Post
by Clementine » Thu Jun 12, 2014 4:13 pm
Hello, VBG.
Hope your situation has been resolved by now. But, if not, here is my Tier 2 extension refusal experience. Hope you can pick up something useful:
Like you, I applied for Tier 2 (General) extension for further 3 years, but it was refused due to insufficient salary. My salary on my CoS was £27,000 as same as the required annual salary for my job. However, it was for 40-hour week, not 39-hour week that UKVI required, therefore my salary didn't meet the requirement.
Luckily for me, since 6th April 2014 the requirement has been lowered so my salary met the new requirement. My employer managed to assign me a new unrestricted CoS. *If you're extending your Tier 2 visa to do the same job for the same employer, your employer should be able to assign you an unrestricted CoS.
I used the Premium Service for my second application because I had only 2 weeks till my current visa expires.
However, there was a hiccup. At the first desk/reception, I was told that my CoS stated that my job starts 01/07/2014 and ends 01/07/2017 so it's 3 years AND 1 DAY so I should have paid fee for 'over 3 years', not 'up to 3 years'. So they refused to accept my application. I told them that I was just extending my visa so needed only 'up to 3 year' visa (you can't stay more than 6 years in total with Tier 2 anyway). But they said as long as my CoS states over 3 years, I have to pay for 'over 3 years'.
First, they told me to cancel my Premium Service appointment ('£100 wouldn't be refund'), go back to my employer and ask to change the date on my CoS, book a new appointment and come back...
However, after I pleaded, they told me to call my employer and ask her to put a note about the date error via the sponsor management system; then they would check their system as the note should appear on their system immediately; and then they would accept my application as soon as they see the update. So I called my employer and sorted out the date issue, and they accept my application and I got an approval that day.
I did it on Wednesday at 5pm at Croydon service centre. It was quite empty and the staff were overall helpful and nice, and it took me only 1 hour a half in total to get the decision. It's extra £400 to the application fee, but I thought it was worth it in my situation. You know, if your application have any issues, you can talk to the staff about the issues instead of just receiving a refusal letter.
