Worked in UK, but can only show Indian salary slips

[QEF8DD]

I intend to use Jan 1 to Dec 31 2008 as my past earning period.
For proof of earnings, I will submit the bank statement and letter (both signed and stamped) + signed and stamped sal slips from my company- nothing else (no letter from employer etc as they don't do it).

I was in UK for a major part of 2008. The UK daily allowance I received is reflected in my Indian sal slips as a foreign component (converted in INR).I do not have any payslips in GBP to present to VFS. Is it OK to submit the Indian payslips with the comment in the covering letter that I was actually in UK during this time? I am not using uplift for this period so am not doing anything wrong to get extra points but not sure how exactly to present this to VFS so that they do not suspect that I am hiding anything.

[raghu0307]

I think it should be ok as long as you are claiming points for the earnings that are in your payslip and for which you have paid taxes in India. But you should mention this on the letter. something on the folowing lines

"Although I have spent some time in UK during the earnings claim period, I have been an employee of ....co in India, earning Indian salary and paying taxes in India"


I would request seniors to please comment on this.

I intend to use Jan 1 to Dec 31 2008 as my past earning period.
For proof of earnings, I will submit the bank statement and letter (both signed and stamped) + signed and stamped sal slips from my company- nothing else (no letter from employer etc as they don't do it).

I was in UK for a major part of 2008. The UK daily allowance I received is reflected in my Indian sal slips as a foreign component (converted in INR).I do not have any payslips in GBP to present to VFS. Is it OK to submit the Indian payslips with the comment in the covering letter that I was actually in UK during this time? I am not using uplift for this period so am not doing anything wrong to get extra points but not sure how exactly to present this to VFS so that they do not suspect that I am hiding anything.

[QEF8DD]

Thanks raghu.. The only problem I now have is that I don't know which exchange rate to use - that for Dec 31 or that for July 1 (till when I was in UK).
I am confused because as per the guidelines '...closing spot exchange rate on the OANDA website on the last day of the period for which he/she has claimed earnings in that currency'. In my case, the currency is the same (INR) for the full 12 months, but country of earnings differ. While filling the online points calculator, I have to put in a exchange rate for the Jan-July period, but I cannot use Dec 31 rate right ? Am in a fix now.

I had asked the same question earlier in another post but no one replied perhaps cuz noone understood my case properly. Now, at least you know what I am talking about. I am going to VFS tomorrow, but I better not ask this question as I might get some fancy reply ..

[QEF8DD]

Other members, please.... HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP !!!:)

[raghu0307]

Thanks raghu.. The only problem I now have is that I don't know which exchange rate to use - that for Dec 31 or that for July 1 (till when I was in UK).
I am confused because as per the guidelines '...closing spot exchange rate on the OANDA website on the last day of the period for which he/she has claimed earnings in that currency'. In my case, the currency is the same (INR) for the full 12 months, but country of earnings differ. While filling the online points calculator, I have to put in a exchange rate for the Jan-July period, but I cannot use Dec 31 rate right ? Am in a fix now.

I had asked the same question earlier in another post but no one replied perhaps cuz noone understood my case properly. Now, at least you know what I am talking about. I am going to VFS tomorrow, but I better not ask this question as I might get some fancy reply ..

I do not think you would even need take different parts of the salary periods and two exchange rates.

Whether you were/not in UK is not the point. The point is were you earning in UK.

The answer to that is , you were being paid daily allowance which is not called "earning in UK"

You were having the salary paid to your account in India during that period when you were in UK . Is that right. If yes, then even when you were in UK you were paying taxes in India earning Indian salary and not the UKsalary.

Since your salary was being credited to your account in India, this is Indian salary which makes the entire welve months of your earning to be Indian salary.

Therefore no need to take two parts and two different exchange rates.

You will just need to take one exchange rate that is on the last date of the period you are claiming for.

[QEF8DD]

The answer to that is , you were being paid daily allowance which is not called "earning in UK"

You were having the salary paid to your account in India during that period when you were in UK . Is that right. If yes, then even when you were in UK you were paying taxes in India earning Indian salary and not the UKsalary.

Since your salary was being credited to your account in India, this is Indian salary which makes the entire welve months of your earning to be Indian salary.

