london_2014 wrote:cs95tdg wrote:I'd say they would look at both of the following when it comes to employment:
1) Whether you paid the necessary taxes/NI on income
2) Whether you were employed while you had no right to work under the immigration rules that applied to you at the time. I cannot comment on how they would know/or if they would check how many hours someone worked. There are many different restrictions that apply to those who are in the UK under different immigration categories (e.g. Visitors, asylum seekers, students, those who have no leave to remain by overstaying etc...) They will most probably look to see if the applicant was in breach of immigration rules based on their immigration history combined with employment history.
so you mean to say that HO will take yearly NI and tax (from HMRC) and divide it by standard yearly weeks hours to find out about how many hours each person worked? in doing so they will have to go back to HMRC, obtain the necessary documents, do the maths, apply rules applicable durin that time and then make a decision????.
No, that's certainly not what I mean't. There is no standard formula that they can apply to establish whether you have exceeded the hours you were allowed to work. I honestly cannot comment on this specific student concern alone. My comment was a general one highlighting the fact that there will be different work related restrictions that apply to those who were on different types of visas.
I don't see a scientific way that the HO can establish whether a student has exceeded the permitted hours. Unless the hours are officially recorded somewhere within HMRC (which I doubt very much) or one of the applicants previous application payslip evidence. Unless the employer is still operating, the HO will also not be able to approach them to verify.
I'd hazard a guess that they'd attempt to contact employers or investigate only if something stands out when they get the HMRC employment history and look at it in conjunction with the applicants immigration history. E.g. An excessive annualincome over a year where the applicant was on a student visa. Or income over a year where someone was on visitor visa - no right to work etc...