ILR Success at Liverpool 13/01/2014

[vster]

Today I was successfully approved for ILR via Tier 1 General at Liverpool. Form set(O).

Thank you to everyone who contributes to this forum. Trawling through posts here was immeasurably helpful during my preparation.

Appointment time: 2pm
Arrival time: 1.30pm
Through security: 1.38pm
Check in: 1.45pm
Documents handed over: 1.52pm
Biometric test: 2.25pm
Application approved: 3.35

Background: I arrived in the UK about 6.5 years ago on a working holiday visa. Since then I’ve spent 5 years on Tier 1 General. I applied on my own. No dependents.

Date of initial Tier 1 General = 5 Feb 2009.

I work as a contractor and as such am the sole director and 100% shareholder of my own personal services company. I earn income from my company in the form of salary and dividends. This amount got me the points I needed so I didn’t claim for profits retained in the company.

Documents provided
Passports (current and previous one with old leave to remain stickers in them)
Biometric resident permit
Life in the UK pass letter
Personal & Business bank statements
Payslips
Dividend vouchers (stamped by my accountant)
Payment allocation summaries provided by my accountant & stamped (these detailed the break down of salary/dividends/expenses for all payments made from my business to personal account)
Letter from accountant, on their branded letterhead, that included:
* Gross personal earnings for the period claimed
* Earnings broken down by type (gross salary, net dividends, tax credits)
* Net company profit for the period (before and after tax) and statement that as 100% shareholder I was entitled to all of the net profit
* Statement confirming I earn dividend and salary income via the company.
HRMC letter stating when my corporation tax is due
HRMC online print out confirming my company is registrered for corporation tax
Invoices
Company management accounts (stamped by accountant)

Documents I provided just in case:
Certificate of Incorporation for my company
Company VAT registration certificate
HRMC letter - self assessment notice to complete a tax return
Signed contract my company had with a customer showing my day rate. These covered the beyond the length of time claimed for earnings.

For section 6.2 re evidence of approved travel outside the UK I provided:
* Print out listing all dates I’ve been out of the UK in the last 5 years, where I went, duration, whether it was business/holiday
* Letter from my personal company stating all travel dates and that they were business or pleasure
* My employment contract and P45 from my old job which stated I received 25 days annual leave per year

I hadn’t been out of the UK for more than about 3 weeks at a time during the 5 years.

I’m from Australia so didn’t need to provide proof of English skills.

They didn’t let me sit with the case worker whilst she worked through it all so I can’t comment on which documents were or weren’t needed.

Happy to answer questions re any of the above for anyone that needs.

[jasmeetmanik]

Hi Firstly like to congratulate you on the success of ILR

Hope you can assist me.
About me: I came to UK on September 2006 on student visa,
From Feb 2009 till Feb 2014 on Tier 2 general visa- this covers 5 years
I have been out on holiday in last 5 years for 150 days on holiday and 40 days for business purpose
I have doubt on the questions below

7.11. How long have you lived in the UK
Please provide details of any periods of absence of more than 6 months during that time. – Already answered earlier in question 6.2, so how is question 7.11 different

7.12. Please state what ties you have with;
• The country where you were born
• Any other country whose nationality you hold
• Any country where you have lived for more than 5 years

Section 10
If I have provided the BRP Biometric Residence Permit then do I still need to fill in points 8-13 of section 10?

[vster]

jasmeetmanik - my absences from the UK are similar to yours.

6.2 - this is for all absences in the past 5 years, regardless of length of time.
7.11 - this is specifically for absences 6mths or more
7.12 - i just put 'friends and family'. Got that recommendation from somewhere else on this forum.
10 - not sure but I filled it out anyway. I was able to find the last date of my biometric test from an old email confirmation I found.

Hope this helps.

[aky_5552]

Congrats mate, I have a few queries hope you can answer it ?
1.I'm director of limited company .I'm showing salary and dividend as the earnings. My payslips are on a plain paper signed by the secretary and accountant has confirmed the pay slips are genuine,I'm wondering if this is still ok ?

2.My earning period is Jan2013-Dec 2013 and i was out of contract from Jan13 to Apr 13. I'm claiming my earnings during this time . Company made enough profit so i was withdrawing salary and dividend .Do you know if this causes any issues ?

Thanks

[jasmeetmanik]

Thanks vster!

[vster]

Hi aky_5552,

My payslips were on plain paper too and provided by my accountant. However, they did have all the usual information that one expects to find on formal payslips that a PAYE employee would expect such as tax code, payment period, year to date pay & tax etc... They looked like standard payslips just printed on regular printer paper. If you're are the same you should be fine. My payslips weren't stamped or signed by my accountant.

As long as you meet the earnings amount you need to score the appropriate points it doesn't matter that you were out of contract for a portion of the 12mth period you're claiming for.

[aky_5552]

Thank you very much.

Hi aky_5552,

My payslips were on plain paper too and provided by my accountant. However, they did have all the usual information that one expects to find on formal payslips that a PAYE employee would expect such as tax code, payment period, year to date pay & tax etc... They looked like standard payslips just printed on regular printer paper. If you're are the same you should be fine. My payslips weren't stamped or signed by my accountant.

As long as you meet the earnings amount you need to score the appropriate points it doesn't matter that you were out of contract for a portion of the 12mth period you're claiming for.