Therefore no need to take two parts and two different exchange rates.

You will just need to take one exchange rate that is on the last date of the period you are claiming for.

The tier1 guidance does not clearly state whether daily allowances are part of earnings, however allowances in general (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) are treated as earnings (Page 21, Point 110). whether or not these are part of earnings, I cannot show the DA as I have no statements with me.
I will explain a bit more.. When I was in UK, the Indian sal slip had a foreign component in earnings column. The tax on this foreign equivalent amount was also mentioned in the earnings column. In deductions, this earning and the tax was mentioned again, because company was paying the tax on the foreign component. The result was that the net salary was the same as what I would receive if I were working in India though the gross was high.

At this point, I think I have to present an example to be clear. Please see below.

[QEF8DD]

With formatting -
Description_____Earnings________Deductions
BASIC_________21766.0_________0.0
HRA___________9780.0__________0.0
ADDITIONAL_HRA__2177.0__________0.0
Conveyance______900.0___________0.0
Flat_Allowance____12000.0_________0.0
Foreign_Increase__101403.0_______0.0
Gross_Tax_______52215.0__________0.0
PF_Deduction____0.0_____________2612.0
Foreign_Increase_
Remittance______0.0__________101403.0
Gross_Up_Tax____0.0__________52215.0
INCOME_TAX_____0.0__________6264.0
Total___________200141.0_______-162494.0
Net__________________________37647

[push]

The answer to that is , you were being paid daily allowance which is not called "earning in UK"

You were having the salary paid to your account in India during that period when you were in UK . Is that right. If yes, then even when you were in UK you were paying taxes in India earning Indian salary and not the UKsalary.

Since your salary was being credited to your account in India, this is Indian salary which makes the entire welve months of your earning to be Indian salary.

Therefore no need to take two parts and two different exchange rates.

You will just need to take one exchange rate that is on the last date of the period you are claiming for.

The tier1 guidance does not clearly state whether daily allowances are part of earnings, however allowances in general (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) are treated as earnings (Page 21, Point 110). whether or not these are part of earnings, I cannot show the DA as I have no statements with me.
I will explain a bit more.. When I was in UK, the Indian sal slip had a foreign component in earnings column. The tax on this foreign equivalent amount was also mentioned in the earnings column. In deductions, this earning and the tax was mentioned again, because company was paying the tax on the foreign component. The result was that the net salary was the same as what I would receive if I were working in India though the gross was high.

At this point, I think I have to present an example to be clear. Please see below. (I am not able to preserver the spaces for some reason).

Description Earnings Deductions
BASIC 21766.0 0.0
HRA 9780.0 0.0
ADDITIONAL HRA 2177.0 0.0
Conveyance 900.0 0.0
Flat Allowance 12000.0 0.0
Foreign Increase101403.0 0.0
Gross Tax 52215.0 0.0
PF Deduction 0.0 2612.0
Foreign Increase
Remittance 0.0 101403.0
Gross Up Tax 0.0 52215.0
INCOME TAX 0.0 6264.0
Total 200141.0 -162494.0
Net 37647

DA can be used as long as it is not a reimbursement of actual expenses incurred by you and is reflected on your salary slip. For example if you go to a clients office on a daily basis and the company reimburses you the expenses incurred towards travel based on you filing travel tickets etc. then it would not be included in your Gross Earnings.

[QEF8DD]

Thanks push_hsmp. I will claim based on my payslip as I do not have the DA statements in GBP. So.. back to my question.. which exchange rate do you think I should use, Dec 31st's(last day of claim period) or July 1(When I left UK) ? Just to save you time to go through the full post, my full 12 months earnings are in INR even though I was in 2 countries.

[QEF8DD]

Since your salary was being credited to your account in India, this is Indian salary which makes the entire welve months of your earning to be Indian salary.

Therefore no need to take two parts and two different exchange rates.

You will just need to take one exchange rate that is on the last date of the period you are claiming for.

raghu0307:
Unfortunately, the points calculator forces me to enter the country of earning and hence I have two parts for my claim period each of which require an exchange rate to be mentioned (Based on the country of earnings, the uplift is automatically calculated by the points calculator)... Hence the confusion !!

