Caseworker asking 3 specified documents for Earnings

[Shogun75]

I've been living in the UK legally for the past 11 years, currently on a Tier 1- General expiring next week.

ILR application was deliberately delayed because my non-UK born dependents may have fallen into an administrative void because there's no provision to transfer my stay to them based on the "Long Residence" provision.

I've been running a Consultancy business as a Director of a Private Limited Company for the past 3 years.

I've applied for Tier 1 - General extension and meet all the criteria. I've submitted an Accountant letter showing the breakdown of salary,i.e. Gross, Net, PAYE & NIC as well as the Gross & Net Dividends for the whole period as the "1st Evidence". The accountants are Fellow of the ACCA, i.e. fully qualified.

In addition, I've also submitted Payslips and Dividend Vouchers, showing Gross & Net for the same period as "2nd Evidence". The payslips and dividend vouchers contain published information sent to the HMRC. These are documents issued by the Consultancy and were stamped and signed by its Director.

Now, the UKBA caseworker is giving me 10 days to submit my bank statements for the period as well, does that sound right? I suspect a lack of understanding here or possibly an incompetence.

I explained to her that I'm not in the position to send bank statements because under the Immigration Rules, the 2 "specified documents" have already been submitted. Also, I've taken loans from my company as a Director and pay back by declaring dividends, i.e. only the balancing item would be transferred to the personal bank account and therefore will not corroborate with the net dividend showing on the vouchers. I explained to her that it's call by the HMRC a "Director Loan Account" and is a perfectly legitimate accounting practice.

Furthermore, the same issue arose 2 years ago in my original Tier 1 application which went to appeal and an Immigration Judge ruled that the above are perfectly correct combination of documents to send as evidence for Earnings.

I suspect the Caseworker is not actually looking to validate my earnings as she's got all necessary information, but rather is looking for evidence to substantiate a refusal which I'm not prepare to send. If she can't decide based on specified documents submitted to her, which corroborate, I don't see how she'll accept an application by introducing a document which do not corroborate. I've seen nasty Caseworkers in the past who'll balance any overdraft in the personal current account with the saving account provided for "Maintenance Funds" and will refuse based on the "Maintenance Requirement" rather than for the purpose they requested the document for, i.e. "Earning Requirements".

At the moment I'll rather go to appeal and use the previous decision by an Immigration Judge as a precedent to be applied here as well.

Has someone faced such situation before and what was the steps taken?Am I missing or mistaking something here?

Thanks to hear from you.

[ilrapplicant2013]

Firstly, thanks for posting your experience.
Yes, the rules do say give 2 legitimate sources. But these cases are very clerical in nature and by the looks of it case workers esp junior ones dont tend to use a bit of thinking on this.

Most people because they are employed end up sending bank statements and even most company directors send bank statements, hence it seems to have become an implicit requirement.
Juay how p60s seem to be for ILRs these days.

But again if you knew this could happen, why didnt yiu just submit them and then explain it to the cw, rather than letting your passport to be there?

[Shogun75]

But again if you knew this could happen, why didnt yiu just submit them and then explain it to the cw, rather than letting your passport to be there?

Thanks a lot for your reply...
I didn't submit the bank statement because the caseworker would refuse on the basis that the evidence don't "corroborate". Also, an unexpected direct debit on my current account caused I went overdrawn at some point during the 3 months, i.e. the caseworker could use my saving account (submitted for maintenance funds) to balance the overdraft on the current account (where salaries and dividends are paid) and refuse on the basis that I don't meet the "Maintenance requirement".
To be honest, given that an Immigration judge ruled in exactly the same case in 2011 that the 2 documents (Accountant letter + Payslips or Dividend Vouchers) are consistent with the Immigration rules, I wasn't expecting the UKBA to refuse or reject on those same grounds again because of the legal principle of "precedent". Reading some of the post on his forum I just have the impression that whatever the case the cw will always find a reason to refuse. I thought I was keeping things simple to avoid legal process...but here I am again!