T2-ILR salary increment, Very nervous

[caanbigboy]

Dear Respected gurus and advisers,

I need your opinion on my below mentioned situation.

I am due to apply for my ILR in June 19. The issue is that my current salary is not £35800 however all the employees will be receiving annual increment of around 4% in March however post this 4% increase my salary will still be £200-300 short to meet £35800 hence I spoke to my manager and asked if my increment could be increased to meet £35800. The annual increment will be applied to all staffs from March payroll so I have couple of payroll cycles which will show my new salary receipt.

Provided I get the desired increment will this create issue/get highlighted when I apply for ILR?? Has anyone in similar situation overcame?? I am very nervous. Please help

Thanks all

[zimba]

Possibility it will be viewed negatively. Having basic min salary of the ILR threshold is seen as an attempt to enable abuse of the immigration system and your sponsor could be investigated.

[caanbigboy]

Thanks Zimba for your prompt response, Just wanted to make my situation bit more clear here. My current salary is £34,320 however post annual 4% increase it will be £35,693 which is £107(the amount I am trying to get covered) short of the threshold of £35,800. The company policy states that the standard annual increase is 4% however at managers discretion it could be low or high and this applies to all the 4000 employees in the UK.

The first new salary for all the employees will come into force from March hence I will have March, April, May and June at increased salary level.

I am already eligible to apply for ILR on 10 year route however I prefer to have the ILR via 5 year route as the application will be handled by my company's immigration consultants.

Appreciate you comments guys

[zimba]

As I said having min salary threshold is a red flag. It can be justified but if I was you I will choose not to get tangled up in that

[feivourite]

As I said having min salary threshold is a red flag. It can be justified but if I was you I will choose not to get tangled up in that

Hi Zimba,

Could you explain a bit more why meeting the threshold would be abuse of the system as this is what's been set up in the immigration rule? Can they hold this as a ground for refusal? And how much more above the line would not seem to be an abuse to their system?

Many thanks

[zimba]

I didn't say it is abuse of the system. I said it is seen as an attempt to enable abuse of the immigration system. The min salary threshold requirement was established presumelly to signal that not all Tier 2 applicants shall be entitled to settle in the UK permanently by default, particularly if their position/work is not shortage critical in the UK job market. So an employer/sponsor who is giving you enough raise right before ILR just so that you can settle permanently is defeating the purpose of such provision in the rules. This is why UKVI ensures that sponsors/employers do not actively enable Tier 2 migrants to settle permanently via last minute 'goodwill' salary raises.

Now you and I can disagree or even dislike such requirement (after all no threshold can be used to determine whether your work is economically positive or not) but as you asked me for a clarification I provided one, I hope it makes sense.

[ShrutiBlue]

I am actually in a similar boat. My salary has been at the minimum threshold required for my PhD level job since I extended my Tier 2 visa. Now, however, the threshold has gone up by £1000 and so my salary needs to be increased by that amount just before I apply for my ILR.

Would explaining the situation in a cover letter help (in my case and in the case of others)? I just wasn't aware that the minimum threshold had gone up and that my employers would have to increase my pay to match that. They keep moving the goalpost

[CR001]

I am actually in a similar boat. My salary has been at the minimum threshold required for my PhD level job since I extended my Tier 2 visa. Now, however, the threshold has gone up by £1000 and so my salary needs to be increased by that amount just before I apply for my ILR.

Would explaining the situation in a cover letter help (in my case and in the case of others)? I just wasn't aware that the minimum threshold had gone up and that my employers would have to increase my pay to match that. They keep moving the goalpost

Please post in your own topic.

PhD jobs are exempt from the ILR minimum threshold, which is what the OP is asking about. This is separate to the SOC threshold.

[ShrutiBlue]

I am actually in a similar boat. My salary has been at the minimum threshold required for my PhD level job since I extended my Tier 2 visa. Now, however, the threshold has gone up by £1000 and so my salary needs to be increased by that amount just before I apply for my ILR.

