Changes to Tier 1 PBS April onwards

There is no on-line application from the UK...assuming that you are applying in-country.  In which case, the date of receipt will be the one that applies.  Send your application by special delivery, you shoudl be fine.

Vicky

so basically, if i get my application across to them on the 23rd -- and it reaches them by say 25th or even 26th march  -  I should be fine? rt/?.. I am sooey if I am repeating th wuestion,, I am just very tensed!

Yes.

Thanks for that Victoria,

just another note - I do not have the ticket reference number with me when I first entered uk - abt 3 yrs ago.. would not filling in that info be considered as an incomplete application?

No idea what a 'ticket reference number' is.

Vicky

ok.. thanks,. i was going to cal BA on monday to ask and they told me that they would be able to retrieve my info on Monday. I have all the docs in place and will apply on Monday 23/03/2009 via special delivery -with all the necessary docs - I will need to get my bank statements for the last day signed and attested by the bank of scotland on friday... everything should hopefully fall into place - here is a breif summary of my profile for anything that anyone might suggest -

age 22

earnings £24000

bachelors degree from napier uni - ( satisfies the english criteria as well)

Uk experience 5 pts

funds above £ 800 in my account from 20/12/2008 to 20/03/2009

currently on fresh talent scotland - applying from within the uk!

thanks all for all the suggestions thus far, i'll keep others informed for the benifit of those in similar situation!

thanks!

now, i am terrified.

can anyone recommend a good immigration lawyer/company in London for help with submitting Tier 1 visa applications? i need to get this right and am willing to do whatever is necessary to do so.

at the present, i am on an employer-sponsored visa, but my company is planning on announcing significant restructuring and likely redundancies this week. i currently qualify for a Tier 1 visa, but as of April 1 i will no longer (i only have a BA).

i have been working to get my visa application together, but am still waiting on one piece of remaining documentation from my alma mater in the US. what terrifies me is that i will have one shot only for this Tier 1 application. if it is rejected, for any reason, by the time i find out, i will no longer qualify due to the new Master's degree requirement.

this is my worst nightmare coming true. i want to stay in the UK for good and if i lose my job, my chances of that happening are almost non-existent.

yours concernedly,
elise

I'd be happy to help.  Please PM me of you would like to discuss.

Vicky

I've just received a reading from one of the high street law firms that time spent in the UK under Tier 1 (PSW) is not bookable for residency purposes.  It didn't say if this was already in effect or comming into effect in April.

Are people generally aware of this?

I think it's always been known that PSW does not count towards time for ILR- it's like a student visa in that respect. I distinctly remember reading about that when it was first introduced.  But as far as I know it should count as residence for citizenship purposes (under the current rules anyway)..is citizenship what they were talking about, or just ILR?

There was also the impression that it would still count under the 10 year long residency rule as well, but in itself cannot count towards ILR. Someone switching over to Tier 1 General or Tier 2 would still need to do the full 5 years for ILR or whatever replaces it.

Probationary citizenship.  Since they are scraping the concept of ILR, it means there's no clock at all until the person switches out of T1 PSW.  Under the old regime, a person's start date could be during their time under student or what-have-you.  Even visitor.  But in the new regime, the start date needs to be not just when the person was in the UK, but ALSO on one of the permanent tracks.

That's something that will catch me out for citizenship...I have almost 2 years of residence in the UK as a student and on the predecessor to PSW before I switched to a permanent track, but if I don't get ILR before the new system comes in, it won't count for beans.  There are a few of us in that boat round these parts.

In any case, that's not really news...we've been discussing the clock resetting implications of the bill ever since it came out.

edit- superl99 made a great point about the 10-year long residence rule, though...if they're changing it so that only permanent tracks count towards it, they're almost effectively killing it off. Can they do that? (xposted)

I know, I'm just still being hopeful that the term will be scrapped  I was under the impression, though, that the 10 year rule had to be kept because of EU law, and therefore would start upon legal non-visitor arrival?

Yep, same for me springhaze, if I switch to a family track my time as a student and on Tier 1 counts for nothing.

The 10 year rule was brought in by an EC ruling.  It's connection to ILR is purely artificial because the only thing the ruling says is that the person cannot be removed.

The ILR connection came into play when the UK implemented the rule and then went above and beyond the rule to include ILR.  That was in a different era and different mentality prevailed.  Subsequent administrations have regretted the coupling of ILR and the 10 year rule, and they have all but killed it.  In today's times, it's virtually impossible to qualify for ILR.  They won't remove the person, but they will not give them ILR either.