How long do I have to been employed by same company for settlement visa?

[asmith]

Hi,

My wife has been here for a visit visa this year. We now want to apply for a settlement visa but I am concerned about employment.. To explain, I have been employed for 1 year 8 months with my current company, earning in excess of the required annual amount to qualify for settlement visa. I have accepted an offer from a new company and am about to join them mid-November. My salary will be higher than present, so no problems there but do I need to have been with my new employer for a certain amount of time before we can apply? It is very unclear from everything I have read online.. Does anyone have experience of this situation? Do I need to be with the same employer for 6 months or a year or does it not matter as long as I am earning above the required amount to prove financial stability?

Thank you

[Gary & Nok]

The requirement is that you earn the £18,600 minimum income. There is no time limit of being with an employer.
You will of course need to show relevant payslips for the period required, but there is nothing to say it has to be with the same employer.

[asmith]

Thank you for commenting. Are you 100% sure Gary?

[Gary & Nok]

Are you 100% sure Gary?

As sure as I can be in all the time I have been looking at these things but if you want a second opinion someone else will surely post something to either back me up or blow me out of the water.

There are many stupid rules from this Government but even they could not make you have to work for the same company for a set period of time before you could apply for a visa

[asmith]

Thanks mate. 100% agree with you. Anyone else have experience of this?

[Tom & Nok]

Hi

Gary & Nok's reply is spot on.

Just to give you added peace of mind, here's the relevant section from the current edition of the relevant Home Office document:

Home Office Immigration Rules Appendix FM-SE: “Family members – specified evidence”

pages 6 and 7 apply

QUOTE:

"
2. In respect of salaried employment in the UK (except where paragraph 9 applies), all of the following evidence must be provided:

(a) Payslips covering:

(i) a period of 6 months prior to the date of application if the person has been employed by their current employer for at least 6 months (and where paragraph 13(b) of this Appendix does not apply); or (ii) any period of salaried employment in the period of 12 months prior to the date of application if the person has been employed by their current employer for less than 6 months (or at least 6 months but the person does not rely on paragraph 13(a) of this Appendix), or in the financial year(s) relied upon by a self-employed person.

(b) A letter from the employer(s) who issued the payslips at paragraph 2(a) confirming:

(i) the person's employment and gross annual salary; (ii) the length of their employment;
(ii) the length of their employment;
(iii) the period over which they have been or were paid the level of salary relied upon in the application; and
(iv) the type of employment (permanent, fixed-term contract or agency)."


END OF QUOTE

So, as Gary & Nok rightly say, as long as you've been in employment and earning the £18,600 minimum salary or more for the period required, it doesn't matter how many employers you have or had.

In your case, as the above evidence requirements document specifies, you'll need that important letter from your new employer confirming salary etc.

Include a letter from your current company to confirm your "old" salary in addition to the letter from your new employer, and payslips to cover a 12 month period up to your settlement visa application just to verify that you've always met that £18,600 minimum income requirement. This is to ensure that the ECO can have no doubts whatsoever as to your meeting that requirement, even though you've changed employers. According to the Dec 2013 House of Commons report on the financial requirement, around 45% of settlement applications fail because they don't meet the financial requirement. I don't like leaving anything to chance!

Hope this helps.

[asmith]

Thank you! That is very helpful. I have a letter from my current company dated September that confirms I have been employed here for over a year on the required salary. I will ensure that I get a letter from the new employer too very soon after I join.. I would imagine it may help if in the letter from new employer it clearly states I am not on any probationary period..

[sisaket]

I worked for diffrent companies , sometimes just for a few weeks , it was never an issue nothing to worry about

[asmith]

Hi sisaket, thank you for your message. were you self-employed/contracting? If this was the case they may have noted that was the reason for several jobs and assessed it differently...

[sisaket]

Contracting

[asmith]

Thanks. That is different from being in permanent employment so they would have judged it differently..but Gary and Tom seem to have covered it all of so I feel a little more confident it should be ok

[awgs123]

Hi,

Just to throw my 2 cents in, when I applied two years ago; I'd literally just changed jobs (was in the new role for about 2 months when I applied).

I basically provided 12 months worth of payslips that confirmed I earned the minimum amount required to satisfy the criteria. I supported this with my new employment contract confirming I was a permanent employee, as well as my previous employment contract to show I had been continuously employed at the required financial level.

And my wife's visa application was green lit!

Hope that gives you some comfort; I think as long as you can prove that over the last 12 months you've met the criteria and are able to show you can continue to do so, I think you should be fine.