Tier 1

For those of you who have applied or are applying for the new Tier 1 visa which was introduced on 30 June - good news! The processing times are pretty good. I sent my application in the first week of July and found out today that it has been approved. That's approval within 15 working days!

Nice

Wow, that's swift! I'm applying for mine within the next week.
Just need to get a bank statement from July 15 until now.

Did you have any hiccups at all?

Did you use any templates for letters or presenting your maintenance fund or anything?

Who qualifies for the Tier 1 visa? Is it a replacement for HSM? Sorry, little bit out of date these days

Replaces HSMP.

Key differences:
-apply to the high commission rather than to the home office first, then to the BHC.
-initially for 3 years rather than 2
-requires maintenance funds of £2800(?) for three months prior to application, which is much stricter than before

Not sure of other major differences.

PFunk for the maintenance funds, in addition to getting your 3 months worth of bank statements (and I suggest you get 4 months just to be safe), get a letter from the bank saying that you have had X amount of funds in that account since whatever date and that your funds have not dropped below that amount. I had a wicked bank consultant who did all sorts of letters for me.

This link is great: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/tier1/general/supportingevidence/
If your docs are in compliance with what's on that link then you sholdn't have a problem.

The other thing is this qualification compatibility issue. I don't know where you got your degree from, mine was a Bachelor from UofA and that was deemed compatible (despite that I did not go through the exercise of getting a letter from Neric). I suggest that if your qualification is from any other institution or anything other than Bachelor/Masters/PhD you need to be sure that it's compatible. That might mean getting a letter certifying compatibility from Neric (which takes 3-4 weeks and costs).

Oh and I didn't have any hiccups though my application did have to get referred to the mothership but that could be because mine may have been one of the first to be processed in NZ.

Sweet!
I'll enquire with the bank. I sent a few $ to England a couple of months ago so hopefully that won't pose too much of a problem.

Degree is a bachelor's from UofA so no drama there

as long as the amount didn't drop below 2,800 pounds throughout the entire 3 month period that you are relying on, you will be fine. but if it did even for one day then it won't suffice.

and watch out for currency exchange rates. i think they calculate the amount according to the rates on the last day of your statement, or something like that. your best bet is to have well in excess of 2,800 pounds. we used our savings account which we never draw on.

mmm... I'll do some calculations (spread across 3 accounts) and if it looks shaky, I'll just wait until it's been 3 months since I sold my car, from then there's no doubt

so you are relying on the total amount from all 3 accounts combined across a period of 3 months? gosh that's sure making things easy for your immigration officer! :>

i read on one of these immigration forums (which are crawling with Indians by the way - is all of India suddenly moving to UK or something???) that some guy got declined because his funds dropped below the required amount for 1 day due to currency fluctuation. he was gutted bc he lost the processing fee and had to wait another 3 months obviously.

sweet mother of fuck and to think how easy it was to get 3 years ago.

Dance monkeys! Dance!

what were the requirements 3 years ago?

did you get yours processed in under 15 working days? might have been easier before but it sure is quicker now

Having taken most of the steps to apply for HSMP earlier this year, I have to say Tier 1 is easier and quicker.
The only thing that's tougher is the specific amount for maintenance funds.

that was my impression too. the requirements haven't really changed much (other than maintenance) and yet the processing time and the hassle have been significantly reduced by having your visa application and entry clearance processed at the same time and it all being done in Wellington.

that's not to say that getting to speak to anyone at the British High Commission about your specific application isn't like pulling teeth, but still, the application process does seem easier than it used to be.

There were two - one for approval, one to get the passport stamp. The whole process took about 2 months. Oh there was a hold-up in there too, I got my form returned to me initially as I didn’t say whether my card was visa or mastercard. Because, you know, CALLING ME on the cellphone number on the same page wasn’t cheaper than the time and cost of sending back the whole form recorded post.

I think the cost was just shy of £700 all up for both stages. I did it all myself – my degree from a Polytechnic was fine, and I had to prove income from the previous 12 months through bank statements and payslips. I think I threw in my tax return too for good measure.

Back then, I didn’t have to leave the country to apply. And there was no “maintenance of funds” i.e. I didn’t have to have any money built up and set aside, just prove my income. I guess those are the two things that were better back then.

How long, after you get the initial tier one visa, do you have to wait before you can apply for indefinite leave to remain?

I think it's been reduced to 4 yrs. Where as for you and I, I think it's 5 yrs. I'd have to live here 6.5 yrs as 1.5 yrs was spent under working holiday visa and wont count.

The hsmp extention seems fairly easy to get - I did the online assessment and got 90 points when you only need 75. You get 10 points just for being under 32 years old and they take you age from when you originally got your hsmp, not when you apply for the hsmp extention.

I my visa expires in 2010. I have to apply the month before, to get Indefinite Leave.

It would have been nice to have it reduced back to 4 years but C'Est la Vie.

I was here for 2 months shy of the 2 years before I was able to qualify in terms of income level to switch, so I will have clocked up 7 years in 2010.

What's the HSMP extension though? Is that if you don't want to go onto permanenct residency?

Alright now here's a question. On the Applying for Naturalisation part of the home office website, it says:



Does this mean i can apply for citizenship in 2010? For some reason I thought that I needed to be on indefinite leave for 12 months before I could apply for this. Can anyone shed any light?

Actually, don't quote me on that 4 yrs to residency under tier 1. Might be wrong there, I know they get 3 yrs approved though first up, instead of 2 yrs. The hsmp ext is what I will need to get when my 2 yrs under old hsmp is up. Although it could be called tier 1...not hsmp ext, but that's essentially what it is.

The first part for me was 1 year...after that, I got a 4 year stamp (It used to be 3, until about 3 months before my year 1 expired they shifted the goalposts).

I think you will move to the Tier one scheme when you apply as the HSMP as an application no longertr exists after 29th June.

Yeah I think you are right, basically I will need another 3 yrs before I can apply for residency and that's what they give you when you first apply too. So probably no distinction between the two.

5 years. Tier 1 is a 3 year visa but is extendable.