Can I ask advice, which category visa should I apply - A or B?

[Iani]

Hi

I feel a bit bad asking this, I like to think I am clued up on things, but frankly this visa application thing is really scaring me, and (Wifey can't see this, so guess I'm ok to say) it's making me a bit ill to be honest.

Anyway, this is probably an easy question, but my mind is shot.

There are two categories. A for 6 months or more with current employer, they will take an average of the last 6 months earnings at it's lowest to make a yearly salary they will use etc etc etc, we all know

B for less than 6 months with current employer, but where the sponsor has earned in excess of the income requirement over the last 12 months of course, or where the sponsor might be on a variable salary (they call it) - which I presume means paid 13 times a year for one example.

In both cases, they require statements of yearly salary, time with employer, permanent, temp or agency...........we all know (again)

This brings me to my personal circumstances. I have two employers, one I have been with since the early Jurassic period, the other 7 months. Both combined I more than meet the income requirement.

One has a fixed yearly salary, the other......is trickier. Basically, the contract (Which I need to enclose a copy of) says hours are variable, no guaranteed minimum. I have however been earning megabucks of late, plus the director of the company (It isn't a small one really, it's a franchised company with a few branches under his control) has stated in a letter that I've been given core hours and declared a yearly salary - and stated this is plus extra hours.

So it's back to this variable hours thing. The original contract can't be changed, it's signed etc now and filed away, but the director has stated I have core hours x number of days a week.

Well I can't change where I am and the situation I'm in, and I think I meet their blasted criterior. I'm earning well in excess.

I'm wondering if this does sound plausible, that I shouldn't really be worrying too much.

More to the point though, I wonder which category we would be best applying under.

I had thought A for a long time, because I can provide these 6 months of wageslips, the owner of the company has declared I have a yearly salary - and has provided this figure, along with a breakdown of how he came to that point. He has put to contact him and given his mobile if they have any questions.

I wonder though now - should we be applying under B, as this states this variable thing, although it isn't going to show more than 6 months wage slips under company number 2 anyway. I thought though variable was more a case of if you got paid drastically different amounts per month, or if you were paid differently to monthly.

Yours confused and in a bit of a mess

Me

[Terpe]

Look here at post #37 then ask any additional specific questions.

[Arthur Little]

Hi

I feel a bit bad asking this, I like to think I am clued up on things, but frankly this visa application thing is really scaring me, and (Wifey can't see this, so guess I'm ok to say) it's making me a bit ill to be honest.

... there's NO shame in asking for advice, Ian ... believe me!

Tbh ... I used to have no hesitation in answering fellow members' spate of questions about visas - particularly just after joining this site (*October 2008) - because back *then, the entire procedure was relatively straightforward, still fresh in my mind and therefore, accordingly, I felt 100% motivated to do whatever I possibly could in order to help other folk ... based on my own personal experience.

However, in the intervening years, the whole rigmarole has since become so bloody complex ... and thus I'm extremely grateful that the forum is truly blest with people of the calibre of Peter (Terpe) and Joe - each of whom is a veritable "treasure trove" of information on the subject.

[Iani]

Thanks for that. Yes, that post I made when I was concerned about this zero hours thing.

I am guessing then, using my own working out that I could apply under either. In the last 12 months I've earned well over the amount - due to earnings over the last 6 months.
In the last 6 months, I am earning consistently over the requirement.

Regarding that post, I've almost given up trying to speak to that immigration advisor, however I spoke today to a solicitor, who has confirmed that zero hours hasn't been an issue, as long as you can prove steady income, and that the employer expects this to continue.

I just wasn't sure if there was any advantage, to submitting 12 months worth (the first 6 months of that would be under the requirement, but taken as a full 12 months - from January 2012 to January 2013, it would be well over), over submitting just the last 6 months as evidence (Every month would show earnings meeting their requirement)

Thanks again anyway, I'm a bit clearer.............I think

[Arthur Little]

Hmm ... you would certainly SEEM to be on the right track - especially going by what you've just said there about the consistency of your earnings over the past 6 months - and I wish you all the very best with your wife's application.

[Iani]

I'm just getting more confused I'm afraid.

We have to fill in of course appendix 2.
Now I was going to apply under category A, as I can demonstrate over the last 6 months that I have earned this requirement.
I am however working in two jobs, it is a combined salary that I shall be using.

There doesn't appear in the appendix to be a section to put the details for the second job.
There IS a section which rather ambiguously states Has your sponsor had other salaried employment in the last 12 months, this however is for category B.
There is then an area to fill out another employers details, but most of the wording seems to be in the past tense - as if I had left that employment.

I could either write all the details of the other employer in the blank space at section 5, or maybe even apply under category B instead.

The fact is, over the last 12 months, I would have earned enough - counting back from January. For the first 6 months of this though, I was not earning enough.
I now over the last 6 months earn in excess - which is why I was going to apply under category A.

I wonder if maybe I would be as well seeing a solicitor or other advisor for help in completing these forms. It can't be that hard though, it seems really simple to me, I just need to know where to put my other employer, and if because I have two, should I be best applying under B.

Really confused, arrrrgh (again)