Rejection Again But.....

[iyanu]

I received my package today from HO and my application was refused again based on my past earnings.

I have claimed 75 points but was given 50 points:

1. Academics - 15 pts awarded

2. Work Expereince - 25 pts Awarded


3. Past Earnings - 0 pts awarded.

4. Partner - 10 pts Awarded



my previous post on this-
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=4013

The reason my case worker gave to me looks absurd, he wrote:

" wt ref to para 8.3.3, you will note that not all income will be considered.
Renumeration from unearned income such as the various allowances payment indicated on the evidence provided fom you coy are not used when calculation your income. Your basic salary covered by this evidence amount to XXXXXX naira and when converted amount to XXXXXBGP......and consequently we are unable to award point for this category."


I want to say that this is a big suprise to me. I have not seen anybody rejected based on is allowance in this site this way.

Every of my income (Basic salary and allowance) are covered in my salary letter and payment showed on my payslips as my earned income. All these were properly documented to HO.

In Nigeria where I come from all these are my earned income and I work hard to earn all these every month.


What shall I do now?

Please you r advice and comment.

I strongly believe I have a chance for a free review here.

Iyanu.

[Yinkuze]

Iyanu

Dont panic please, coz i think this is quite straighforward

The guidelines says past earning is based only on 'taxable income' so if your allowances are taxed then it should included in the calculation of your past earnings. you just need to tell them tis in your review letter

Now tell me, can ur caseworker/anyone easily deduce if your allowance are taxed from mere loooking at ur payslip (because u didnt sedn Tax return) if YES, then u need to mention tis in your review letter too

their argument will be that u didnt send ur tax return to show if the allowances are taxed or not but u can still point them to the tax figures on your payslip showing deductions on gross income (basic + allowance) and not just on basic

another alternative is to send tax cert which wont be acceptable in a review.

your review case will be strong and i am sure u will win

i hope other posters on the forum will help out with pieces of advice too

praying along...

[guest 000]

hello, I am also from Nigeria. Sorry on your rejection. I was also rejected based on the same reason. The case worker calculated my earned income based on basic salary.

I have however sent a review describing the senario Yinkuze painted as my taxes were only deducted from the addition of my basic and allowances (gross salary).

There is no harm in a free trial. Try and be as convincing as possible. I am still awaiting the result of my review too. Take care & all the very best.

[iyanu]

Thanks Yinkuze and guest 000,

I think what I will do is to follow your advice.

Thanks.

[iyanu]

Thanks Yinkuze and guest 000,

I think what I will do is to follow your advice.

Thanks.

More advice please.

[Yinkuze]

Iyanu, it is also VERY IMPORTANT to tell them that NOWHERE in the guidance specifies 'past earnings category' will not take into account Housing/transport or other allowances. it only talks about rents on properties/dividends etc which all relates to a person who has a private business

the guidance only specifies thus:

============
7.3.3 It is important to note that not all income will be considered. Unearned income such as dividends from investments
(unless it is in a company in which you are active in day-to-day management), property rental income, and interest on
savings or funds received through an inheritance are not used when calculating your income.
===========

Let them understand that your SALARY comprises of basic+houseing+transport+other bonus/allowances and all is RECOGNISED and DECLARED to tax authorities and taxable under the Nigeria tax laws to the last kobo, and that it is the normal practise in Nigeria to spilt salaries into various allowances unlike in the UK where salaries are not splited.

be of good cheer

[makon]

wha i will tell all nigerians to do is to get their income tax clearance certificate. points are given on taxable income. the case worker may be wrong but you can help yourself by providing them with evidence of your taxable income and this can only be through TC.

[Boom05]

Makon is very much right, guys do something about the tax clearance certificate. Cheers

[Chess]

Makon is very much right, guys do something about the tax clearance certificate. Cheers

Are these easy to get in Naija?

[Yinkuze]

Chess

Easy there! dont know what u mean by 'easy'

whatever u mean, its not 'easy'

[guest 000]

Chess,

The tax clearance is not easy to get in naija, that is why it is so painful that HO keeps tossing our applications despite the fact that they are presented with all other forms of evidence that show proof of earnings.

What a world.

[Chess]

Chess,

The tax clearance is not easy to get in naija, that is why it is so painful that HO keeps tossing our applications despite the fact that they are presented with all other forms of evidence that show proof of earnings.

