60 days to find another contract.. or else?

[erasven]

Hi all,

I've been on a Tier 2 General for 2 years. My sponsor is an agency, of which I am an PAYE employee. They provide me with a Tier 2 visa in exchange for taking a cut on my daily rate.

I've been working as a consultant (aka contractor) on my Tier 2 for a client for over 2.5 years, and to my surprise, they did not renew my contract. I was told by the agency when I first joined them 2.5 years ago that should my contract come to an end, that I will have maximum 2 months to secure a new contract or else, and I quote "your sponsorship will be revoked.".

I obviously understand the reality of that, but can someone please explain to me what exactly does this mean?

For example:

1. At what point does the 60 days start? And will I be notified by the agency or who decides when this start?

2. I came across the concept of "curtailment" today, but I don't quite understand it? It seems to be the letter telling you that you have 60 days to leave the country, and its valid from the date of issue. So I assume they only issue the letter when the agency contacts them? And if this is the case, what exactly do they tell home office? Hopefully not "breach of condition", see below

3. What reason for termination is the agency likely to use to "revoke" my sponsorship? God forbid its something crazy like this:xxxxxxxxxxx condition-stay-not-condition-stay/ where "breached condition to stay" was used to which resulted in all hell for this guy. This could easily apply here as I would imagine that one of my "conditions to stay" is to continue providing them with a monthly share of my earnings, and should I fail to do this the "conditions to stay" will be breached? I'M NOT trying to dramatise, just thinking worse case scenario which one should when it involves visas

This is my current understand of what I'm trying to clarify with the questions above:

1. Client Contract ends
2. Client notifies contractor & agency
3. Contractor tries and find a new contract
4. TWo months later contractor was not successful in finding new contractor
5. Agency terminates employment with immediate effect
6. Agency notifies home office of the termination and revoke the COS
7. Home office issue Curtailment Letter stating leave by date?
8. Life over.

Moderator edit: web link removed under the Board Ts&Cs.

[Casa]

I believe you may have a bigger problem. Contracting is illegal under Tier 2 General and having to find your own contracts and the agency taking a cut of your earnings is likely to raise a red flag with the Home Office.

See the link below to a previous thread:
indefinite-leave-to-remain/applying-for ... 44167.html

[erasven]

Thank you for your reply. I'm quite aware of that, obviously none of this was disclosed when entering the agreement: ie, I was never told contracting under Tier 2 wasn't legal unless you really work hard at ticking all the boxes (ie, the sponsor having 100% control and the client zero). Obviously the client want control, so this mechanism of saying its legal, well strictly, it can could be legal if all parties stick to the agreement, but the nature of the work makes this impossible especially. It's in all parties best interest to comply, whether they do is another story.

In a legal sense, its not illegal. What makes it seem "illegal " is the assumption that the terms such an agreement are not being followed. And this is a big deal, because the line between legal and illegal are solely dependant on these "terms of control" being applied, and due to the nature of the agreement; in most cases that of an employer/employee; its hard not to make such an assumption! I get it...

weblink removed by moderator

PS: My aim is not to find another contract. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.

Now, back to the topic of my initial post please

[CR001]

It is illegal in terms of the Immigration Rules and a breach of your visa conditions. Under many normal business transactions, such agreements are legal and happen all the time, however this would not apply to YOU as a Tier 2 General visa holder as you have very specific conditions attached to your visa.

Curtailment starts when HO sends you the letter, giving you 60 days (if your current visa is valid for longer than 60 days at that point). You will also find it very hard to get a new 'contract' as this is a well known route of abuse now and employers will steer clear of such situations now.

What your agency puts as a reason is anyone's guess, if a reason is even asked for.

How did you find this agency to get a visa? Approached by them or

Did you have to pay for a CoS?

What percentage of your earnings do the agency take, 20%??

What is your SOC??

We had a member a couple of years ago who did this arrangement for 5 years and when he came to applying for ILR, it was refused and he had to leave the UK with his 4 dependents. Likelihood of getting another visa, virtually nil.