How to view and prove your status and share this with third parties

Third parties may include employers and landlords.

It is important to note that EEA citizens should still be able to show their identity documents to prove their rights in the UK until 30 June 2021.

The Home Office will not issue physical proof of your status unless you are a non-EEA family member who has not previously been issued a biometric residence card.

The confirmation email and the PDF letter you receive are not proof of your status so you will need to log in to your online profile to prove your status.

To log into your online profile, you will need to:

1. chose the identity document you used in your application, for example:

• Biometric residence card (BRC)
• National identity card
• Passport

2. enter your passport/ID card/ BRC number
3. enter your date of birth
4. confirm who you are

A ‘one-time’ six-digit access code will be sent to your phone or email address, depending on what you have specified. This code is valid for a limited time. Once you enter it, you will be logged into your online profile and be able to view your Pre-Settled or Settled Status.

Once you have logged into your online profile, you can also navigate to “Prove your status to someone” and receive a ‘share code’ to prove your status to others, such as employers and landlords.

Moving from pre-settled status to settled status

If you have been granted pre-settled status, you will still need to apply for settled status or you will lose your legal right to stay in the UK. You do not have to wait until the expiry date of your Pre-Settled Status stated in your Home Office decision letter.

As soon as you have lived in the UK continuously for five years, you should apply for settled status.

You need to have spent 5 years in a row living in the UK to switch from pre-settled to settled status.

During these 5 years, you can spend up to 6 months outside the UK in any 12-month period.

You might not be able to get settled status if you spend more than 6 months outside the UK.

The day your 5 years starts depends on whether:

• you’re from the EU, EEA and Switzerland
• you’re from a country outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland

If you’re from the EU, EEA or Switzerland

Your 5 years starting from the day you started living in the UK, not the day you got pre-settled status. You can apply for settled status before your pre-settled status expires – it’s a good idea to do this as soon as you have lived in the UK for 5 years.You don’t have to wait until your pre-settled status is about to expire to apply for settled status.

If you’re from a country outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland

The rules about when your 5 years of residence starts are different depending on if you’re a close family member or an extended family member.

You’re a close family member if you’re a:

• husband, wife or civil partner
• dependent parent or grandparent
• child or grandchild under 21 years old
• dependent child aged 21 or over

Your 5 years starts from either the day you arrived in the UK or the day you became a close family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, whichever was later. For example, if you came to the UK then married a German citizen, your 5 years starts on the day you got married. It doesn’t matter if the EU, EEA or Swiss citizen didn’t have settled or pre-settled status at the time.

You’re an extended family member if you’re a:

• long-term partner who isn’t married or in a civil partnership
• brother or sister
• aunt or uncle
• niece or nephew
• cousin

If you had a family permit when you arrived in the UK, your 5 years starts on that day. If you didn’t have one of these, your 5 years starts the day you got a residence card.

Why do companies consider buying business address services?

Here aresome reasons why many limited companies (or individual officers of a company) choose to buy a business address service:

1 Avoid public disclosure of your residential or home address

If you’re operating your business from home, it allows you to avoid public disclosure of your residential address. As the registered office address of a company (and the correspondence address of directors) is shown on the public company’s house register, you would have to disclose your address unless you purchase a registered address service – or have another optional address you can use for this purpose. Most people would prefer to keep their residential addresses private and use registered addresses services.

2Prevent unwanted visitors                                                                                                                   

A special case is where the company undertakes sensitive work or individual directors are involved in sensitive occupations. A company involved in political work or controversial activities – may be the subject of protests. In that case, the directors will be particularly keen not to disclose their home address on the public record.

Even for an uncontroversial business, it helps to protect you and your family from intrusion. Nobody wants unwanted visitors – be they disgruntled clients or business creditors – arriving at their homes.

3Reducing junk mail

Because the company’s registered address and each director’s service address are on the public register, these addresses will typically receive many unsolicited marketing emails. Marketers will often target the addresses of new and existing companies with advertising. A business address service, especially one where only official mail and not “spam” is forwarded on, can therefore help those running a company save time and avoid the frustration of handling junk mail.

4Prestige

A prestigious address – often a central London address – can lend your business a sense of status. To some customers and suppliers, a London address could increase your brand’s confidence and help boost your business.

5non-UK resident business owners

A company’s registered office address must be in the UK. Those who live outside the UK but are looking to form a UK company need to have an address in the UK for this purpose to be able to get all mail on time.

6Privacy

Even if you have a business address, you might not want your mail – addressed to you as a director of the company – being sent there, especially if all post is opened by staff daily. If you prefer to keep your official correspondence private from others in the business, you may prefer to have it sent to an alternative address.

7If you’re often away from home

If you spend a lot of time away from where you live, it may be easier to use a business address service so you can be confident official mail will be dealt with promptly rather than sitting at an address you won’t immediately access. Depending on your needs, you could arrange for mail to be forwarded to you at another address or scanned and emailed to you.

8Avoiding disruption if you plan to move

If you know you’ll be changing your address shortly or moving office, a business address service can solve all your hassles. Otherwise, you’ll have more work to do to tell the clients about the change of address, arrange for mail to be forwarded and company address to be updated.

9Restrictive leaseagreements or rental contracts

Many rental contracts or lease agreements don’t allow the property to be used as a company’s registered office or service address. In that case, you’ll need to find another address to use for the business.

If you need a business address service, please get in touch with us at info@capital-empire.co.ukor call on 07925769449.

What is the difference – Registered office, service address, and business address?

If you’re setting up a UK limited company for the first time, it is important to understand the differences between the various addresses that you’ll be asked to provide, including a registered office, service address, and business address.

Each address serves a different purpose, and you must adhere to strict company address rules regarding the location, use, and disclosure of some of these addresses.

A brief overview of the company addresses

Registered office address

This is the legal correspondence address of a company, required by Companies House and disclosed on the public register of companies. All official government mail will be sent and received there. A company may or may not be based at this address, but it must be in the same UK country (legal jurisdiction) where the company is registered.

Service or Correspondence address

This is the legal correspondence address of a company director, secretary, shareholder or guarantor (who joins a company during its incorporation and subscribes to the memorandum of association), Person with significant control (PSC), or an LLP member.

A service address is used as the official, legal correspondence address where the named individual will receive statutory communications relating to their role in a company.It is required by Companies House and will be disclosed on the public record, but it can be located anywhere in the world.

Business address

This is usually where a company is based and/or where the business chooses to receive non-statutory mail from clients and customers, suppliers, banks, etc. It does not have to be provided to Companies House and will not be disclosed on the public record unless it is also the registered office or service address. It can be anywhere in the world.