What a world.

Cant you use pay slips and a letter from employer?

Those are 2-forms of evidence. You need to think ''outside the box"

[guest 000]

Those were the two forms of evidences I used plus my bank statements to show the credits into my account.

HO has bounced it twice ie application & review. I will be requesting my 2nd review next week. Hope I come out lucky.

[Boom05]

Tax clearance is not easy to get Chess. Its just that i feel its a conclusive proof of your income, especially for you to have your income decleared to the tax authorities.

[iyanu]

Hi guys thanks for your comments.

I have done a review request to HO team hoping they will consider.

I see no reason why I should be denied but they insisted that there is a secret policy that any Nigerian applicant who does not provide tax clearance, earnings should be based on basic salary alone. Though I dont believe this. I think case workers just take decision based on what they felt at that time.

For Instance, I provided all the evidences reqiured, my payslips and salary accounts are properly reconciled. My employer salary letter says it all. I made a spreadsheet explanation and do a standard conversion, yet these guys said NO. I dont know of any other place but in Nigeria, yuor income (basic + allowances, at least most of the allowances like housing, transport, utilities etc) are earned income. There is no two ways about it. ths is what our tax laws state.

If they had insisted on TCC, not everybody can provide TCC of course. But that is a different ball game altogether. And having given us the opportunity without TCC, they should beleive us. They should believe me if they can accept my employer references that I am a member of staff of the coy which I am claiming earnings from.

I have been using this same salary to obtain VISA to the UK, why now rejecting it.

So you can see, sometimes these decisions may not be objective.

There is no despirado here please. Just explaining from clear conscience.

All advice taken and a lot of people have also learnt from our cases. This is to tell everyone that do not relent on the face of adversity or struggles, fight to the end. And GOD will see you through.

I want to advice all Nigerian applying to think very well about what they are presenting for their earnings. It might land you a rejection.

cheers!

[makon]

Let me tell sth, caseworkers use varying standards to decide a case. From my observation, they do not adhere to any guidelines they might have been given. For example, 2 friends of mine working for the same company in Nigeria applied for HSMP with the SAME documents. One application was approved the other was not because the case worker ask for TC! Double standards? Maybe or maybe not. If two of them were from different countries we would have said that it is because the other is from Nigeria. The same two people requested HSMP to return their docs through me (since I am in the UK) for fear losing it in transit. One case worker adhered to the request, the other said that he is not permitted to send docs to a "care of" address in the UK. The point am trying to make here is that some case workers are flexible are some are not. If you cannot get a TC try and get your company's acc or someone in HR to write a letter explaining that tax is deducted from both basic salary and allowances. I know this might be difficult because they may want to know what you want to use it for! But try something, don't just send your payslips and bank statement (really they don't need bank statement at this stage). If you do it the easiest way to rejection. The recently released guidelines lay emphasis on two evidence before you can claim point in the earnings category.

[iyanu]

Hi Makon,

I think you are very right, this solely has to do with the caseworker initiatives.

As for me, I am waiting for the result of the request review I made.

I dont have TC, it is usually issued by my coy and I will stick to them giving me a confirmation letter, which I am working out right now. In the case the HO refuse my review.

As the case progress I will give you report but I believe it will be well in the end by God's grace.

Thanks once again for your input.

[Bissy]

Interesting read guys but guess what, I sent my TCC for 5 years and I was still not awarded any points on income bcos the caluculation was done on my basic salary alone despite attaching TCC which showed my total taxable earnings.

The funny thing was, that was my second application, in my first application I was awarded points based on those same documents which were used in the second application.

So it's anyone's gues what's really happening.

[yedi]

Bissy,

Just want to ask you whether HO verify any of your supporting documents. The reason i'm asking is that a decision has been made on my application yestreday and HO did not call my employer neither my former employers for any verification. But ealier in this board , a guy confirmed that all his supprting docs was confirmed by calling all his employers.

Why i'm asking you this question is that we are from the same country -Nigeria. Please i need your reply asap.

Thanks,
yedi

[makon]

It has been stated somewhere in the HSMP guidelines that documents may be verified. My opinion is that this will be done at random and at the discretion of the case worker. they cannot certainly verify every applicant's application.

[Bissy]

I dont believe they did any verification on the documents sent to them, bcos contact details of the referees were included in the event that they needed more info but I dont think they did.