Sabbatical during Tier 2 General – impact on 5 year clock?

[micasa]

I am on Tier 2 General visa for 3+ years now (i.e. 2 years to go before applying for ILR). I would like to go on 3-6 month sabbatical due to a health reason.

When my employer hired me, they did not need to perform a Resident Market Labour Test for my position which pays above the threshold salary (£155,300pa).

My question is: Do I have to maintain the threshold income for 5 consecutive years in order to qualify for ILR application? The sabbatical is an unpaid leave so if I take a few months off from work, my annual income will drop below the threshold. If I need to maintain earning the threshold salary, I wonder if Home Office counts my bonus as part of threshold income...?

FYI, I have just renewed my Tier 2 General for 3 years. I do not think the company needed to perform a market labour test on my visa renewal (but do not know for sure). I will remain in the UK during the sabbatical.

[CR001]

See link below and Manci's reply.

http://www.immigrationboards.com/uk-tie ... 87302.html

[micasa]

Thanks CR001.

The link to the government website in the thread was old, but I was able to find an updated document.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 1_2016.pdf

On Page 58, it says "You are absent from work without pay for 4 weeks or more in total, according to your normal working pattern, during any calendar year (1 January to 31 December). For example, if your normal working pattern is 4 days a week, this would apply if you were absent from work without pay for 16 or more days. This applies whether the absence was over a single period or more than one period. It does not apply to absences which were solely due to maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave or long term sick leave."

I will then need to combine annual leave, unpaid leave (up to 4 weeks) and long term sick leave, which the doctor will likely sign off to get a couple of months off. Hope this does not affect the 5 year requirement...