Can money received through self-employment and directorships be used to satisfy the spouse visa financial requirement?

The basic position is that money received as a self-employed person or company director can be used towards meeting the financial requirement for Spouse Visa.

This is, however, subject to restrictions; and highly specified evidence will need to be submitted to the Home Office to support the application. The majority of documentation tends to revolve around proving that correct taxes were paid on income received.  

The required threshold of self-employment / director’s income is £18,600 gross per annum. This level of income can either be shown for the last full financial year prior to application submission or as an average across the last two financial years.

Crucially, if relying on income as a company director, the company must be a ‘specified limited company in the UK’. Accordingly, it is not possible to rely on income generated from directorship of an overseas company. A specified UK limited company means a company where you are either a director or employee, you hold shares in this company, and fewer than five other people hold any remaining shares.

With an initial application, it may be possible to rely on a sponsor’s income generated through self-employment overseas provided that the sponsor will be taking up self-employment within 3 months of relocating to the UK.

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The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please don’t hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.

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