Forum members: I regret updating this post frequently and vehemently but I really want to submit my tier1 early next week. Have been dilly-dallying with the application for some time now.

[raghu0307]

Since your salary was being credited to your account in India, this is Indian salary which makes the entire welve months of your earning to be Indian salary.

Therefore no need to take two parts and two different exchange rates.

You will just need to take one exchange rate that is on the last date of the period you are claiming for.

raghu0307:
Unfortunately, the points calculator forces me to enter the country of earning and hence I have two parts for my claim period each of which require an exchange rate to be mentioned (Based on the country of earnings, the uplift is automatically calculated by the points calculator)... Hence the confusion !!

Forum members: I regret updating this post frequently and vehemently but I really want to submit my tier1 early next week. Have been dilly-dallying with the application for some time now.

Dear friend.

This is entirely my view. In the phrase country of earnings, we need to understand what is earnings.

Do we need to be physically present in that country to actually earn.

Earnings in my dictionary means any income for wich you pay taxes. and the country of earnings refers to the country to which those taxes are paid. This should be supported by payslips.


whether in the first or the second part of the period you are talking about,

for which you want to enter the country of earnings as UK, were you paying taxes in UK? I mean you not your company.

Do you have all the components for paying UK tax like income tax, NI tax etc which are mentioned on the UK payslips.

Do you have documentation for that.

If this foreign component is mentioned in your Indian salary slip, I really doubt if the country of earnings for that particular payslip can be entered as UK.

That is my view.

I request senior members for their inputs.

[QEF8DD]

dear raghu0307,

I fully understand your view, but the thing is that the guidance does not state one should actually be paying taxes to claim earnings in a particular country. In middle-east, there is no tax at all !!

I think I definitely need to enter the country of earning as UK because I am presenting wrong information otherwise. BHC would know when all I went and left the UK from the passport immigration stamps anyway.
It doesn't really matter whether I mention 31st Dec's or 1st Julys Oanda rate. I am getting the same number of points anyway. The point is whether the entry officer is convinced of what/why I did it (when its not mentioned in the guidance !!). I will send an email to the BHC tomorrow -but they seem to be slow in responding. I really appreciate your feedbacks to the post.

[raghu0307]

dear raghu0307,

I fully understand your view, but the thing is that the guidance does not state one should actually be paying taxes to claim earnings in a particular country. In middle-east, there is no tax at all !!

With an Indian salary slip I am not sure how you can claim to be earning in UK or your country of earnings to be UK.

I think I definitely need to enter the country of earning as UK because I am presenting wrong information otherwise. BHC would know when all I went and left the UK from the passport immigration stamps anyway.

Anyone entering UK on work doesnt mean that they earn in UK. People mostly go onsite on per diem basis. Some companies add it as a taxable componen in Tax calculations for varying reasons.

It doesn't really matter whether I mention 31st Dec's or 1st Julys Oanda rate. I am getting the same number of points anyway. The point is whether the entry officer is convinced of what/why I did it (when its not mentioned in the guidance !!). I will send an email to the BHC tomorrow -but they seem to be slow in responding. I really appreciate your feedbacks to the post

Now here is the most important point.

If you put your country of earnings as UK, THEN , NO , you will not get the same number of points. Putting the country of earnings as UK, you will have to go by the UK salary bands for the previous earnings and you will not be able to multiply your earnings by a factor of 5.3 used for salaries earned in Catagory D countries like India. Since UK lies in the catagory A list of countries and if you say that Uk is your country of earnings then you will have to calculate your earnings as they are without the multiplier therefore resulting in lesser points.

I hope I am able to put my point across to you.

[QEF8DD]

The gross mentioned in my payslip while I was in the UK is more than 2 Lakh INR per month (please see the example I provided above).. Sufficient to claim UK earnings.. I am getting points in this manner without using any uplift... Pretty confusing case it is:)

[QEF8DD]

Went to VFS office today. Upon asking, the tier1 person accepting submissions again told me today that the exchange rate to use while claiming previous earnings should be the most recent i.e. the day you submit your application or a day earlier. He told me that this question was asked by many applicants and so they had confirmed it with BHC.. i told him that the guidance doesn't state so and how can I follow a verbal confirmation. he told me i was looking at tier1 guidance for applicants within the UK and that i should check INF21 guidance.... the inf21 guidance (i guess http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply ... ralmigrant is the one) does not state anything on exchange rates and moreover it also states that 'More comprehensive guidance is available on the UK Border Agency website, which is the definitive version, and in the event of any discrepancy overrules the information provided in this leaflet. '!!.

