Tier 1 G extention based on maternity leave without a job

[awnishupadhyay]

Hello All,

I was hoping to get some clear idea from the gurus about my situation

My wife and I are on Tier 1 General visa. Her visa expires on 01/12/2012

She has been working as a Teacher in a school since March 2008 till August 2011 on contract basis. She was pregnant and was expecting a baby in Feb 2012. Her work contract was not extended and she was given a supply teaching job which she hardly got a call to work. She was not eligible for SMP so had to apply for maternity allowance through HMRC and which she has got and she went on maternity from 20/11/2012 and the maternity allowance will be paid till last week of August 2012

She wants to apply for her tier 1 General extension in november 12 and she is worried about the gap months as she does not have a job. Can she claim the points based on her salary before she took maternity leave. What documents does she needs to show to get the 1 year of exemption?

I would really appreciate your help with this topic

[geriatrix]

Reading the policy guidance will be useful

[awnishupadhyay]

Reading the policy guidance will be useful

Hi Mr Mehta

Thank You for replying

I have read the policy guidance which says The documents are:

the birth certificate;
and a letter from your employer; or wage slips or other payment or remittance advices.


We have a birth certificate but no employers letter as she is not employed
No wage slips but we have the original letter that we got from HMRC saying that MA payments will be made till August which also reflects in our bank statements. Will this be enough?

Also she wants to applying in November, so after supplying the above two documents will they consider earnings from a period outside the last 15 months

I will really appreciate your reply on this

Thank You for your time

Awnish

[geriatrix]

The provision allows a concession to applicants with "maternity or adoption-related absence from the workplace". If there is no workplace (e.g. - not employed or self-employed), there is no "absence from workplace". To be absent from workplace, there must be a workplace to be absent from. And she has had no workplace since August 2011.

Also, maternity allowance is a "benefit" paid by Jobcentre Plus, not income or statutory pay.

[awnishupadhyay]

The provision allows a concession to applicants with "maternity or adoption-related absence from the workplace". If there is no workplace (e.g. - not employed or self-employed), there is no "absence from workplace". To be absent from workplace, there must be a workplace to be absent from. And she has had no workplace since August 2011.

Also, maternity allowance is a "benefit" paid by Jobcentre Plus, not income or statutory pay.

She is going to register herself as self employed in August and will be opening a LTD company soon does this helps in terms of returning to work. And the documents we have, can we produce to get maternity related absense then

or else could you please suggest some options for us in this senario

[geriatrix]

Even if she becomes self-employed, then the only absence (from workplace) she will be able to prove will be from that date onwards.

1.This does not take away the fact that she was not employed /self-employed from August 2011 to this date of becoming self-employed.
2. Even if she becomes employed, but with no work contracts and therefore no income, how does she intend to pay herself statutory pay when she is still "absent from workplace".


I guess you are under the impression that "maternity" itself extends this concession to applicants. But the fact is, this concession is applicable only to those who have been employed / self-employed but were / have been on maternity or adoption related "leave from existing workplace".

IMHO, there are no options.

[awnishupadhyay]

She was given a Supplying teaching contract in September 2011 which is still on going. Because she was issued a new contract she was not eligible to get Satutory payment from the employer and we were told to contact Job center plus to claim MA. The contract is still live does this help in anyway?

[geriatrix]

What is a "supplying teacher contract"? Who has issued it?

[jan77]

My wife and I are on Tier 1 General visa. Her visa expires on 01/12/2012

She has been working as a Teacher in a school since March 2008 till August 2011 on contract basis. She was pregnant and was expecting a baby in Feb 2012. Her work contract was not extended and she was given a supply teaching job which she hardly got a call to work. She was not eligible for SMP so had to apply for maternity allowance through HMRC and which she has got and she went on maternity from 20/11/2012 and the maternity allowance will be paid till last week of August 2012

She wants to apply for her tier 1 General extension in november 12 and she is worried about the gap months as she does not have a job. Can she claim the points based on her salary before she took maternity leave. What documents does she needs to show to get the 1 year of exemption?

I would really appreciate your help with this topic

from my understanding of your facts,

She obtained Tier 1 general visa in 2010 based on the contract Job that ended August 2011;

she fell pregnant in May 2011; three month before her contract ended;

Baby due in Feb. 2012 so by the 15th week before the baby is due, the 8- week prior to that period she had not earned so she could not go on maternity leave of any kind, or SMP. However, she was qualified to obtain some maternity benefit from the job centre.

even if she is still on the payroll system of the school, she cannot work anyway(except KIT) while she is on benefit, even if she obtains a maternity leave of absence permission from the school that will normally be 12 months say Feb.2012 to Feb. 2013, a problem arises because the 15month period immediately before this period is Nov. 2010/2011. she will need to have worked between this period, But in-fact the last time she was able to make the earning points was between Nov 2010/2009 earning period.

UKBA set out rule that the maximum period for maternity related concessionary discount is 12 months from the time the absence begin.

I suggest you read very carefully the maternity related absence facts on the policy guidance and work out the period requested yourself so you can know if the earnings you have 15month before the maternity absence began met the criteria. there is no two way to it

cheers-

[awnishupadhyay]

What is a "supplying teacher contract"? Who has issued it?

Sorry I meant Supply Teaching contract given my the same employer. This means she will be called to work in the school when the school needs. Mostly to cover the teachers who are off-sick or on holidays

[jan77]

She was given a Supplying teaching contract in September 2011 which is still on going. Because she was issued a new contract she was not eligible to get Satutory payment from the employer and we were told to contact Job center plus to claim MA. The contract is still live does this help in anyway?

she needs to show that she had worked between Nov 2010 to Nov.2011(this is the 15month prior to the period the absence began based on the fact you supplied) and that her earnings scored up to the required points. whether she receives SMP or MA does not matter to UKBA, although, that's a prove to them that she has got a baby which they will need to establish, but whether she would have been working but absent due to maternity is the key to the concession been granted. in your case she was not working because she hardly earned during this period and in fact she should still be working because the baby is not yet due concession cannot be granted because of the baby

[marynwokedi]

@awnishupadhyay


She wants to apply for her tier 1 General extension in november 12 and she is worried about the gap months as she does not have a job. Can she claim the points based on her salary before she took maternity leave.

The months that she needs to claim within 12 months before your application is between April 2011-Nov 2011 (9 months pre maternity period) and Sept 2012 - November 2012 ( 3 months Post Maternity period) making up 12 months period excluding Maternity absence. Since she worked up till Aug 2011, She can claim earnings made between April 2011-Aug 2011 as previous earnings as it falls within the 12 months period(deducting maternity absence ) but i will advise that she tries to go back to work (employed or self employed) after Maternity leave to show continuity of earnings. Please note that you do not need to be in continuous employment during the 12 month period so it does not matter if she did not work in a month or so, as long as her total earnings within 12 month period is sufficient to get her points and you have evidence of earnings.


quote from visa website
You can claim points for a 12-month period outside the 15-month period if you have been away from the workplace for a time during the last 12 months on maternity or adoption-related absence.

You do not need to be in continuous employment during the 12-month period being assessed, so:

you can claim for a period of earnings less than 12 months; and
earnings do not have to be from a single employer and can be from full-time, part-time, temporary or short-term work.


You can show Birth certificate and Letter from Jobcentre showing start and end dates of Maternity allowance grant

Hope this helps[/quote]