Scoring points for your previous earnings

This page explains the points we award for your previous earnings under Tier 1 (General) of the points-based system.

You must read the policy guidance before you apply. You can download the guidance from the right side of this page.

You can score up to 80 points for your salaried employment or self-employed earnings.

The table below shows the points that you will score if you currently have permission to stay in the UK as:

• a Tier 1 (General) migrant under the Immigration Rules in place before 6 April 2010;
• a highly skilled migrant;
• a writer, composer or artist; or
• a self-employed lawyer.

Previous earnings	Points
£16,000-£17,999 *	5
£18,000-£19,999 *	10
£20,000-£22,999	15
£23,000-£25,999	20
£26,000-£28,999	25
£29,000-£31,999	30
£32,000-£34,999	35
£35,000-£39,999	40
£40,000 or more	45

If you are currently in another eligible immigration category, the table below shows the points that you will score:

Previous earnings	Points
£25,000-£29,999	5
£30,000-£34,999	15
£35,000-£39,999	20
£40,000-£49,999	25
£50,000-£54,999	30
£55,000-£64,999	35
£65,000-£74,999	40
£75,000-£149,999	45
£150,000 or more	80

* You will score no points for previous earnings below £20,000 if, under the Immigration rules in place between 31 March 2009 and 5 April 2010:

• you were given permission to enter the UK under Tier 1 (General); or
• you were given permission to switch into Tier 1 (General) from an immigration category other than those listed above.

The period of earnings we will assess

Earnings must be made up of 12 consecutive months and must normally fall within the 15 months before your application.

You can claim points for a 12-month period outside the 15-month period if you have been away from the workplace for a time during the last 12 months on maternity or adoption-related absence.

You do not need to be in continuous employment during the 12-month period being assessed, so:

• you can claim for a period of earnings less than 12 months; and
• earnings do not have to be from a single employer and can be from full-time, part-time, temporary or short-term work.

If you claim for a period that is longer than 12 months, or if you do not specify a period for assessment of earnings, we will assess the most recent 12-month period for which you have sent evidence.

Assessment of previous earnings

We assess your gross salary before tax. This also applies if you are self-employed and draw a salary from your business.

If you earned the money in a country with no tax system, we will consider your total earnings for the period. If you are self-employed, your earnings are assessed on the profits of your business before tax. If you have a share of a business, your earnings are assessed on your share of the business's net profits before tax.

Earnings we include in the assessment

We include previous earnings from:

• salaried employment; or
• self-employed activities.

Your overall total earnings can include those from several sources of work, including salaried employment and self-employed activities. Earnings do not need to have been with a single employer, and can be considered from full-time, part-time, temporary and short-term work.

Earnings may include, among other things:

• salaries (including full-time, part-time, and bonuses);
• earnings from self-employment;
• earnings from business activities;
• statutory maternity pay and contractual maternity pay;
• allowances (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) that form part of your remuneration package;
• dividends paid by a company, where it is a company in which you are active in the day-to-day management, or where you receive the dividend as part or all of your remuneration package;
• income from property rental, where this forms part of your business; and
• payment in lieu of notice (a payment made instead of requiring an employee to work the normal period of notice when leaving a job).

Unearned sources of income that we will not consider as previous earnings include:

• expenses (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) that reimburse you for money you have previously spent;
• dividends from investments, unless it is a company in which you are active in the day-to-day management, or unless you receive the dividend as part or all of your remuneration package;
• income from property rental, unless this forms part of your business;
• interest on savings;
• funds that were inherited;
• money paid to you as a pension;
• employer pension contributions;
• expenses where the payment reimburses you for money you have previously spent;
• the value of the shares you receive when offered a job under an employee shareholder employment contract;
• statutory redundancy payment;
• sponsorship for periods of study; or
• state benefits;
• prize money or competition winnings, other than where they are directly related to the applicant's main profession or occupation.

We only consider actual earnings. If you have worked part-time, you cannot claim for what you would have earned if it had been full-time work.

We will not take any earnings into account if you were in breach of UK immigration law when you made them.

Allowances

We will only include allowances (such as those for accommodation or schooling for your children) in the assessment of your previous earnings if they are part of your remuneration package and are not paid to reimburse you for money you have previously spent.

We will only accept allowances as earnings if they are declared in your payslips and your employment contract says that your employer must pay these allowances.

How we convert your earnings into pounds sterling (GBP)

Earnings made overseas must be converted into pounds sterling so that we can assess them. The exchange rate we use is the one produced by OANDA.

You should use the closing spot exchange rate on the OANDA website on the last day of the period for which you have claimed earnings in that currency. You can find a link to the website on the right side of this page. It is an independent website, for which we are not responsible.

How we adjust overseas earnings

To reflect differences in income levels across the world, the income level required to score points varies depending on where you were working at the time you earned the money. We use a series of calculations (known as 'uplift ratios') to bring overseas salaries in line with the UK equivalents. The level of uplift we give depends on the average income in the country where you made the earnings. This calculation is made automatically using the points-based calculator, which you can find on the right of this page.

Table 2A of Appendix A (Attributes) of the Immigration Rules lists countries and the appropriate conversion rate, which you can find on the right of this page.

The country in which you have been working, rather than your nationality, determines the income bands against which we will assess the earnings.

Where you have earnings from more than one country, the points-based calculator will apply the appropriate uplift ratio for each country in which the relevant earnings were made, to provide a total that is equivalent to the UK value of earnings.

An uplift ratio will not be applied to any earnings made while you were in the UK working for an overseas company. If you are already in the UK under Tier 1 (General) and you are applying to extend your stay, you cannot claim uplift rations on any overseas earnings.

The period of earnings assessment if you have been on maternity or adoption leave

If you have been on maternity or adoption leave for up to 12 months of the most recent 15-month period in which you have worked, you can discount (do not need to count) the period of maternity or adoption-related absence, maximum absence period is not more than 12 months. This may apply, for example, if you have been working for four months, then take a period of maternity or adoption leave for up to 12 months, then return to work for eight months before applying. In these circumstances, we would consider the combined periods of four and eight months that you worked, and would not count the maternity or adoption-related absence.The maximum period of maternity or adoption-related absence that we will not count is 12 months.

You do not have to ask us not to count earnings during maternity or adoption-related absence, and can include maternity or adoption payments in the assessment of your previous earnings.

If you are still absent from work for maternity or adoption-related reasons at the time of your application, we will consider a period of 12 months taken from the 15 months immediately before the absence began.

The price that a buyer expects to pay for one foreign currency when buying it in another currency for delivery immediately. The closing spot exchange rate is the rate that is current at the time the market stops trading for the day.Payment you receive for work you have done or a service you have supplied. This includes salary as well as other types of benefit.A share of a company's profits, paid to people who have invested in it (for example by buying shares).