Weird Tier 1 Application

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:47 pm

Hi All,

I am a long time reader, first time poster on this forum. Since I came to the UK in Sept-08, I have always been playing catch up with the minimum criteria for the Tier 1 general. When the criteria was changed to a minimum of 80 points late last year, I gave up trying to apply for the Tier 1 general and was resigned to switch from my PSW to a Tier 2 early next year. My employer does support Tier 2 applications.
However, a larger than expected bouns announced earlier this month has meant I come extremely close but not over the 35k earnings that I would require to apply just before Tier 1 general closes on March 31st.
To give a rough estimate I am about 2k-2.5k short, so not a very small amount but not impossible to earn in the next 2 months. Like anyone else, I would rather be on the Tier 1 general than on a Tier 2 .
With the help of some contacts I have managed to get a 2 month contract with an Indian company for the differential amount which would help me hit just over the 35k. Will work for them on the weekends.
Now, my situation is clear. I am only taking up this job to meet the 35k mark so that I can apply for the Tier 1 G.
I took this situation to a consultant, I thought it would be better to use one given the unusual nature of my application. He said my application looks dubious and this is what I don't understand. I have checked with the company in India and I will have payslips /letter from my employer by the 20th of March and I will be able to get bank statements as soon as I get paid. I understand that getting paid roughly 1 lakh per month as a consultant in India looks dubious but surely if my documentation is legitimate my application can't be rejected. The company is 5-6 years old but fairly large in that it has stores in 5 cities in India employing probably atleast 300 people so there should be no concern from that aspect.

Does the consultant have a point? Can anyone who has applied for a Tier 1 in similar manner let me know what they think? Also, are there any recommended consultants to use? Also, will it be worthwhile to mention in my application that I have taken up this second position solely to reach the 35k mark to apply for the Tier 1 G before March 31st. Any suggestions/thoughts/ things I should be weary of will help. Thanks

J

blackthunder · Post by **blackthunder** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 8:46 am

do you want to risk ur present psw or tier2 visa?
coz can not say the out come but in worst scenario if they suspect any fraud or similar thing , then ur present visa also cancelled ..
so it is upto you...

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:12 am

Hey thanks for the advice, but as I mentioned I am not doing anything fraudulently. The company is an upcoming brand in India and my documents will all be authentic. My concern is more as to whether they can reject purely on the basis that the income is relatively large amount to be paid to a consultant and that I am only doing it to reach the required earnings mark

pkumar · Post by **pkumar** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:15 am

1 lakh per month ... trust me your consultant is correct ...... UKBA people are very smart and they are regional specialist (along with local hire like VFS) .... UKBA has become very smart .. they ask for company paper, tax,work you have done, etc to make sure you were genuine ...

Trust me i know atleast half-dozen friends who had company/business and are ready to show income for me ... but i am 100% sure application will get rejected and my friend will get audited ... it is so easy in asia ... many people have done it as well and now UKBA is very well aware of "part time" scam.

Having said that .. if your company is genuine and has all THERE OWN paperwork ready for auditing then you can go for it.

As pointed out .... wrong representation means you loose your visa and 10 year ban. Be very careful.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:29 am

Ok that is useful to know. The company is not a friends company, I know someone senior who works there who I had worked with previously. They agreed to help me out because it is a case of exactly that.
But yes, the company is genuine, the documents will be authentic. I will just have to make sure then, all the work I am doing for them is documented.

From your experience, do you know if there can be any kind of valuation on the work done? As in, I will be doing pricing analysis for them, they are a retail company. Can the homeoffice challenge the amount being paid to me, given similar work in India will probably not be paid anywhere close to the amount?

pkumar · Post by **pkumar** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:38 am

You hit the nail on the head ..... that's what the doggy part is ... 1 lakh needs to be justified ... and guess what that company will come under scanner ... the way they audit the company is on .... pay structure of the employee ... now it a VP of the company is getting 95K per month and you getting 1 lakh then company is in trouble with employment law .....

