Tier 2 ILR - salary increase not notified

[mansoorash]

Hello everyone,

Seeing the recent thread on delays caused due to substantial increase in the salary, just prior to the ILR application, I think I might be in a bit of a kerfuffle myself. And I will highly appreciate if someone in the know could answer my query.

I am a fully qualified accountant working with my current firm for the past seven years (Initially on PSW and subsequently on Tier 2G). I will be completing my five years on Tier 2 in August this year so I will qualify for the ILR in the same month. My salary at the time of Tier 2 extension (Sep 2015) was £31,000 and I am the only non-settled worker in the company of around 12 employees with three offices/branches. The Tier 2 extension application was submitted in person at Croydon centre during Sep 2015 and was approved the same day.

After a meeting with my boss and explaining my position of not being able to stay on tier 2 visa for longer than six years and the possibility of me resigning and finding work elsewhere to be able to satisfy the £35k rule, I was able to negotiate a pay rise of £4k which took my pay to £35k from 1st Nov 2016. And since I have already had a couple of pay rises prior to Tier2 extension that were never reported, my boss didn't feel the need to notify the Home Office of the raise. (My salary at the time of initial Tier 2 application in Sep 2012 was £20,800 which by the time of my extension, in Sep 2015, had been raised to £31k. There wasn't any issue at the time of extension.)

I can argue that the although I am still an accountant as I was at the time of my initial Tier 2 application, the level of complexity and the portfolio of clients has substantially increased so the pay rise is totally justifiable and my salary is in line with the industry average/market rate but then this is just my opinion.

The firm that I work for has never acquired the services of an immigration advisor as my boss was of the opinion that it was a straight forward exercise so did not want to incur extra costs. I can always request him to notify the Home Office of the raise, albeit six months past the event, if this is what needs to be done. But do you guys think that I should take my chances and see how it goes or get my boss to notify the Home Office prior to my application?

I will be most grateful for any input/comments.

[zimba]

Your company is a registered sponsor and MUST comply with its reporting duties as outlined by HO. Tell your boss that the Tier 2 license could be revoked for failure to comply with sponsor duties

Here is the guide he needs to read: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -employers

[mansoorash]

Thank you for the caution, Zimba. I am not expecting another pay rise anytime soon so as far as the salary is concerned, such a scenario will not arise. Everything else is in good order.

Having said this, are you suggesting that the Home Office is notified of the pay rise that took place late last year prior to my ILR application (bearing in mind it's already been six months since the raise)? As I have said my boss was of the opinion that the raise falls under 'annual increment' so Home Office needs not notifying.

I must say that hindsight is a rare commodity. If I'd known that this will potentially be an issue, I would have definitely requested my boss to inform the Home Office regardless.

[zimba]

I am no expert in this but given your 'raise' does NOT seem to have been an annual increment or bonus, it should have been reported via SMS. This might not be a big deal at the end but given the salary increment was done to match the ILR threshold of 35K, it raises questions.

The guide says:

a change of salary from the level stated on the CoS, other than changes due to annual increments or bonuses

Are you entitled to receive annual increments or bonuses ??

[mansoorash]

Thank you, Zimba.

The annual increment is not guaranteed (don't think it ever is in most cases) and therefore not part of the contract. In my opinion, it's always a matter of discussion based on one's past performance and future goals.

On one hand Home Office states that it expects new entrants to earn the experienced rate (which can be substantially higher than the initial salary) so it's only natural that employees who are on the cusp of completing five years on Tier 2, negotiate/seek a pay rise from their employers to qualify for the ILR. I am sure some manage to succeed in gaining a raise whilst others don't.

I totally agree with you on the point that the raise should have been reported. I have had massive raises before the extension application (26% in one instance) which weren't reported either but Home Office didn't seem to have any issue with it and the extension application went smoothly. And surely, if the sponsor fails to fulfil its duties then the license cannot be suspended/revoked retrospectively which leads me to believe that even if the license is suspended after the submission of ILR application (due to the failure to notify) then the application will not be affected. This is of course with the underlying assumption that the role is genuine, which it is.

We are where we are. I do, however, have another option of applying for ILR on 10 years basis in December this year. Do you think I should better wait and apply for ILR under long residency instead?

[zimba]

I cannot give you any suggestion to be honest. You might be fine under 5 year ILR. However this is all at the discretion of HO.

[iforilr]

Hello everyone,

Seeing the recent thread on delays caused due to substantial increase in the salary, just prior to the ILR application, I think I might be in a bit of a kerfuffle myself. And I will highly appreciate if someone in the know could answer my query.

I am a fully qualified accountant working with my current firm for the past seven years (Initially on PSW and subsequently on Tier 2G). I will be completing my five years on Tier 2 in August this year so I will qualify for the ILR in the same month. My salary at the time of Tier 2 extension (Sep 2015) was £31,000 and I am the only non-settled worker in the company of around 12 employees with three offices/branches. The Tier 2 extension application was submitted in person at Croydon centre during Sep 2015 and was approved the same day.

After a meeting with my boss and explaining my position of not being able to stay on tier 2 visa for longer than six years and the possibility of me resigning and finding work elsewhere to be able to satisfy the £35k rule, I was able to negotiate a pay rise of £4k which took my pay to £35k from 1st Nov 2016. And since I have already had a couple of pay rises prior to Tier2 extension that were never reported, my boss didn't feel the need to notify the Home Office of the raise. (My salary at the time of initial Tier 2 application in Sep 2012 was £20,800 which by the time of my extension, in Sep 2015, had been raised to £31k. There wasn't any issue at the time of extension.)

I can argue that the although I am still an accountant as I was at the time of my initial Tier 2 application, the level of complexity and the portfolio of clients has substantially increased so the pay rise is totally justifiable and my salary is in line with the industry average/market rate but then this is just my opinion.

The firm that I work for has never acquired the services of an immigration advisor as my boss was of the opinion that it was a straight forward exercise so did not want to incur extra costs. I can always request him to notify the Home Office of the raise, albeit six months past the event, if this is what needs to be done. But do you guys think that I should take my chances and see how it goes or get my boss to notify the Home Office prior to my application?

I will be most grateful for any input/comments.

Hi Mansoorash,

Hope you are doing good.

I am exactly at the same boat as you for ILR.

Did you proceed with your application for ILR? If so, how did that go? Did HO picked up on the raise? Did you update new salary in SMS just before applying?

Because I am going for my ILR through tier 2 General route end of this year and during my extension last year I was on 32,000 and then I had 3 annual increases (2500 in 2016, 1000 in March 2017, 1000 in July 2017) up until july2017 which brought me upto 36,450. As usual my HR did not update SMS with pay rise and she is happy to update SMS now which I am concerned of. Just wondering how did it go for you. Your experience would be a huge help for me and others on my situation.

If you didn't update payrise in SMS what documents did you carry with you to prove HO that it was an annual pay rise.

Please help by sharing your ILR application experience.

Thanks

[oscarok]

Hi mate, I have encounter the same situation. The Cos of another 2 years Tier 2 visa shows 35000k. But after the visa has been issued, the company wants me to look after more valued clients, so the actual salary have been increased to 50000k. But the HR did not notice the changes of this to the HO. I am about to apply ILR, could you share your experience please? Did you change the salary information via SMS before making the application or you just went straight to make the application? Thanks!

[bcilr18]

hi

did you have to update SMS or if not how was your appointment?

Please share

Thanks

[zimba]

The OP has not visited since Nov 2017. Avoid bumping old posts