Am going to start a new post asking VFS delhi November-December applicants to confirm what exchange rate they used and whether they have received their visa yet !!

[push]

Went to VFS office today. Upon asking, the tier1 person accepting submissions again told me today that the exchange rate to use while claiming previous earnings should be the most recent i.e. the day you submit your application or a day earlier. He told me that this question was asked by many applicants and so they had confirmed it with BHC.. i told him that the guidance doesn't state so and how can I follow a verbal confirmation. he told me i was looking at tier1 guidance for applicants within the UK and that i should check INF21 guidance.... the inf21 guidance (i guess http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply ... ralmigrant is the one) does not state anything on exchange rates and moreover it also states that 'More comprehensive guidance is available on the UK Border Agency website, which is the definitive version, and in the event of any discrepancy overrules the information provided in this leaflet. '!!.

Am going to start a new post asking VFS delhi November-December applicants to confirm what exchange rate they used and whether they have received their visa yet !!

Send an email to HO and show the response to the VFS guy. In any case VFS does not make decision on your application.

[kandasamy]

Hi,

I am planning to apply for tier1 application by end of this month.

I am having a doubt in my pervious earning section.
I planning to show my pay slips from January 2008 to Dec 2008, but in the month of December 2008 month no money is credited to my Indian salary because there was a due from the company and company is recovered the due from my December month salary. I am having the salary slip with all the details and it has mentioned the total earning was recovered towards the company Due and the net pay as 0.
In this case I can show the pervious earnings from Dec 2007 to Dec 2008 instead of showing from January 2008 to Dec 2008.

Please clarify the above point.


Regards
Kandasamy

[QEF8DD]

'YES... YOU.. CAN !!' I have become a fan of Obama you see ..

You can claim any consecutive 12 months within the last 15 months immediately preceding your application. So if you apply on Feb 1, you could apply from Nov 1 2007 onwards. See the guidance for more details.

[kandasamy]

Hi,

I would like to know on which dated exchange rate needs to be shown (i.e. the exchange rate of Nov 2008 or Dec 2008), if I am showing the pay slips from Dec2007 to Nov 2008

Could you please clarify this?

Regards
Kandasamy

[QEF8DD]

Why would you show Dec 08's ex rate ? For previous earnings, it is the last 'date' of the claim period so XX Nov '08 in your case. Again.. given in the guidance.
The confusion is with maintenance funds i.e. which dates exchange rate to use in the past 3 months... for that, check the day your balance was at the lowest in your Indian bank statement and use that days ex rate from Oanda.
All the best..

[kandasamy]

Hi,

I am calculating my pervious earning as below. I used 30th Nov 2008 Exchange rate and calculated as below. Please check and let me know that I am doing it correctly or not.

Indian Salary details

Month --> Gross salary in INR *Exc Rate=[ ] *5.3 =[ ] = Total amount in GBP

Dec-07 --> 18969 * 0.01311 = 248.68359 * 5.3 1318.023027
Jan-08 21146 * 0.01311 = 277.22406 * 5.3 1469.287518
Feb-08 21460 * 0.01311 = 281.3406 * 5.3 1491.10518
Mar-08 49519 * 0.01311 = 649.19409 * 5.3 3440.728677
Apr-08 6549 * 0.01311 = 85.85739 * 5.3 455.044167
Nov-08 88375 * 0.01311 = 1158.59625 * 5.3 6140.560125

Total 14314.74869
Uk salary Details

Month --> Gross slary in GBP

Dec-07 --> 2929
Jan-08 -> 2629
Feb-08 --> 2927
Apr-08 --> 3116
May-08 --> 3044
Jun-08 --> 2985
Jul-08 --> 2986
Aug-08--> 2986
Sep-08--> 2980
Oct-08--> 2992

Total 29574

Total =43888.74869


Regards
Kandasamy