Tier 1 renewal question

[kmittal82]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently under a Tier 1 visa, which is due to expire on 5th September 2011. I am employed by a multinational private company in London, and have a clean credit history in this country.

Due to major reforms in the company, I am at the risk of being made redundant. I wanted to know if I am required to be under employment when applying for Tier 1 renewal? If not, then for what period of time must I show my salary before applying for renewal? (e.g., do I need to show a constant salary for the last 3 months prior to application?)

As a last point, what is the soonest I can apply for renewal? My present understanding is that this period is 1 month (i.e. I become eligible to apply on 5th August), however, if it can be done earlier, it would be extremely benificial to me

Thanks in advance
Kunal

[jimmymcad]

First of all sorry to hear about your circumstances. I personally expereinced it, so i can understand truly how disturbing this is. But eventually this will go away, don't worry.

Coming back to your questions.

You do not need to be in continuous employment during the 12-month period being assessed, so you can claim for a period of earnings less than 12 months;

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ... /earnings/

you can apply anytime if you are qualifying, however your vissa issue date is when they will consider your application and not the expiry date. Therefore, you may end up on further extensions. I got my visa extended 6 months earlier due to redundancy reason. I had to apply earlier because, job recruiters and even companies were asking me for valid visa duration. I lost few of interviews because of only 6 months remaining visa. If you need any more information please let me know. Hope it helps.

[kmittal82]

First of all sorry to hear about your circumstances. I personally expereinced it, so i can understand truly how disturbing this is. But eventually this will go away, don't worry.

Coming back to your questions.

You do not need to be in continuous employment during the 12-month period being assessed, so you can claim for a period of earnings less than 12 months;

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ... /earnings/

you can apply anytime if you are qualifying, however your vissa issue date is when they will consider your application and not the expiry date. Therefore, you may end up on further extensions. I got my visa extended 6 months earlier due to redundancy reason. I had to apply earlier because, job recruiters and even companies were asking me for valid visa duration. I lost few of interviews because of only 6 months remaining visa. If you need any more information please let me know. Hope it helps.

Hi Jimmy,

Thanks a lot for your reply and encouragement.

>you can apply anytime if you are qualifying, however your vissa issue date is when they will consider your application and not the expiry date

Could you kindly elaborate on this point? I thought the earliest you can apply for extension is 1 month prior to your visa expiry date? If this is not true, then will I be able to apply now, and will the extension date be considered from the time the home office receives the application or from the time the visa is officially set to expire? For instance, if I apply now and say the home office gets the application and approves it on say 15th April 2011, then will the new visa be valid from 15th April 2011 - 15th April 2013, or will the renewal still be 5th September 2011 - 5th September 2013 ?

Once again, thanks for your help.

[jimmymcad]

Not a problem, your new visa will be valid from when they consider your application, not from the visa expiry date as mentioned on HO website

When to apply
We encourage you to make your application at least 1 month before your current permission to stay expires. However, if you apply significantly more than 1 month before your permission to stay expires, and you want to apply for settlement later, you may not have accumulated enough total permission to stay. This is because your new permission to stay will begin on the date when we make the decision, not the date when your current permission expires.

For more information please read:-
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ... gyourstay/

[kmittal82]

Not a problem, your new visa will be valid from when they consider your application, not from the visa expiry date as mentioned on HO website

When to apply
We encourage you to make your application at least 1 month before your current permission to stay expires. However, if you apply significantly more than 1 month before your permission to stay expires, and you want to apply for settlement later, you may not have accumulated enough total permission to stay. This is because your new permission to stay will begin on the date when we make the decision, not the date when your current permission expires.

For more information please read:-
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ... gyourstay/

Brilliant, thanks for your all your help. I'll get my application in straight away.

PS: Not too worried about "5 years on Tier 1", since I already had 2 years on a Work Permit before switching to Tier 1, so I will still have 5 years of required stay to apply for ILR anyways (provided they dont decided to switch ILR rules over and over again!)