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:45 am

Ok thanks a lot for that. In that case I will have to rethink this. While it would be great to be on a Tier 1G, I am still in a very good position.
I just thought since I was so close to getting there, I would consider this option but I don't want to jeopardise my long term future.
The other option would be to work in a Mcdonalds, subway etc but that would only prove the point of why they have had to enforce these extremely harsh regulations.

martincyy · Post by **martincyy** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 11:32 am

It seems you're under Tier 2 now. As far as I understand a tier 2 holder can only work for the company who provides the sponsorship.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:55 pm

No mate. I am on Tier 1 PSW and I would be working for the other company on weekends but as explained earlier, the size of the earnings over just 2 months will potentially cause a big problem so I have to consider that as an issue.

martincyy · Post by **martincyy** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:25 pm

jason23 wrote:No mate. I am on Tier 1 PSW and I would be working for the other company on weekends but as explained earlier, the size of the earnings over just 2 months will potentially cause a big problem so I have to consider that as an issue.

in this case, i don't think this will be a prolem as long as you can provide genuine documents.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:12 pm

Thanks for your answer. But I think the point raised earlier about my earnings relative to a VP in the company has raised a big concern for me. My documents and work are legal and authentic but the salary being paid to me is well inflated only to enable me to reach my earnings criteria. I am not sure how the company will be able to justify it and I assume that would give sufficient reason to reject the application.

If I had it over a period of 6 months earning a normal indian wage I think it would have been fine.

martincyy · Post by **martincyy** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:45 pm

jason23 wrote:Thanks for your answer. But I think the point raised earlier about my earnings relative to a VP in the company has raised a big concern for me. My documents and work are legal and authentic but the salary being paid to me is well inflated only to enable me to reach my earnings criteria. I am not sure how the company will be able to justify it and I assume that would give sufficient reason to reject the application.

If I had it over a period of 6 months earning a normal indian wage I think it would have been fine.

I agree that the casework will suspect that whether your income from india are genuine or not, which will lead to document verification. If the your documents pass the verification, you will get the visa. if not, you won't. So I think you need to communicate well with the india company you are working for to make sure they can prove you are working for them when they get contacted. That's the tricky bit of your case.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:53 pm

Well no actually. From that aspect I will be fine as work, documents, company are all legitimate. It is just this:
I will be paid roughly 1 lakh a month for doing a job that pays far less than that
A senior manager at the company may be getting paid 60k a month. It would be tough for the company to justify my salary in my opinion. Hence, the doubt in my case and as stated earlier is it worth the risk of having my current psw and future Tier 2 cancelled. I will speak to additional consultants as the consensus seems to be " Too risky"

martincyy · Post by **martincyy** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:03 pm

jason23 wrote:Well no actually. From that aspect I will be fine as work, documents, company are all legitimate. It is just this:
I will be paid roughly 1 lakh a month for doing a job that pays far less than that
A senior manager at the company may be getting paid 60k a month. It would be tough for the company to justify my salary in my opinion. Hence, the doubt in my case and as stated earlier is it worth the risk of having my current psw and future Tier 2 cancelled. I will speak to additional consultants as the consensus seems to be " Too risky"

I know a real case. The applicant was refused because when the caseworker called the company he used to work for, the receptionist told the casework she didn't know that guy.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:08 pm

That would be outrageous. How can you ask a receptionist that? Surely, it has to go through HR. A receptionist could be new, work in only one office etc. That seems way to lax.

jijo · Post by **jijo** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 8:27 pm

martincyy wrote:It seems you're under Tier 2 now. As far as I understand a tier 2 holder can only work for the company who provides the sponsorship.

