Tier 1

Hello everyone,

I am goin to apply for Tier I in April. I have a Mater's degree and also my equivalent salary of last 12 months according to http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/pointscalculator is above 20K.

So, i am optimistic in applying for the visa. But i have a query.

I earned some money as a freelance coder and trainer for a company on weekends. I have the letter from the company's HR while paying me the salary. But as it was part time, it was paid by cash.

1) What supporting documents do you think i should attach with it for claiming points for the said salary?

2) Will my part time salary be counted?

Kindly help.

thanks and regards,
Ashish

If you did not pay the cash into a bank account in full and therefore cannot show the bank statements showing receipt of the funds then the chances of the income getting accepted can be quite slim. You need to get evidence from the employer and perhaps from an accountant confirming your self-employed activity - invoices to your Client, contracts, etc, and confirmation that funds were paid in cash.

well yes, luckily, i did transfer the cash component into the bank account, as it was quite a sum of money ( i received it at the end of the completion of a project i was doin for designing the web site for a small time firm).

so wil it be enough to show the deposit into my bank account and the letter from the employer?

plus i dint really get the accountant part. if u could please explain it a bit in detail.

thanks a ton for your help.

regards,
ashish

You worked as a freelancer so you were probably self-employed, meaning that the Company were your Client and you were not their 'employee'. This is an important distinction to make. If you use an accountant to prepare your tax return based on the additional income then this would provide a further evidence from another source.

The letter from your Client confirming the work done, the amount they paid and when this was paid should be sufficient, however, when combined with your bank statement.

I hope you have a Masters degree or, if not, that you are about to submit your application!

Good luck and come back to tell us how you get on.

yes, u r completely right! i was working as a freelancer, and of course i have the letter from them and my bank statement.

thats wat i basically wanted to clarify if these both wud be sufficient, because my tax return papers are a bit complicated ( it was for 2 months before i joined school again, so i was not eligible for returns, etc etc). hence i was worried if the two (bank statement + letter wud suffice! so u think it wud be sufficient to provide these two statements?

yes, i am a postgraduate .. actually i will get my final degree in convocation on april 24.. so i am gonna apply in april end. do nu think.. they r goint to change the point structure any further? or is it just a minimum requirement?

thanks so much for ur help. i will definitely keep u posted on further developments.

thanks nd regards,
ashish

I assume you have checked that your qualification will be considered equivalent to a UK Masters degree using the self-assessment points calculator at the Home Office website.

It is so very hard to even guess what changes, if any, might be made next. It seems that British workers striking over EU workers being given 'British' jobs has resulted in the the Home Office trying to restrict highly skilled workers from outside the EU coming to the UK (they cannot stop EU workers from coming here)! Only a short time ago they were saying that skilled workers from outside the EU were valuable to the UK economy - it seems that they believe the same skilled workers to be of no benefit when the economy is in trouble - strange and surely just for news headlines and political benefit?