Tier 2 extension salary

[VirtualWaver]

Hi All,

I am currently on a Tier 2 General visa which expires at the end of next year.

The occupation code I work under advises that min salary is 25 and max is 40.

My company increased my salary last year based on my anual performance review and made it 28. My manager advised they will increase it this year further, again based on my good anual performance but he left the company within salary review period and the new manager didnt increase it as he just joined the company and couldnt do that.

My question is: if my company leave my salary 30 but then offer me 40 when assigning a new COS next year, will this cause any issues with Home Office? Will they ask why they offered 40 straight from 30 instead of increasing it every year or they don't bother about this as long as the salary is genuine and fair? Any experience with this?

Will appreciate your advise as it will help me to craft my strategy for future. Thanks a lot!

[VirtualWaver]

Hi guys,

Instead of taking long holidays I am just taking 2-3 days every 2-3 months and travel abroad, mostly to the same country (not my home country) to visit friends and also buy some baby books for my baby as I am teaching her an extra language. I always travel alone (my wife doesnt like flying and our baby doesnt have visa yet as she was born here) and usually take holidays from Friday till Tuesday and leave the UK on Friday and come back on Monday. One of the reasons of doing this is that I dont eant to leave them alone for a long time.

All my holidays are authorized and recorded and all are part of my anual holiday allowance. I was absent for 33 days last year (including weekends and business trips) and just 15 the year before so never reached or exceeded the absence limit.

My question is: is it a problem with UKBA that I am taking short holidays every 2-3 months instead of taking long ones? Will it make things hard for example will they suspect something or ask why I am travelling so often to the same place and require any evidence or something? Or they dont care about it as long as it is an authorized holiday and I didnt exceed the absence limit?

If they do I will stop travelling that often.

Will really appreciate your help. Thanks a lot!

[geriatrix]

if my company leave my salary 30 but then offer me 40 when assigning a new COS next year, will this cause any issues with Home Office?

No.

[VirtualWaver]

Thanks a million!

[VirtualWaver]

Hi All,

I am under Tier 2 General visa since 1st of January, 2014. My visa is valid until January, 2017.

My employer opened a new position and I was thinking to apply to that position because it's better salary and career-wise. Have a few questions regarding this and hope you guys will help (as always!).

1. What's the process of applying for this new role? If my employer advertise the position for required 28 days and then interview me and offer the job, do I need to apply for the new visa first and then get this position? Any nuances regarding this please?
2. If I apply for that role now and extend my visa, can it be extended until Jan 2020 (the month when my 6 year on Tier 2 will expire), I mean can my employer indicate that day in COS or they need to just write in years like 3 years or 5 years?
3. I've got a baby after I've got my Tier 2 visa and didn't apply for her visa yet (just waiting for extension). If I extend my visa now do I need to show bank statements to cover my baby or as she was born here I do not need to do that (I already showed bank statements for original Tier 2 general for me and my wife)? If I need to show the statements, what if the employer will tick the maintenance box in COS, will it do the trick? (all our savings are in my wife's account and I pay for all rents etc from my one so don't have savings in my account).
4. Based from your experience, is this a fairly painful procedure or there are some specifics I need to know? I am generally interested in RLMT: are there any specific nuances I need to know, that might lead to UKBA refusal?
5. Is it better to switch to that role now or just wait until my visa expiration date and then apply for another position?

I know some questions might be silly, but really need your advise guys as I need to decide now. Thanks a million!

[moonlight55]

1. You need to apply like any other candidate and your organisation has to conduct the RLMT fairly and as advised by UKVI. Since you are already from the same organisation, your employer should be ready to be questioned by UKVI since it will look like you had an advantage being part of the organisation. Do search this forum and you will find such cases being rejected by UKVI due to "genuineness" test.

2. The duration can be anything. Your employer can put the duration he wants.

3. You need to show maintenance for the baby. If you are applying together, then the maintenance tick should suffice.

4. RLMT has to be carried out on a genuine basis. As I said before, such cases have been rejected recently by UKVI since the organisation did not give that confidence to UKVI.

5. It's your call. In any case, it has to be a change in job scenario. Hence, same points above will apply.

[justdopposite]

2. The duration can be anything. Your employer can put the duration he wants.

Are you saying, there's no problem mentioning start/end dates for a period more than 6 years in the COS ?

[VirtualWaver]

Thanks a lot, moonlinght55!

Looks like it will be a big challenge for me. I probably need to hire a solicitor. I can understand, from their point of view this might be dodgy.

justdopposite: I believe moonlight55 meant that employer can assign any start and end date as long as it's no more than 5 years long.

[moonlight55]

@justdoopposite: I'm saying the duration of COS can be anything that sponsor wants as long as the total duration on Tier 2 does not exceed 6 years.

[moonlight55]

Yes, getting experts involved would be better to avoid rejection.

[VirtualWaver]

One more question please: do you know if language skills count? Because that position requires Russian language skills along with other technical IT skills and the office is outside of London, so my HR advised they were advertising it for a month and nobody applied. Can my company reject applicants because they do not know the required language or language skills are not counted by UKBA as an excuse? Thanks.

[geriatrix]

How proficient are you in Russian language? Is Russian language skills mentioned as a requirement in the adverts.?

[VirtualWaver]

I am quite proficient in Russian. It's my second language and the role does require Russian language skills and this is mentioned in job description as the candidate should provide support for Russian-speaking customers. They also require specific IT skills such as Citrix, AppSense, WebSense, VMWare and they say it's very hard to find a suitable candidate that will speak Russian and have all this skills. They said that they only had 2-3 candidates while the position was advertised for more than 2 months, but didn't hire them as all that people didn't have all the required skills to satisfy the job requirements. All this is mentioned in job description. Do you think I have chances for this visa-wise? I am already doing quite similar job with the same company supporting the same customer they are looking a specialist for.

[geriatrix]

the role does require Russian language skills and this is mentioned in job description as the candidate should provide support for Russian-speaking customers.

Then it counts.

[VirtualWaver]

Thanks a lot! Looks like there are some chances.

[VirtualWaver]

Hi All,

I am currently on 2133 SOC code. As you can see, the difference between New Entrant and Experienced rates is quite big. I currently earn 27K and my visa expires at the end of 2016.

Two questions regarding this please.

1. According to Codes of Practice 2015 list my rota is based on 40 hours per week, however I do 37.5, so in this case my salary should be 37,781. Could you please confirm this?

2. Will it be ok if my employer won't increase my salary to this level now but will mention it in COS next year so I will start getting this salary once I will extend my visa? Will this cause any issues with HO like they suspect something is wrong if the employer is increasing the salary from 27K to 37K or something else? Thanks.

Thanks a million!

[VirtualWaver]

Hi guys,

My baby born 2 years ago when I was on my current Tier 2 General visa. I didn't apply for any visa for her.

My question is: once I will extend my current Tier 2 visa (or apply for a new Tier 2) do I have to include my baby in my application as my dependent or it's optional for me and she can still live here without visa as she is doing now? I am not planning to travel with her.

Thanks a lot!

[moonlight55]

The baby will need a visa only when he/she travels out of UK and return. If no travel is intended, visa is not required.

[VirtualWaver]

Thanks a lot! Will save me a lot of money!