No mate....You can work for some other employer but same work..

mulderpf · Post by **mulderpf** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:50 am

If you have to "inflate" your earnings now just to be able to apply for Tier 1, what are you going to do when extensions come around? It doesn't always get easier and if you have a way to Tier 2, just take it. It's not the worst thing in the world.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:50 am

Well to be honest, I am very close to the minimum requirement right now. In 2 years time I will be well above it, that is assuming the current criteria still applies which I believe should. The criteria at extension is the same as the criteria at initial application time.
I agree with you about the Tier 2, it just feels that I will have so much more freedom and flexibility with the Tier 1 G and it is within grasp for the first time

drmastoi · Post by **drmastoi** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:27 am

HI there

I think you should go for it and apply .
There are many people who are working in india while sitting in Uk for example Cosultant dont have to be in india.they can advice and do consultations online or over the phone and get paid. But in this case uplift ratios will not be applied.

If you were in india on short visit and worked.uplift ratio will be applied.You need to prrof you were in india at that time e.g entery stamp on your passport and letter from employer will suffice.

You have good chance provided your documents are verifiable.
I dont think UKBA will reject only coz THEY think you should have been paid less.

You have only one chance. you should Apply.Better go thorough a consultant.

All the best

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 11:18 am

Thanks for the encouragement

Its unfortunately quite a tricky situation. For as many people who say I should go for it, there will be people who say don't risk it. What I intend on doing is asking a couple of more consultants.If they too advise against it like the first one, then I guess I will have to refrain from applying.
At the end of the day, I am still in a good position even if its not ideal. I will provide an update for anyone else in a similar situation once I know more.

nsm2010 · Post by **nsm2010** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 5:16 am

Hi,
I have applied for T1G extension with legitimate documents, where bulk (around 70%) of my earnings were coming from outside UK as a result of my consultancy services to Middle Eastern companies. I had contract letter from the companies, invoices, payment slips corroborated with the bank statements. The only thing is that I didn't get multiplication factor on my earnings outside UK. I got my extension without having any problems.

As far as your documents are legitimate, I don't think so that there would be any problem for you.

nsm2010.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:27 am

Thanks for your reply.

The concern in my case is not so much earnings from outside. It is

1) These earnings are only for 2 months so that I can meet the eligible criteria for Tier 1 G
2) The size of the earnings relative to what a person in India doing a similar job is double or treble.

These two criteria are worrying me

nsm2010 · Post by **nsm2010** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:45 am

Why are you comparing yourself with the person working there in India. I believe that if you are working for the Indian company form UK, you would be doing some specialist's / consultant's job for them, which should not be comparable with the normal working guy's salary in India????

If this is your case then you need not be worried about your income in two months. collect all the legitimate documents, be fair and submit your case.

jason23 · Post by **jason23** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 10:49 am

Well, I would like not to compare but as I mentioned earlier in this thread.
I have negotiated with the help of some contacts in this company to be paid approx 1 lakh per month for Feb and Mar just so that I can apply for the Tier 1G. Based on my UK job I would just fall short.
Another member pointed out, that my company in India would find it hard to justify my salary if a GM or VP in the company was earning less than that. Also, more worryingly my application could be rejected and current leave to remain could be terminated. This is my really big concern. I got similar feedback from a consultant, hence I am in this situation of asking people with similar previous experience.

jijo · Post by **jijo** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 10:33 pm

drmastoi wrote:HI there

I think you should go for it and apply .
There are many people who are working in india while sitting in Uk for example Cosultant dont have to be in india.they can advice and do consultations online or over the phone and get paid. But in this case uplift ratios will not be applied.

If you were in india on short visit and worked.uplift ratio will be applied.You need to prrof you were in india at that time e.g entery stamp on your passport and letter from employer will suffice.

You have good chance provided your documents are verifiable.
I dont think UKBA will reject only coz THEY think you should have been paid less.

You have only one chance. you should Apply.Better go thorough a consultant.

All the best

Is it applicable for people who has going on leave? I am almost in the same position, so any of our Senior members can confirm this. I will be getting UK salary(annual vacation so the UK salary will be credited) too.. If I work during my vacation in India, will it be applicable for uplift ?

Jijo

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Weird Tier 1 Application

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