how to maintain Tier1 status with employment

[farscape80]

Gurus,

I am new to this board and i am thinking of applying for Tier1. From what i understand this visa will allow you to work for any employer.

However i wish to know if there are any explicit rules as to how long you can be without a job(may be searching) without jeopardizing any of the visa status rules.

Regards

[savvy_000]

Its simple, Tier 1 visa is valid for I think 2 or 3 years, when you want to extend it you need to show past earnings for 12 months, so technically you can be unemployed for the first 1 or 2 years, although if you are working your job has to come under highly skilled category. You never know what HO can dig deep.

[farscape80]

Thanks savvy_000.

Okay i guess that makes sense. You can get your initial Tier 1 based on points based system, but then to get the extensions you need to be employed 12 months minimum before you reach settlement stage.

IMHO - I wish they had built a bit more flexibility into the system..say employed 70% of the time before extension etc.