ILR Success @ Sheffield PEO - Ltd Company Director

[tayyabmohamed]

Alhamdulilla (Thank God)

I am happy to share with this amazing forum that on Tuesday the 23rd of October I secured my ILR based upon 5 years of continuous stay in the UK (HSMP + Tier1). Based upon my experience I have provided a summary of basic tips and advice which were very useful to me and I hope this may be of use to others in the future.

My case:

- Ltd company director drawing earnings in the form of Dividends and
a nominal Salary.
- 2 Years HSMP (2007 - 2009) + 3 Years (2009 -2012) on Tier1 General
Visa. I was a regular employee earning all earnings in the form of
Salary until 2010. So my Tier1 visa application from HSMP (in 2009) was
very straight forward. However in 2010 I formed my own company
along with a business partner. I am a 50% shareholder and am classed
as an employee of my own company.

- Only a 113 days away of which 7 days were for business.
- I claimed most of my earnings though dividends and only submitted 3
salary slips.

Documentation:

It is imperative that no matter how straight forward your case, you have to make things as simple as possible for the case worker. That means submitting all "relevant documents" along with a separate folder of photocopies of the same. You may carry an additional folder with extra supporting documents which you can submit only if they ask.

Tip: Get 3 "Lever arch file or folders", lots of punched pockets and lots of labels so that you can stick them onto the pockets to label them. Finally get extra large dividers to separate sections.

Folder 1 - Originals

1st section - Forms & Passport (Each section separated by a Divider)

- Form Set O (make sure this is the latest available version on the
morning of your appointment)
- Passport
- Photographs (x2)

2nd Section - Life in the UK

- Test result notification

3rd Section Earnings Proof

- A copy of email from ACCA stating that my accountant was ACCA
registered
-Letter from my accountant confirming that I am a director with 50%
shareholding and drawing earnings both by Salary and Dividends. He also gave a detailed breakdown with 2 separate tables (Salary, Dividends) mentioning Sno, Date of payment/payroll (salary), Gross Salary/ Dividend, Net Salary/Dividend. Finally he also mentioned the total earnings. His signature also had his ACCA membership numbers etc.
- Letter from my company (by other business partner) confirming the same as above.
- Dividend vouchers along with corresponding bank statements (in date order)showing the payments clearly highligted by a yellow highlight pen.
- Salary slips along with corresponding bank statements (in date order) showing the payments clearly highligted by a yellow highlight pen.
- Business Bank statements showing payments made to me - again all highlighted by a yellow pen.


4th Section - Economic Activity

- Personal Savings account
- SA 302 from HMRC showing earnings for 3 years.
- Personal Self Assessment Tax returns paid last year and what is due next year.

5th Section company Documents

- Company Annual Results for last 2 years and interim results from April 2012 until now.
- Company VAT registrations and all returns for all the qtrs so far
- Corporation Tax paid and due so far.
- Company savings accounts showing balances saved to corporation tax due in Jan 2013.

FOLDER 2 had the exact copies of Folder 1 including SetO form.

FOLDER 3 had extras like company Registrations documents, Tenancy agreements, details of business absences from other partner and other little bits and pieces.

THE PROCESS:

Sheffield is a beautiful city. I went to Uni there. I stayed at the Holiday inn near Wicker. A great place to stay as it is only a 5 minute walk to the PEO. You can park your car there at the hotel. The reason I chose sheffield is because Croydon was not available and I needed to go somewhere I was sure they would be okay to deal with Ltd Company Directors (i.e. earnings through dividends etc).

As soon as I got there I was asked to go to one of the counters which was like a reception to get a token number. My number was called straight away where a lady took only my form and my photographs. Once she sifted that through, she came out to collect the 2 folders I had (Copies + originals). I was then asked to make the payment, which I did by a debit card. In around 40 Mins my number was called for Biometrics. After that another 30 minutes and a caseworker called my name and asked me to provide any info that I had to give in support of my application to help him understand my current situation better. He was a very professional and friendly guy. In fact I found the entire team at the sheffield PEO to be friendly and professional. He asked me to come back in an 1Hr and 20 minutes. I went out for a walk. Came back on time and informed reception that I was asked to come back at this time. Caseworker came out and gave me the good news. I thanked God and the case worker and left.

