ILR & Salary?

I hope my words do not fail me now and I can articulate this correctly. I have held 3 work permits to date and will qualify for ILR in July. My latest sponsor says that due to me taking unpaid leave for three weeks they will not be able to allow me to apply in the July. Their reasoning behind this is when I apply for my ILR I would need to reflect three months of full salary on my payslips or bank statements without any payment breaks such as unpaid leave.

My question is: Does this really matter? So many people take unpaid leave for all sorts of reasons. In my case it was my Dad that was involved in an accident and I flew back to South Africa to be with him. My wife is due to start her studies at university in September and without ILR she will be unable to commence her studies. She was meant to start last year but because of changes to the law she had to postpone. It would be a real blow to her should this a happen again.

MarioSA wrote:I hope my words do not fail me now and I can articulate this correctly. I have held 3 work permits to date and will qualify for ILR in July. My latest sponsor says that due to me taking unpaid leave for three weeks they will not be able to allow me to apply in the July. Their reasoning behind this is when I apply for my ILR I would need to reflect three months of full salary on my payslips or bank statements without any payment breaks such as unpaid leave.

My question is: Does this really matter? So many people take unpaid leave for all sorts of reasons. In my case it was my Dad that was involved in an accident and I flew back to South Africa to be with him. My wife is due to start her studies at university in September and without ILR she will be unable to commence her studies. She was meant to start last year but because of changes to the law she had to postpone. It would be a real blow to her should this a happen again.

Looks like your latest sponsor is trying to stop you from applying for ILR.

So you reckon I can still apply even though I have a break in my salary?

Mario, your "sponsor" is not the one making decisions regarding who may or may not apply for ILR. That decision rests solely with the caseworker who will be processing your application.

My suggestion to you is to apply in the normal way, with your all the relevant documentation (including the letter of employment from your "sponsor"). I don't know where you got this nonsense about no payment breaks but unless your "sponsor" is a qualified immigration lawyer I would not listen to a word they have to say on the matter.

I was hoping you would answer my question Dawie. Thanks. My sponsor will not allow me to use my own immigration lawyer but instead they insist that all applications go via their immigration consultants. I know that this boils down to money. I work as a consultant and a large percentage of my earnings are taken by my sponsor. Once I get my ILR, I am no longer required to pay that percentage to my sponsor. Does this make sense? So I fear I find myself in a situation where I may not receive this letter I need to apply for my ILR.

Mario, you have to realise one thing....your ILR application has absolutely NOTHING to do with your sponsor. It is a private matter between you and the Home Office. The only thing you require from your employer is a letter of employment. There is absolutely no valid reason for your sponsor/employer to be involved in your ILR application at all.

You do not require an immigration lawyer (unless you feel you need one). All the information regarding ILR can be found on the Home Office website including the the application form. It is a straightforward application.

What you should do is tell them that you require a letter of employment for a Schengen visa application (which is a perfectly valid reason to obtain a letter of employment) and then use this letter for your ILR application.

You are not the first person to find themselves in this situation. You are essentially being blackmailed by your employer and depending on how brave you feel, you might want to draw your employer's attention to the fact that blackmail and extortion is a criminal offence in the UK.

Dawie wrote: What you should do is tell them that you require a letter of employment for a Schengen visa application (which is a perfectly valid reason to obtain a letter of employment) and then use this letter for your ILR application.

Schengen Visa: Based on your circumstances, your sponser will issue a letter addressed to the embassy of X or Y not whom soever concerned. If that the case , you still try to get this letter and use this for ILR (basically, you have to show you are on employment with xxx, that's all you require)

Whenever I used to get a letter of employment for a Schengen visa, my employer just used to write a standard "To whom it may concern" letter not particularly addressed to anyone.

When I applied for ILR they did the same without any problems. As long as the letter contains confirmation of your employment details it doesn't have to be addressed to anyone.

Cheers for your comments guys. On two occasions thus far whenever I have applied for a Schengen, my sponsor addressed the letter directly to the embassy involved. I doubt very much I will be able to get the letter I need for my application. The current work permit rules and regulations are open to so much exploitation from sponsors. I guess I’m at the mercy of my sponsor. Thanks again guys for your comments.

Then tell them you're trying to buy a property and you need a letter to present to mortgage brokers confirming your employment.

I never bothered getting proper letters of employment from my employers for any purpose - I just printed a "standard letter" onto one of the letter headed papers I use everyday and pp'ed it. Completely legal, by the way - didn't forge anyone's signature or anything. Is that possible where you work?

Stedman, unfortunately I’m not based at my sponsors offices and have no access to letterheads. Since my sponsorship began, I have been based at another site working for a client. If I were to get my hands on a letterhead, would H.O. not call to confirm the letter of employment with my sponsor? They should really change the rules when applying for ILR.

What is the reason, do you suppose, for a likely refusal on the part of your employer to write the required letter?

Money. I work as a consultant and demand my own rates from a client however, they take 22.5% of my earnings. Once I get ILR, I will no longer require sponsorship and thus they loose the 22.5% they take from me. I will then be free to work via my own limited company or through an umbrella company which would charge me much less.

MarioSA wrote:Stedman, unfortunately I’m not based at my sponsors offices and have no access to letterheads. Since my sponsorship began, I have been based at another site working for a client. If I were to get my hands on a letterhead, would H.O. not call to confirm the letter of employment with my sponsor? They should really change the rules when applying for ILR.

I think your sponsors are bang out of order. I applied for ILR based on long residence so I did not need to show an employer's letter, but prior to ILR I had used the method I described every time I applied for an extension at the HO (or embassies for visas) and no-one ever contacted the number on the letterhead to crosscheck. My payslips would've indicated I was still employed, and even if they'd called the number they would have been told just that anyway.

I think you should just go ahead and apply, but try the mortgage thing as that's how I got the "standard letter" in the first place - it was emailed to me as a word document so I just printed it out on letterheaded paper whenever I needed it.