Doubt regarding previous earnings

[balak2]

I am currently in the UK on Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme. I have finally secured a job as a Software Developer. My visa expires on the 8th of Feb 2008. I would like to switch into HSMP at the end of the visa expiry date.

Before I tell you my problem, I'll give you a brief idea about where I stand in the current HSMP scoring system with problem areas in bold:

1. Qualifications - Masters - 35 points
2. UK Experience - UK MSc - 5 points
3. Age - 27 or under - 20 points
4. Previous Earnings - 20,000+ - 15 points

Now I'll go into my problem in detail. The problem areas are Age and Previous Earnings. My birth date is 15-Jan-1980. So if I want to claim 20 points for my age, I have to lodge my application before 15- Jan-2008. Let's be clear that I'll lodge my application before 15-Jan-2008. So I'll have a total of 60 points up to now for Qualifications, UK Experience and Age.

So the real problem lies in my Previous Earnings. My gross earnings for this job is £20,500. I'll be starting this job only on the 1st of Feb 2007. So if my application is lodged before 15-Jan-2008, I would not have earned 20,000+ in the last 12 months and therefore can't score 20 points for previous earnings.

I have been thinking about a possible solution for this problem and here are my suggestions:

1. Even though my current job is full-time, it's only four days in a week. So will taking a part-time job to boost my earnings help to solve this matter? Is there any restriction on the nature of the job?

2. Do I have to keep looking for a higher paying job to satisfy the scoring of previous earnings? This is quite a difficult option for me.

I would really appreciate if anybody could provide more information or further suggestions to my problem. Thanks very much for reading and I will be very grateful for your helpful suggestions.

[LondonBlonde]

balak2 - yes, you can get a part time job and add this to your total earnings. However this probably should be earned doing work in your field of expertise, otherwise you risk being rejected.

If your job is really stable, and you have an easy time finding additional work to top up your earnings, then maybe you are better off staying put.

LondonBlonde

[balak2]

Thanks very much for your reply LondonBlonde. The HSMP Guidance never says anything about the nature of the job. Is there any detailed caseworker's manual available regarding the current HSMP application process stating what is acceptable and what is not? I feel a lot of people are confused about the documents needed and the HSMP guidance is not very clear in explaining all the facts. Thank you

[LondonBlonde]

balak2 - ya yours is a good question because it's not written anywhere. It's just a guess at this point whether you can be rejected for topping up your income with non-skilled earnings.

I haven't seed a caseworkers manual yet for the new rules. I think even the caseworkers are struggling a bit with questions like this one.

LondonBlonde