Mar 2009 - India - Application status

[B+]

Hi,
Got my Tier 1 stamped on my passport yesterday - 29th April 2009.
Applied on 27th March 2009 from VFS Chennai.


Cheers,
B+

[mithuchopra]

Hi..

Sorry for posting late..

I got my Tier 1 stamped on 22nd April 09.
Applied: 26th March 09 (not eligible under new system)
VFS Chennai
Visa stamped from 12th Apr 09 to 12 Apr 2012.

I had taken a vacation from work here in Uk n gone back to India to make my application. Finally, got it stamped and back here, my job is secure..

Congrats to all who got their visa stamped. Thanks to everyone on this forum for all the useful information. Good luck for those awaiting....

Warm Regards,
Mithu Chopra

[ukchennai]

Helo friends,

got mine and my spouse's visa stamped.

All the best to everyone awaiting visa !!!

UK Chennai citizen

[AkashS]

Helo friends,

got mine and my spouse's visa stamped.

All the best to everyone awaiting visa !!!

UK Chennai citizen

Hi UK Chennai,

Congratulations on getting Tier-1. Can you please help me as I have few questions regarding Tier-1 and wondering if you can pls answer them.

1) What document you produced as Earning proof? Do we need to provide Salary Slips of last 12 months with Company Stamp or a letter from HR that this person is/was working in our company from date to date and his total earning during this period was INR xxxxx which is eqv to GBP xxxxx will work. As per my understanding it is also acceptable.

2) For maintenance fund, I am maintaining Rs. 2 L in my account and my wife has 50k in her account (Joint account actually). I hope that 2.5 L as maintained fund during last 3 months should be fine? So I can get a letter from my bank that I am maintaning this amount for last 3 months at any time. Then do I need to provide a letter from my wife along with FD statement that she is ready to include that money for Visa purpose. Is there any format for the same and where can I get that? Pls provide some more details on this.

3) Did u also provide Form 16 or IT Return? We are suppose to file our IT return for the year 2008-2009 in July-Oct, I believe I'll apply in June itself.

I hope you will be able to provide me some help on this. Thanks.

Also, I have asked this questions couple of times but no one replied. Can you please reply me. Thanks again.

Regards,

Akash...

[philip123]

Guys,

I've never written to this forum before but i thought i'd drop a line and brief everyone about my visa process:

Dropped of application at VFS Bangalore : 20 May
Dispatched from UK High Commission : 4 June
Delivered via Blue Dart : 5 June

So all in all, it was about 9 working days. I didn't add anything extra in my application. Just followed the checklist that everyone uses and submitted EVERYTHING in original.

Bon Chance to everyone else!
Phil

[nsuk]

Guys,

I've never written to this forum before but i thought i'd drop a line and brief everyone about my visa process:

Dropped of application at VFS Bangalore : 20 May
Dispatched from UK High Commission : 4 June
Delivered via Blue Dart : 5 June

So all in all, it was about 9 working days. I didn't add anything extra in my application. Just followed the checklist that everyone uses and submitted EVERYTHING in original.

Bon Chance to everyone else!
Phil

Dear Friend
Congrats. Has the BHC done any verification checks on you.
Kindly elaborate.

[philip123]

Well, not that i'm aware off... i did ask my HR about it and they say that they never recieved any sort of query from the High Commission.

Frankly, the more i see it, the more solid your documentation is, the less complicated. Even if they see something that arouses suspicion or query-i'd say you're as good as cooked.

I only say this because the entire process took exactly 10 working days and what that tells me is that-either people have stopped applying or just that the documentation was quite impeccable in nature for them to refuse.

Tip-Make it easier for the ECO by markig your documentation and providing summaries where possible.

Hope this helps.
Phil

[quote="nsuk"][quote="philip123"]Guys,

I've never written to this forum before but i thought i'd drop a line and brief everyone about my visa process:

Dropped of application at VFS Bangalore : 20 May
Dispatched from UK High Commission : 4 June
Delivered via Blue Dart : 5 June

So all in all, it was about 9 working days. I didn't add anything extra in my application. Just followed the checklist that everyone uses and submitted EVERYTHING in original.

Bon Chance to everyone else!
Phil[/quote]

Dear Friend
Congrats. Has the BHC done any verification checks on you.
Kindly elaborate.[/quote]

[philip123]

AkashS

To answer your queries in the best possible way, here goes:

1. Document as Earning Proof:
a. Payslips in Original. If it's a net download, just get it stamped by your HR people and signed accordingly.
b. As a failsafe, get your HR people also to write a letter certifying that your Gross salary is XXX, your net payment into account XXX with XXX bank is Rs.XXXX.
c. You MUST also include all ORIGINAL bank statements. For safe measure, mark with yellow highlighter all salary credits made.
d. Also include a summary that shows the dates and amounts of credits.
e. As i said earlier, anything that will make the ECO's like easier will be appreciated. THe last thing you'd want is for him to be pissed at your paperwork.

2. Maintanence of Funds
a. Now this is a tricky one. You see-you have to convince the ECO that the funds are 'Clear to Use' and 'Readily available'. Since it's an FD, it is quite ambiguous and thus open to interpretation.
NEVER EVER leave anything open to interpretation. It MUST be clear. I stress again-THE ECO DOES NOT HAVE TO GIVE YOU THE VISA. IT IS IN YOUR INTEREST TO CONVINCE HIM/HER. You have to do everything possible to make sure that whatever you're giving him is crystal clear. The moment he has a doubt, that then complicates things and with the pressure they're under-is something you can do without.
b. Also, is Rs. 250,000 enough for you AND your wife? Please read the guidance for clarity on how much GBP equivt you have to maintain if your wife also accompanies you.
c. I recommend that you get a letter saying that Rs. XXXXX is available as clear funds and 'Readily available', and has been maintained from XXX date.

