Tier 2 Change of Employer

[satyaravisingh]

If you are on Tier 2 General visa with a restricted CoS and offered a job from a company who has a license to sponsor another CoS then

1. Once you receive a new CoS from your new employer, can you take a one day appointment to get my Tier 2 Visa change of employer application. If yes, does anyone know how soon or how late can you get an appointment if you start looking right after you get CoS

2. How do you time your resignation with current employer. Also, I am not sure if we can carry on working with the current employer once your new employer visa is issued

3. Any experience, any thoughts on how much risk is involved.(if any) And does Tier 2 general leads to settlement after 5 years?

Kind Regards,
Newbie

[geriatrix]

1. Yes. Appointment slots are available (for booking) six weeks in advance.
2. Reading these topics should help. No.
3. Read the topics linked above to get an idea. Under current rules, yes .... but do read this topic.

[satyaravisingh]

Thanks sushdmehta; All that really makes sense and clarifies my doubts. Just one last question -

If we ask the new employer to issue a Cos date one month from now and take a one day appointment (say tomorrow via solicitor; I believe they have some slots booked to get the appointment quickly) Will my tier 2 application say that I can start working with my new employer one month from now?

If yes, what will happen to the existing tier 2 attached to the current employer CoS; Can we serve a notice of one month with the current employer? As the new visa issued says that the CoS start date is one month from now.

[geriatrix]

You can start working for the new employer only from the start / joining date mentioned in the CoS. IMHO, that too only if you have received an approval of your leave to remain application.

[satyaravisingh]

Thanks for your reply

Sorry if I was not clear, my question was how long can I work for my 'current employer' once leave to remain for 'new employer' is issued (keeping in mind that the leave to remain starts after my notice period ends with my current employer)

[geriatrix]

Technically, you should have stopped working with the existing employer by the date of issue of new leave (since the new Tier 2 leave allows you to work only with the new sponsor .. not the existing one).

Therefore, joining dates within a short time-frame are always an issue when one has a notice period to serve! The alternative is to not serve the notice period and pay (or have the new employer pay) the financial penalty you may incur from your exiting employer for not serving the notice period.

[satyaravisingh]

Thanks sushdmehta

Wow that makes it virtually impossible to switch jobs on Tier 2 being within the UK. These laws are so harsh for innocent tax paying working class

[i.atnet]

Technically, you should have stopped working with the existing employer by the date of issue of new leave (since the new Tier 2 leave allows you to work only with the new sponsor .. not the existing one).

Therefore, joining dates within a short time-frame are always an issue when one has a notice period to serve! The alternative is to not serve the notice period and pay (or have the new employer pay) the financial penalty you may incur from your exiting employer for not serving the notice period.

My case is somewhat similar to this.
I am on Tier 2 General visa at the moment and I have just applied for Tier 2 (General) as I am changing the Job/Employer. We have mentioned a start date as 3rd Jan.2011 on the COS. I am hoping to get the visa withing next 4 weeks say by 21st Nov. Once I get the visa I will give notice (1 month in my case) to my current employer and will join new employer on 3rd Jan!
I hope this will work out?

[smoothraj]

Sushdmehta,

This is just fantastic work that you are doing! Life may not be fair but you are definitely being more than fair god bless!

My company is going through a bit of rough phase and they may not be able to afford me at my current salary+benefits. I have started looking elsewhere and I am confident of finding something suitable within the next 2-3 months.

I know that I am eligible for an in-country switch from my current tier-2 ICT to tier-2 Gen as I was initially granted leave to remain in October 2008. As per my understanding the new employer would have had to carry out the RLMT (within the immediate 6 months before the date of assignment of CoS) and assign an unrestricted CoS to me.. once CoS is assigned my application for leave to remain must be made within 3 months. I will of course need to time it in such a way that the last working day, start date etc dont overlap..
Q 1 .. I am assuming it would be ok to have a gap of as much as 2 months between the start date of employment with new employer and as little as no gap (next day start) as long the dates match.. Is my understanding correct?