Would explaining the situation in a cover letter help (in my case and in the case of others)? I just wasn't aware that the minimum threshold had gone up and that my employers would have to increase my pay to match that. They keep moving the goalpost

Please post in your own topic.

PhD jobs are exempt from the ILR minimum threshold, which is what the OP is asking about. This is separate to the SOC threshold.

My question is still about sudden increment in salary, same as the OP, and if providing a cover letter may help me or the OP. If this is still different then I will create another topic.

[feivourite]

I didn't say it is abuse of the system. I said it is seen as an attempt to enable abuse of the immigration system. The min salary threshold requirement was established presumelly to signal that not all Tier 2 applicants shall be entitled to settle in the UK permanently by default, particularly if their position/work is not shortage critical in the UK job market. So an employer/sponsor who is giving you enough raise right before ILR just so that you can settle permanently is defeating the purpose of such provision in the rules. This is why UKVI ensures that sponsors/employers do not actively enable Tier 2 migrants to settle permanently via last minute 'goodwill' salary raises.

Now you and I can disagree or even dislike such requirement (after all no threshold can be used to determine whether your work is economically positive or not) but as you asked me for a clarification I provided one, I hope it makes sense.

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

May I ask if my salary is right on the threshold but it's been increased 3-5 months prior to the application would that seem alarming too?

Also, the HO only ask for 1 month pay slip and 1 month bank statement, how would they go around to find out when your salary has been increased? I thought as long as the last month payslip shows the correct amount or above would do the job?


Thanks

[zimba]

I cannot give you a specific answer. I explained in detail the logic behind the rules and why a salary raise will be an issue.
UKVI has access to all your PAYE records via HMRC. Also they know your previous salary since your extension application (as set in the COS) and they can see you are being paid more. Checks will be made that the taxes were paid and you were employed.

[feivourite]

Hiya,

do you have any update on this?

Dear Respected gurus and advisers,

I need your opinion on my below mentioned situation.

I am due to apply for my ILR in June 19. The issue is that my current salary is not £35800 however all the employees will be receiving annual increment of around 4% in March however post this 4% increase my salary will still be £200-300 short to meet £35800 hence I spoke to my manager and asked if my increment could be increased to meet £35800. The annual increment will be applied to all staffs from March payroll so I have couple of payroll cycles which will show my new salary receipt.

Provided I get the desired increment will this create issue/get highlighted when I apply for ILR?? Has anyone in similar situation overcame?? I am very nervous. Please help

Thanks all

[caanbigboy]

Hello All,

Can you please let me know if i need upload the whole scanned passport copy including blank pages or only the main and exit/entry stamps page will suffice?

I scanned the whole passport and its total size is around 9mb, would I be able to upload any file more than 5mb in size?

Appreciate your help in advance

[zimba]

Scanning empty pages is pointless

[caanbigboy]

Scanning empty pages is pointless

very true Zimba, thank you

[caanbigboy]

Hi All,

I have included the following as Cohabitation proofs for me and my partner, could you please advise are they sufficient or need to include any more:

Council tax - me and my partner covering last 4 years
Joint bank a/c - me and my partner covering last 2years 10 months
Credit card statment - partner's only 1year 9 months
Rent agreement - me and partner covering last 4 years
Driving licence of both
Marriage certificate
Birth certificate of out 2 children

Appreciate your help in advance

[zimba]

Cohabitation proof last two years from 3 sources in total is enough. Any document with joint names is good enough

[caanbigboy]

Hi,

I received my ILR approval today via super priority service at Croydon. I want to thank the gurus and others who helped with their valuable advise including Zimba.

My salary was exactly £35800 increased in March via annual increase for all employees, I spoke to my manager and ensured I receive the increment to cover the ILR threshold and waited 3 months to collected the payslips for submission.

Also uploaded the full passport copy to be in safe side and the person at the counter double checked if I had uploaded the full passport.

all the best to everyone who are in the ILR process