3. IT returns
Well, not an absolute must and mentioned nowhere on the guidance. The VFS guys will ask you, but that's just eye candy.

Tip-The PBS guidance has EVERYTHING you need to know about making your application. Follow it religiously to the T and you won't have any problems.

Hope this helps.
Phil


quote="AkashS"][quote="ukchennai"]Helo friends,

got mine and my spouse's visa stamped.

All the best to everyone awaiting visa !!!

UK Chennai citizen[/quote]


Hi UK Chennai,

Congratulations on getting Tier-1. Can you please help me as I have few questions regarding Tier-1 and wondering if you can pls answer them.

1) What document you produced as Earning proof? Do we need to provide Salary Slips of last 12 months with Company Stamp or a letter from HR that this person is/was working in our company from date to date and his total earning during this period was INR xxxxx which is eqv to GBP xxxxx will work. As per my understanding it is also acceptable.

2) For maintenance fund, I am maintaining Rs. 2 L in my account and my wife has 50k in her account (Joint account actually). I hope that 2.5 L as maintained fund during last 3 months should be fine? So I can get a letter from my bank that I am maintaning this amount for last 3 months at any time. Then do I need to provide a letter from my wife along with FD statement that she is ready to include that money for Visa purpose. Is there any format for the same and where can I get that? Pls provide some more details on this.

3) Did u also provide Form 16 or IT Return? We are suppose to file our IT return for the year 2008-2009 in July-Oct, I believe I'll apply in June itself.

I hope you will be able to provide me some help on this. Thanks.

Also, I have asked this questions couple of times but no one replied. Can you please reply me. Thanks again.

Regards,

Akash...[/quote]

[AkashS]

Hi Philip,

Thanks for your kind reply. I can get Salary Slips with HR stamped so that should not be a problem. However, I did not check this with them yet but I think that will not be an issue.

I believe I'll also get a letter from HR about my Salary details as mentioned by you. Once I process this, could you please help me in correct letter format for this purpose?


I can include 3 Months bank statement but have no idea about last 12 months bank statement as my bank allow me to take only last 6 months bank statement. I can ask them if they can send it through Email (I heard that they can). But once I get Email statement for last 12 months, how will I send it to ECO.


As of now I am applying for me alone so Rs. 250000 is more than enough for me (More than 2800 GBP). As 50000 Rs. is into my wife's account, do I need a letter on Stamp paper that she is ready to provide this money to me for Visa purpose? Or if there is any specific letter for this? Can you please help me further on this?

I'll also get a letter from the Bank that this FD is ready to withdraw at any time.

Hope you will be able to help me further. Thanks.

Regards,
Akash...

[philip123]

Hi Akash,

My responses to your query:

1. HR should never have an issue with stamping your payslips.
2. There is no letter format you have to use. Just that HR needs to certify yoru net, gross pay and the account it's getting into and what bank it's with. Simple.
3. Now, e-mail statements are a tricky thing. I've read in several posts that people have been rejected on the basis of this. Second, if you're showing your salary for 12 months to qualify for the salary component, you have to show themn 12 months of bank statements.
4. If you are getting 12 months e-mail statements, make sure they have the nbank name and logo. Also get EACH page stamped and signed by a bank official. Also get a bank letter on official letter head stating that the statements are authentic and have been verified. They can also give the name and contact details of an officer that will be available for verifying this. Please read the guidance for more clarity on this. It is quite clear on this regard.
5. Now, on account of maintanence of funds. The guidance is quite clear in saying that it has to be maintained in YOUR account. I really don't think it would be ok having it in your wife's account and her providing a letter saying it's available to you.

Trust this helps.

[AkashS]

Hi Akash,

My responses to your query:

1. HR should never have an issue with stamping your payslips.
2. There is no letter format you have to use. Just that HR needs to certify yoru net, gross pay and the account it's getting into and what bank it's with. Simple.
3. Now, e-mail statements are a tricky thing. I've read in several posts that people have been rejected on the basis of this. Second, if you're showing your salary for 12 months to qualify for the salary component, you have to show themn 12 months of bank statements.
4. If you are getting 12 months e-mail statements, make sure they have the nbank name and logo. Also get EACH page stamped and signed by a bank official. Also get a bank letter on official letter head stating that the statements are authentic and have been verified. They can also give the name and contact details of an officer that will be available for verifying this. Please read the guidance for more clarity on this. It is quite clear on this regard.
5. Now, on account of maintanence of funds. The guidance is quite clear in saying that it has to be maintained in YOUR account. I really don't think it would be ok having it in your wife's account and her providing a letter saying it's available to you.

Trust this helps.

Thanks Philip. Did you also provide 12 Months Bank Statement with every page signed by the official? Practically it seems difficult because if we take statement of last 12 months, there will be more than 200 or at least 150 pages (may be more also). Anyway, I'll read the guidance document about this.

As far as maintenance fund is concern, if they do not accept my wife's FD, then we'll need to break the FD and transfer the fund into our joint account or start a new FD on my name. In this case, I'll need wait for another 3 months as I was maintaining this amount for quite a some time and now it is almost 3 months.

One more thing which I would like to ask you, I read that if your spouse and child is going to join you within 12 months from the date your visa, you should show their maintenance amount also? Is it true? They are likely to join me ASAP but there is no way I can show GBP 3200 extra as their maintenance fund.

Can we simply tell them that they will join me next year as my son is too young now and I want them to join after one year.

Please advise further on this. Thanks.

Kind Regards,
Akash...

[Tier1Dep]

Hi,

Could you please tell me whether, the location from where the application is submitted will have any effect on the time taken to approve?

I am currently in Blore and applying for dependent Tier 1
if i apply from Madras will it be earlier?


Many thanks