Summary of tips:

- I am sure most PEOs are great, however, I found the staff and team at the Sheffield PEO to beat all stereo types and be super professional and friendly.
- Sheffield PEO is good at dealing with Self Employment or Company Director cases unlike some other smaller PEOs like Cardiff etc (is what I have heard). The Sheffield PEO is one of the biggest ones.
Holiday Day Inn express or Holiday Inn Royal Victoria is a great place near Wicker in Sheffield if you are looking to stay near the PEO.
- If you are confused about what documents you need, just stick to the guidance notes!
- This point cannot be emphasised, I think its is really critical to present your documents in a easy to understand fashion! The easier it is for the caseworker to understand , the quicker they do the job. I was in and out within 3 hours.

Lastly I would also like to say a big Thank you to team of people running this forum. A special thank you to Asifmal. You are all super stars! I hope this detailed extra long description helps! I have gained a lot from this forum. Please feel free to ask me any questions.

Thanks and best regards,
Tayyab Mohamed

[arifahmmed]

Congratulations Tayyab for your success and shearing your experience with us. I am also on way to sheffield next month on same category (hsmp+tier1). However why you thought economic activity is a part of our category.

Thanks

[tayyabmohamed]

Congratulations Tayyab for your success and shearing your experience with us. I am also on way to sheffield next month on same category (hsmp+tier1). However why you thought economic activity is a part of our category.

Thanks

Hi Arif,

Thank you for your wishes and I hope your process goes smooth too!
WIth regard to economic activity, they do not specifically ask for it in the guidance, however an immigration advisor once told me that if you have stuff like SA302 or Savings account or even Self Assessment tax receipts or due letters, it shows the caseworker that you are doing well and thereby even justifying your grant in that category.

Like I said , its not a deal breaker, however if you have those extra bits it just helps!

Sheffield PEO has a great team (I also had a friend there who had a very smooth process). As long as you have all the required documents I am sure you will be fine! Good luck and keep me posted!

regard,
Tayyab

[arifahmmed]

Thanks tayyab. I have requested HMRC for employment history recently and they send me the documents showing my all job history ( earning from jobs and tax paid) for tax year ending 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Do you think is that the document I should have (could not find any number on it).
Also another question is that shall I submit this document from myself ar waif for CW reaction.

[tayyabmohamed]

Thanks tayyab. I have requested HMRC for employment history recently and they send me the documents showing my all job history ( earning from jobs and tax paid) for tax year ending 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Do you think is that the document I should have (could not find any number on it).
Also another question is that shall I submit this document from myself ar waif for CW reaction.

Hi Arif,

I suggest since its a couple extra documents, you submit it as part of your original submission. This will enable the CW to see that you have been economically active and hence you justified that grant and just helps.

The document you mentioned should be fine. The "SA 302" document that I was referring to is what you get from the HMRC if your earnings include Dividends and Salry. Your accountant should be able to get you on on your behalf. But then again, if your source of income is only Salary, you dont need this and can submit p60s.

The problem is because most of my earnings are in Dividends the P60 does not show my dividend earnings, hence I needed the SA302.

Hope that answers your question and good luck!

regards,
Tayyab

[arifahmmed]

Thanks tayyab. Yes I am going to submit that documents.

[sriram]

Hi Tayyab,

Congrats for your ILR.
A quick question, they may not ask for it but I have only soft copies of unaudited Company Accounts from a reputed Accounting firm for the year ending 31st January 2012.

If I take printout of those would be fine or these need to be on Letter Head of the Accounting firm, I strongly believe they wont be so happy to do it.

Thanks
Sriram

[tayyabmohamed]

Hi Tayyab,

Congrats for your ILR.
A quick question, they may not ask for it but I have only soft copies of unaudited Company Accounts from a reputed Accounting firm for the year ending 31st January 2012.

If I take printout of those would be fine or these need to be on Letter Head of the Accounting firm, I strongly believe they wont be so happy to do it.

Thanks
Sriram

Hi Sriram,

Thank you. I suggest you take hard copies (to make things easier for the CW). I did not have my accounts printed on a letterhead as such. They were just on plain white sheets of paper along with a 1-page letter from the accountant stating "please find your accounts for year ended ".

I do recommend getting interim accounts for the periods not covered. Just make sure you have accounts for the period you are claiming for. This is so that they can verify the Dividend were legal and the business is profitable etc.

Hope that helps and good luck with your application!

regards,
Tayyab