Tier 2 (General) to ILR- Two employers (Gardening Leave)

Dear All,

I am using this forum for the first time and perhaps hopeful that I can receive some good advice on applying for ILR from Tier 2 (General).

Please forgive me for the long details outlined below. However, I hope anyone advising (answering) will find it useful to have a full picture of my current situation.

Employer 1:
1) Acquired the Tier 2 (General) Visa, BRP issue dated 23 Aug 2016 valid until 14 Sep 2019.
2) Was on "holidays" and out of the UK (physically) from 30 Nov 2016 until 03 Jan 2017. That comes to a total of 21 working days. (i.e. excluding weekends and public holidays in the UK).
3) Resigned from the job on 16 Jan 2017.
4) My ex-boss was highly disappointed and on 17 Jan 2017, I was asked to physically leave the company premises and was advised that I was still paid employee of the company and must be available for work (if required) until 10 February 2017.
5) I stated in writing (via email) that I am happy to honor the contract and serve the notice period.

Employer 2 (new employer): Went through formal recruitment processes and was offered a job. New employer complied with all the recruitment requirements, e.g., RLMT, appropriate salary, etc.
1) From the copy of the new employer's Tier 2 (General - Changes of Employment), "Current CoS status date: 04 January 2017" and "Date Assigned:04 January 2017 ".
2) Acquired Tier 2 (General) Visa again, BRP issued dated 20 Jan 2017 valid until 05 Sep 2021.
3) Employment start date (as written in the contract - "date of commencement of the employment) for the new employer: 06 February 2017.

So, having read the above information, I have questions for my ILR Application which I will be making in August 2021.

Questions:
1) Will there be any problems with the ILR application? As I have started working for the new employer on 06 February 2017. I.e., 5 working days before my old employer's contract ended. Again, I was on "Gardening Leave" (If I may consider it) as mentioned above. (Can I consider it as "Gardening Leave"?)
2) If there are any problems for 1) above, then how do I overcome them?
3) Do I need a "supporting letter" or "letter of confirmation" confirming my "employment and holidays" dates from my old employer for my ILR application? (Again, I doubt that my previous employer will even entertain my request through email or royal mail post).
4) If I do need a letter from an old employer, what "letter" and "details" should I ask them to provide me? Is it just the actual "physical" dates when I was working for them? (I.e. excluding the "Gardening Leave Period"?) or (and) holidays when I was out of the UK during my time with them?
5) What if they don't provide me with any details I request and simply ignore me? What options do I have then?
6) Can my new employer requests my employment and absence details from my old employer? If they can, then what and how (by email or through the special delivery post) they should ask?

I hope I have can receive some advice from people with similar experiences and perhaps from the "respected gurus" in the forum.

Thank you.

T2toILR.

You are overcomplicating things. Your employment contracts and your immigration status are two different matters. The Home Office is only interested in the latter.

From the immigration perspective you had valid leave throughout the periods you described and the fact that you had two employers will have no bearing on your ILR application provided you meet all the requirements for settlement.

Your current sponsor will have to confirm that they still require you to work for them for the foreseeable future, and that the you are and will be paid the appropriate salary. Nothing is required from your first (old) employer.

Your 1 month Christmas / New Year holiday abroad in 2016 is irrelevant. The continuous residence requirement throughout the 5 year qualifying period allows 180 days absence per year.

Thank you manci for your reply and guidance. I much appreciate it. I shall not complicate things and stay with what you said.

Also, I would appreciate it if you could educate me on the salary requirement too.

For my SOC 2311, the salary requirement says a going rate of £40700 per annum on 39 hours per week basis as per the "going rate" table published on the www.gov.uk website. It states as follows, "The annual salaries for these jobs are based on a 39-hour working week. They must be pro-rated for other working patterns, based on the weekly working hours stated by your employer."

My contract is 37 per week and my annual salary is less than £40700 per annum. Will this have an impact on my salary requirement? I am asking these questions as it is not clear from the government website if I am exempted from any salary threshold as I am employed on SOC 2311.

Please advise.

Thank you.

For SOC code 2311 the min. salary (going rate, option A) for a 37 hour working week would be 37/39*40700=£38,613.

Hi Maci, thank you againn for all your help and advice. I much appreciate it.

manci wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 10, 2021 2:42 pm

For SOC code 2311 the min. salary (going rate, option A) for a 37 hour working week would be 37/39*40700=£38,613.

For the sake of completeness for SOC code 2311 jobs there are transitional arrangements in place which mean that under certain circumstances the min. salary required could be less. See para SW 14.5 of the Immigration Rules
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... led-worker