Surinder Singh - working for my own company?

[johnlk]

Hi all,
my wife (Thai) and I (UK) are hoping to apply for the UK FP next year under Surinder Singh, after a 6 month stint of work here in Bulgaria.

I have a house, and a non-trading company (set up to buy the land) here for the last 5 years My accounts are all up-to-date, and the company is in good standing..

We are in Bulgaria now, and my wife has recently received her temporary residence card (valid for 5 years) based on her marriage to me.

My questions are about the employment requirement for the application. Could I employ myself through my company somehow, as I do not wish, or need to work for another. If I could employ myself I could choose my own hours.
Has anyone tried this already and succeeded?

I do have some contacts, so I could find work to make the accounts active, but the company name is the same as my name and I wonder if the embassy could deny us for this reason.

Just hoping one of you knowledgeable folks can help, or even offer any other suggestions.

[Lucapooka]

Interesting case. I've never heard of this scenario. It looks like a challenge but the least you can do is try, and come back to tell us how it went. Registration of your income for tax would probably be a mandatory requirement if this has any chance of success.

[johnlk]

Thanks Lucapooka.
From what I've read, as long as I am exercising treaty rights by working in a fellow EU state, we should be eligible.

This is a stumbling block at the moment, and I just seek advise as to whether anyone thinks it could work, or whether it would be better to set myself up as self-employed, which then I guess wouldn't have any association with my company?

[Obie]

I believe you can be properly described as a Self-Employed.

You don't take instruction from or get supervised by anyone, and there is no relationship of surbordination. Therefore you are by definition a Self-Employed person.

There really is not much difference in terms of family reunification between the two categories. Both qualifies under the UK's interpretation of Surinder Singh Judgement. Therefore you should be fine.

[johnlk]

I believe you can be properly described as a Self-Employed.

You don't take instruction from or get supervised by anyone, and there is no relationship of surbordination. Therefore you are by definition a Self-Employed person.

Thanks Obie for the encouragement,
maybe it would be a fine line to tread for the application, especially as I've read many times that the embassy's interpretation of the rules can differ from anyone else's.
I will arrange a meeting with an accountant friend here who hopefully can offer suggestions, but that will be later next week.
I'm sure I'll be back with more questions between then and making the application.
Thanks again for the help.

[fysicus]

Your wife has a Residence Card issued by Bulgaria. It means that Bulgaria accepts that you are exercising treaty rights there, which is actually all you need to prove.
I suppose in the application for this RC you had to indicate in which capacity you were exercising treaty rights in Bulgaria. So it seems to me you have already given the answer to your questions yourself!

[Lucapooka]

I suppose in the application for this RC you had to indicate in which capacity you were exercising treaty rights in Bulgaria.

Yes, but for an SS application to enter the UK that is limited to working to the exclusion of all other types. Just because she has an RC is not proof of working.

[johnlk]

I suppose in the application for this RC you had to indicate in which capacity you were exercising treaty rights in Bulgaria.

Yes, but for an SS application to enter the UK that is limited to working to the exclusion of all other types. Just because she has an RC is not proof of working.

To be honest, I'm not sure what rights I was exercising when I received my RC in March of this year, but I was obviously qualified to do so by having a house and a company here.
And for my wife's application, this was a lot easier, we just had to prove we were married.

Right now though I am more inerested in how I can qualify for the SS route.
If I can employ myself through my company, and what (if anything) I could be doing now to get the ball rolling.

We are here in BG until late November, then back in March when I shall start the 6 month countdown.
I'll speak with my accountant soon about the options for employment/self-employment, but is there a list of supporting documents that are needed for a SS application?

I guess proof of employment, house deeds, bank account statements etc etc?
Anything we could be doing while we are here now could surely only help the process.