Tier 2 Visa Immigrants must earn £35,000 to settle from April 2016

Hello, I am aware that there is been a change on the Tier 2 Visa from April 2016, where Immigrants must earn £35,000 to settle from April 2016.

I am working under a Tier 2 Visa that I got in 2015 and will expire on 2018 and I am not earning 35.000£ annually.

By 2018 I am planning to renew contract with my current employee, does this mean that I’ll have to be earning that amount, or it doesn’t apply if you are only extending a VISA Tier 2?

The £35,000 requirement is only for ILR applications for permanent residency, which you can qualify for after working on a Tier 2 visa for 5 years. So if you arrived in the UK in 2015, this won't apply to you until 2020... So you will have until 2020 to try to increase your earnings to the threshold amount (by then I think it will have increased to close to £38,000).

The £35,000 threshold for ILR was announced 4 or 5 years ago, and it was stated back then that it would come into effect from April 2016... So at the moment, it only affects people who entered the UK on Tier 2 in 2011 and are applying for ILR now.

Some Tier 2 visa holders will be exempt from the £35,000 salary requirement though - so it depends what conditions your visa was issued under.


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Thank you very much ksand24

You will need to meet the experienced rate for your code for a renewal and the UK is changing the minimum allowed, as announced this year.

Tier 2 (General) salary thresholds for experienced workers will be increased to £25,000 in autumn 2016, and £30,000 in April 2017. However, some health and education professionals will be exempt from the higher threshold until July 2019. The minimum threshold of £20,800 for new entrants will be maintained
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/migration-advisory-committee-reviews-of-tier-2

More here about the changes.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-03-24/HCWS660/

For ILR, you need to earn the rate for your code, or if that is less than 35k, then it is the 35K. That minimum amount for ILR goes up every year.
I think there might an exemption for those doing a job on the UK's shortages list?

Some people are only starting to earn that minimum just before they apply for ILR and only have one or two payslips showing that, and I haven't seen them saying they have been refused

Thanks Sirious