“Eligibility for Tier 1 General Visa”

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“By far the best”. That’s what one can say about tier 1 visa. This is mainly because tier 1 visa does not entail a sponsoring employer in UK. Skilled workers residing in UK or abroad can apply for Tier 1 (General) Skilled Migration.  Nevertheless, eligibility will be determined on the basis of some essential requirements and conditions.

Tier 1 (general) visa entitles you to live and work in UK for 3 years, and if need be apply for a 2 year extension after that. Once you have stayed in UK for five years and showed your commitment to it, you will be eligible to apply for an indefinite leave to remain (Permanent Residency).

Eligibility criteria:

Eligibility for Tier 1 visa is appraised on the basis of points based system. An applicant should obtain minimum of 75 points to qualify for the visa. These points are granted on the basis of “age, academic qualifications, previous earnings outside UK, prior earnings or qualifications in UK, English speaking ability and funds needed to sustain themselves in UK”.

Age

If you are 32 or older, tier 1 visa is not for you. Points will be granted as follows:

• Under 28 = 20 points

• 28 or 29 = 10 points

• 30 or 31 = 5 points

Original Driving License and Notarized copy of Front and Last page of Passport can be submitted as proof for age verification.

Academic qualifications

All tier 1 applicants ought to have at the most a master’s degree or above. They will be graded as follows,

• PhD = 50 points

• Master’s degree = 35 points

Degree certificate should be verified by the UK Naric who in turn will issue a comparative certificate.

Previous earnings outside UK

Applicant should have earned a minimum UK £20,000 or its equivalent in their 12 months claimed work experience.

• 40,000 + – 45 points

• 35,000-39,999 = 40 points

• 32,000-34,999 = 35 points

• 29,000-31,999 = 30 points

• 26,000-28,999 = 25 points

• 23,000-25,999 = 20 points

• 20,000-22,999 = 15 points

Original Income Tax Returns (ITR) + Form 16, Original Bank Statements for last 12 months with Sign and Seal from an authorized bank person on official stationery with logo and Name, Original Pay Slips for last 12 months duly Seal and Signed by Employer on Company Letter Head need to be submitted for earnings verification.

The most significant change in the recent times has been that, Tier 1(General) visa student’s will no longer gain points for previous earnings before they became students. Therefore, an applicant will only get points for earnings over the last fifteen months if they were actually working during this time and earning a good enough package to be granted points under previous earnings.

Prior earnings or qualifications in UK

Additional 5 points will be granted to an applicant with any sort of prior earnings or qualifications in UK.

English language capability

To apply for a Tier 1 visa, an applicant must show that he is adept in English by proving that he has passed a test in English equivalent to level C1 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework for Language Learning.

This is equivalent to overall band score of 6.5 on an IELTS exam. An applicant can also show that he comes from a country where English is the main language.

In addition to the above, an applicant can give the proof that his masters degree certificate was taught in English. An applicant will earn 10 points, once the proof submitted for any of the above is successful.

Funds needed to sustain themselves in UK

An applicant will score 10 points, if he is able to show that he has enough money at his disposal o support himself and his dependants.

• Applying from within the UK: Proof of £800 in a bank account at all times for three months prior to application

• Applying from outside the UK: Proof of £2800 in a bank account at all times for three months prior to application