Meeting the Spouse Visa Financial Requirement Through Self Employed Income

When you want your spouse or unmarried partner to join you in the UK on a spouse visa or family visa you have to be able to prove that the spouse visa or family visa applicant meets the financial requirement. There are many different ways in which the spouse visa financial requirement can be met but, in this blog, our Spouse Visa Solicitors focus on looking at ways to meet the spouse visa financial requirement through self-employed income.

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For advice on spouse visas and family visas call the expert London immigration lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

The financial requirement

Spouse Visa Solicitors don’t like to talk about love and money but they have to. That’s because one of the things that you have to prove when making an application for a spouse visa is that you or your sponsoring partner meet the financial requirement.

The financial requirement for a spouse visa is set by the UK government and it is currently:

• A gross annual income of at least £18,600 to sponsor a spouse or partner.
• If you have a child who is not a British citizen then you need an additional gross annual income of £3,800 for your first child so an income of £22,400 is needed to meet the financial requirement for a family with one child.
• If you have more than one child who is not a British citizen then the financial requirement is increased by £2,400 for each additional child. A family with two children therefore has to meet a financial requirement of £24,800 gross income per year. This increases to £27,200 if you have three children.

It can be relatively easy to prove you meet the spouse visa financial requirement if you have readily available savings of over £62,500 or a partner with a steady job with a regular income or a partner who is on one of a number of specified state benefits. It can be a lot harder to evidence that you meet the financial requirement if you are reliant on self-employed income to prove that the financial requirement is met.

The other basic financial requirement points made by immigration solicitors are:

• The self-employed income can belong to you as the spouse visa applicant if you are legally able to work on a self-employed basis in the UK or belong to your sponsoring spouse or partner and
• If your income as a sponsor comes through self-employment it is not your turnover that is relevant or your retained profit but the income you (or your sponsoring partner) draw from the business and
• There are some COVID-19 related income concessions if your self-employed income was affected by COVID-19 during a relevant specified period.

Spouse visa applications and self-employed income

Self-employed income can come from a variety of different business models, including:

• Company shareholder
• Partner
• Sole trader

Your self-employment must be ongoing at the date of the spouse visa application if you are relying on self-employed income to meet the financial requirement.

There are some complicated rules for company shares and self-employed income to exclude income from shares in blue chip companies as part of your self-employed income. Generally, the company has to be a specified limited company in the UK where the shares in the company are held by the applicant or by their partner or by listed family members. Any remaining shares should be owned by less than five other shareholders.

If you are a company shareholder and your income is through share dividends, rather than an employed role in the company earning more than £18,600 per year gross in addition to dividends, then it is best that expert Spouse Visa Solicitors double check that your shareholder income meets the complex financial requirement eligibility criteria.

Proving self-employed income to meet the financial requirement

The spouse visa immigration rules say you can prove you meet the financial requirement through self-employment by one of two means:

• Category F – using the last full financial year of self-employment income to evidence that you meet the financial requirement or
• Category G – using the average of the last two full financial years of self-employment income to evidence that you meet the financial requirement.

The financial year for calculation self-employed income in most cases of category F or G income is based on the HMRC tax year. The tax year runs from the 6 April to the 5 April of each year. There are a couple of exceptions:

• Self-employed income earned and taxed overseas falls within the tax year of the country in which it was earned and taxed and
• If you are employed as a director or an employee of a specified limited company in the UK then the financial year is the accounting year of the company and
• If a visa applicant or sponsor has lots of businesses with different financial year ends then the self-employed income cannot be combined to meet the financial requirement and
• A visa applicant and a sponsor can't combine self-employed income from different sources to get to the financial requirement if the self-employed income is calculated using different accounting years.

Combining self-employed and employed income to meet the spouse visa financial requirement

The spouse visa immigration rules allow you to combine category F and G income with other income to meet the financial requirement, such as:

• Salary from paid employment.
• Pension income
• Non-employment income.

However, the income needs to be from the same financial year and you can't combine savings with category F and G income to meet the financial requirement.

Using self-employed overseas based income to meet the spouse visa financial requirement

A spouse visa applicant can rely on self-employment income from overseas if it is:

• Income of the partner who is returning to the UK with the spouse visa applicant but the partner will need to show their self-employed income is continuing and will continue in the UK or
• Income of the partner who is returning to the UK with the spouse visa applicant but the partner will need to show they have a confirmed offer of employment with a start date within three months of their arrival in the UK. This can be evidenced by a contract of employment or job offer letter.

There are many different ways you can prove you meet the financial requirement through self-employed income but it is best to understand the complexities of the immigration rules and the evidence you will need to provide in support. That way you can present the best spouse visa application possible to avoid delay in getting your application processed and to reduce the risk of your visa application being refused because a Home Office official does not understand the information in your company accounts or wants extra information to support your application.

UK Online and London Based Immigration Lawyers and Spouse Visa Solicitors  

For advice on spouse visa applications call the expert London Spouse Visa Solicitors at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.