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Unable to get employer's letter

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MinesToo
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Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:39 pm

Unable to get employer's letter

Post by MinesToo » Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:55 pm

Hello,

I am in need of dire assistance. My spouse is employed by xxxxx and I am seeking to apply for entry clearance shortly. For the last month he has been attempting to get an employer's letter which states his annual salary and also addresses the fact he has been working additional hours in order to meet the financial requirement.

This could be along the lines of "--- has an annual salary of £XX,XXX but has been working additional hours in order to meet the financial threshold. The total of his last six months payslips are £X,XXX."

From what I gather, his line manager has stated it's against policy for them to write a pay-related reference and it should go through HR instead. He's contacted HR who sent out a letter but it was not sufficient - it stated his full-time salary but mentions he was part-time. It did not reference any overtime. He contacted them and they said they won't mention overtime pay as it's not guaranteed. He explained the situation once more to which they sent out a second letter - which was exactly the same as the first.

He spoke with his manager's manager who also stated it was against policy to provide pay-related references for third parties. He joined a union and had them send an inquiry on his behalf to several grades higher, who also stated it was against policy.

We are at a complete loss as we cannot get this employer's letters which specifically addresses overtime. We are always referred back to HR who seem to keep misunderstanding the situation.

Does anybody have any advice regarding the next steps? I'm terribly anxious because this letter is the one thing preventing us from applying. He is taking it further with the union but he is not very hopeful. The employee's helpline he contacted were not of any assistance. This is causing us both incredible distress and mental deterioration.

It seems incredibly frustration that HO require this employer's letter but absolutely refuses to issue one to one of its employees. What does my partner do?

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seagul
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Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by seagul » Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:28 pm

MinesToo wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:55 pm
My spouse is employed by xxxxx

It seems incredibly frustration that HO require this employer's letter but absolutely refuses to issue one to one of its employees. What does my partner do?
Never disclose your employer on this open forum.
The opinion expressed as above is neither a professional advice nor contesting/competing to other member's opinion/advice.

MinesToo
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Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:39 pm

Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by MinesToo » Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:35 pm

seagul wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:28 pm
MinesToo wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:55 pm
My spouse is employed by xxxx

It seems incredibly frustration that HO require this employer's letter but absolutely refuses to issue one to one of its employees. What does my partner do?
Never disclose your employer on this open forum.
It won't me change this anymore. Can it be deleted?

Moderator edit: All references to your employer's name has been removed.

MinesToo
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Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by MinesToo » Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:44 pm

Could a moderator please remove my original post as it includes spouse's employer? I am sorry - I will repost without employer.

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Casa
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Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by Casa » Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:54 pm

MinesToo wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:44 pm
Could a moderator please remove my original post as it includes spouse's employer? I am sorry - I will repost without employer.
No need to re-post. You employer's name has been removed.
(Casa, not CR001)
Please don't send me PMs asking for immigration advice on posts that are on the open forum. If I haven't responded there, it's because I don't have the answer. I'm a moderator, not a legal professional.

MinesToo
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Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by MinesToo » Tue Feb 18, 2020 12:04 am

Casa wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:54 pm
MinesToo wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:44 pm
Could a moderator please remove my original post as it includes spouse's employer? I am sorry - I will repost without employer.
No need to re-post. You employer's name has been removed.
Hello,

It's still present at the bottom. Could you remove the last paragraph from my original post? It reads "It seems incredibly frustration that HO require this employer's letter but XXXXXXXXXXX. What does my partner do?"

Please see original post and remove this as well.

MinesToo
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Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:39 pm

Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by MinesToo » Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:08 am

Does anybody have any advice? This is killing us :( His manager said something about GDPR and giving out information to third parties but this is beyond impossible... I just don't see how they are refusing to issue a letter stating his employment and total pay over last 6 months. He's fighting this alongside his union but I just don't know what else to do....

Please help. This is torture.

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CR001
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Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by CR001 » Tue Feb 18, 2020 6:15 am

???

member/ChugaLuvMe/

immigration-for-family-members/employer ... l#p1880010

announcements/multiple-member-id-s-t11811.html
Administrator wrote:
Fri Dec 01, 2006 2:46 pm
.

This is forbidden activity.

You may have one member ID here and only one. We make exceptions only under specific cases, and only when we can monitor all such activity.

Members activating and/or posting from multiple ID's (without specific, written previous arrangements) will be banned from the forum.

The Admin
Char (CR001 not Casa)
In life you cannot press the Backspace button!!
Please DO NOT send me a PM for immigration advice. I reserve the right to ignore the PM and not respond.

UtterlyBrilliant
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San Marino

Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by UtterlyBrilliant » Tue Feb 18, 2020 6:42 am

It's odd that they're quoting GDPR, as I would have suggested GDPR works in your favour. If you google it, one of the first results is a discussion on here about how GDPR helps to now get an employer letter. My inclination is they are trying to suggest they don't want other case workers (the ECO handling the application) to know about your spouse's overtime, as technically that might mean they haven't followed GDPR legislation. That seems like a legislation v common sense scenario, and although not all knowledgable about immigration legislation, I have worked in jobs requiring knowledge of the law long enough to know that there will usually be a legal argument in your favour when you're coming unstuck in a battle v legislation if you have a genuine, common sense issue. My advice is get a solicitor involved, and ask them to handle all future correspondence. At the end of the day, you don't want to sour relationships with the hand that feeds you. If you get someone who knows their way around legislation, I'm confident they'll have this settled in no time if the problem is as I understand it.

geoeng
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Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:54 am
Canada

Re: Unable to get employer's letter

Post by geoeng » Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:05 am

MinesToo wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:55 pm
He's contacted HR who sent out a letter but it was not sufficient - it stated his full-time salary but mentions he was part-time. It did not reference any overtime.
Per Appendix FM-SE, the only requirements for the employer letter are that it confirms:
(i) the person’s employment and gross annual salary;
(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).

From this, it seems to me that any mention of overtime falls into the "nice to have" category and any refusals resulting from this not being included in an employer letter would have solid ground for an appeal (my opinion only of course). You have the pay slips as evidence and can outline the details and amounts of the overtime in a cover letter, doesn't sound like you're likely to get much more than that without a drawn out fight with the employer. In this case, if the employment contract provides any details with regards to overtime, it may be worth including that as well.
I'm just a guy on the Internet who immigrated to the UK. My opinions are based on my experience and interpretation of the immigration rules and should not be considered legal or immigration advice; your mileage may vary.

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