Q2 My current company has not asked me to leave.. not yet anyway ... but just in case they do .. then I would most likely have to serve 1 month notice in the UK.. my current work permit expires mid- May 2012 however I dont suppose I can continue to live in the UK if I am not employes with the same sponsor for that long.
Can you please tell me how many days am I legally allowed live in the UK after my last date of employment with my current employer? i.e. the no of days I have within which I need to make an application for further leave to remain/tier-2 General through new employer?

there are some blogs I read say that the number of days is 28 and some say 60 days ... so not quite sure..

Thanks,

[smoothraj]

i.atnet
Junior Member


Joined: 04 Oct 2011
Posts: 18

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 12:43 pm Post subject:
sushdmehta wrote:
Technically, you should have stopped working with the existing employer by the date of issue of new leave (since the new Tier 2 leave allows you to work only with the new sponsor .. not the existing one).

Therefore, joining dates within a short time-frame are always an issue when one has a notice period to serve! The alternative is to not serve the notice period and pay (or have the new employer pay) the financial penalty you may incur from your exiting employer for not serving the notice period.


My case is somewhat similar to this.
I am on Tier 2 General visa at the moment and I have just applied for Tier 2 (General) as I am changing the Job/Employer. We have mentioned a start date as 3rd Jan.2011 on the COS. I am hoping to get the visa withing next 4 weeks say by 21st Nov. Once I get the visa I will give notice (1 month in my case) to my current employer and will join new employer on 3rd Jan!
I hope this will work out?

i wont claim to be an expert. I have done quite a bit of research and your approach should be fine. good luck.
one more thing and perhaps sushdmehta can correct me if I am wrong .. say UKBA grants you the Tier-2 Gen on 21st November and your current employer says to you that you cannot leave them until say 10th Jan or say your tier-2 visa is granted on 15th Dec... then I think it is not a big deal ...... your new emplpyer can just write to UKBA and submit what they call as "change of circumstances" which will notify them that instead of 3rd Jan 2012 you will be joining on say 16th Jan 2012.

[designuk]

Hi all,

I think I'm in similar situation. I'm waiting for a CoS from new employer who is currently undertaking RLMT, and I really would like to quit my job.

@smoothraj so you think that if I leave my current job and ask my current employer to withdraw the CoS, I can stay in country for 60 days? I hope to start working for the new employer well within those days.

I know its risky as anything can happen, like new employer changing their mind etc, but just want to be sure how many days I'll have if either I quit or lose my job.

Will be very kind of you if you could confirm.

Thanks

[smoothraj]

Hi all,

I think I'm in similar situation. I'm waiting for a CoS from new employer who is currently undertaking RLMT, and I really would like to quit my job.

@smoothraj so you think that if I leave my current job and ask my current employer to withdraw the CoS, I can stay in country for 60 days? I hope to start working for the new employer well within those days.

I know its risky as anything can happen, like new employer changing their mind etc, but just want to be sure how many days I'll have if either I quit or lose my job.

Will be very kind of you if you could confirm.

Thanks

sorry just saw your post.
a better approach would be to wait until your tier-2 gen application is successful and then resign!

assuming you dont want to do that for your own personal reason and want to leave now.. then yes you can stay in country for 60 days from last working day at your current sponsore within which you would need to make another application.

one more thing .. when you resign you will i am guessing serve some kind of notice period.. say it is 1 month that gives you i guess 90 days from the day you hand in your resignation to apply for tier-2 gen with new sponsor. Additionally you dont need to request your current employer to withdraw the Cos .. it is your current sponsor's responsibility to inform UKBA within 10 days of your last working day - and not yours!!

also bear in mind if you have less than 6 months left on your current uk work permit then UKBA will not curtail your leave to remain i.e. you can stay legally in the country until your current leave to remain date & apply under a valid category like tier-2 gen by that time.

[designuk]

Thanks a lot smoothraj!

I'm so relaxed to find out I wont have to immediately leave the country.

I'm waiting for RLMT to be finished by new employer (2 weeks left) then they will send me the CoS. I wanted to wait patiently till I sent my application, but sometimes you just cant take it anymore and I feel I'll lose my mind if I stay at this job for a single day more.

I know its a risk to resign at the moment although I have a confirmed job offer but I really don't know how to be patient and what to do. I'm afraid I'll end up in hospital because of depression.

But thanks again, all I have to do is wait some more and see how it goes.