb. We also mentioned there will be no transactions in the last few days of Jan which will affect our income.
He provided evidences according to their checklist in Section 9.8 of
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... t_2015.pdf
i) CT600 (print out) for the company’s last financial year (29 Apr 2015 - 31 Jan 2016), and the electronic acknowledgement from HMRC.
ii) Original evidence of registration with the Registrar of Companies at Companies House
iv) Original unaudited accounts for the last financial year (29 Apr 2015 - 31 Jan 2016), with an accountant’s certificate of confirmation
v) Stamped business bank statements (from 29 Apr 2015 - 31 Jan 2016).
vi) Original current appointment report from Companies House.
vii 3) Original proof of registration with HMRC as an employer for the purposes of PAYE (which includes PAYE reference number and Accounts Office reference).
vii 3 c i) Payslips issued in last financial year
vii 3 c ii) Personal bank statements for last financial year (from 29 Apr 2015 - 31 Jan 2016).
vii 3 d i) Dividend voucher in the required form
vii 3 d ii) Personal bank statements, same evidence for (vii 3 c ii) listed above.
vii 3 e) Dividend voucher and payslips provided above as evidence of ongoing employment
Their refusal paragraph
Decision under the 5-year Partner route
...
Eligibility
It is not accepted that you meet the eligibility requirements of paragraph R-LTRP.1.1.(c)(ii) for the following reasons.
E-LTRP.3.1 The applicant must provide specified evidence, from the sources listed in paragraph E-LTRP.3.2 of
a) a specified gross annual income of at least £18,600
It is stated in section 7 of your application form that your partner is a director of a limited company based in the UK and has been for 9 months. You failed to provide sufficient evidence of this employment and therefore unable to take this source of income into account.
Consequently, you fail to meet the eligibility requirements of paragraph R-LTP.1.1.(c).(ii) because you fail to meet paragraph E-LTRP.3.1 of Appendinx FM of the Immigration Rules
I think they might have refused it because of the 9 months financial year, even though we met the financial threshold? But we have confirmed this with UKVI on the phone, that this will be okay.
