Apologies in advance for the long post - seeking some advice on risk level of attempting to switch employers as well as suggested possible timeframes, and double-check a possible RLMT. I've been working in the UK on a Tier 2 (general) visa since June 2016 and would like to eventually apply for ILR after I've been here for 5 years. I initially came on a one-year fixed term contract and Tier 2 general visa as a maternity cover, but my current (university) employer has repeatedly asked me to renew my contract and stay on as there aren't enough clinicians in my specialty to fill the need; my current fixed-term contract goes until Dec 26, 2019 and my current BRP expires Jan 14, 2020. The university has already indicated they want to renew me again for next year, which would take me until Dec 2020, but anything after that remains uncertain as they can't budget far in advance for fixed-term contracts (since the hope is to fill these gaps with permanent lecturers, there just aren't any viable candidates). I don't want to stay in academia forever or take a permanent lectureship position at this university (it's a very different role than the predominately clinical job I have as a fixed term employee), but I need some sort of job security to stay in continuous employment for the next 2 years (and beyond), with an employer who will sponsor my ILR - which I know won't be possible at the university in my current role as I'm a fixed term employee.
I've been approached by a private hospital that wants to recruit me and have gone through a few days of interviews already and am considering taking the post; they have had a job advert on our profession's certifying bodies' main public job banks, but unfortunately didn't originally write it with the explicit intent of potentially needing to pass a RLMT as I think they assumed they would get some qualified EU applicants - which hasn't happened. It's a bit of an oversight on their part as they were advertising it worldwide and the odds of needing to sponsor someone to come were high... The parent company is already a registered sponsor and has 12 active employees (from US, Australia, NZ and Japan) currently working successfully with them on Tier 2 visas. They haven't had any UK-based applicants apply since this post was originally advertised internationally at the end of March (common in our field, the university I'm currently at has had two open posts in my department since February with no applicants from anywhere worldwide...). The original advert doesn't explicitly state salary information (not usually done in our profession), so the question is whether the current advert that has been up for well over 28 days with no settled applicants responding yet would fulfill the RLMT as-is, or if they would need to re-post the advert again with modifications and wait to see if any other UK settled candidates apply before they can officially offer me the post? I'm waiting for their HR team to give me an answer on this, but as the stakes are high I wanted to try and double check things myself in the interim. I'm going to recommend they check in with an immigration lawyer also, but as thing aren't yet to that point I wanted to see if any immediate issues come up to the forum gurus.
I've copied the specific terms of the original post here, and the original links are in brackets (https://jobs.acvim.org/job/internal-med ... /47504257/ and https://www.ecvim-ca.org/jobs/for-diplo ... ral-london):
Opening Date: 27-3-19
Closing Date: 27-6-19
Benefits include:
· Signing bonus and relocation expenses
· Competitive salary plus bonus scheme
· Significant pension employer contribution
· Generous CPD allowance/time off to attend national and international meetings
· 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, with increased leave for long service
· Professional memberships paid
The salary will be above the £73,900 cutoff that requires advertising the position on the UK 'Find a Jobs' service, and the websites it's been posted on are the way all jobs in our field are handled outside of professional recruiters.
Assuming we can get past the RLMT issue successfully, the second part of my question relates to the timing of an application to switch employers from within the UK. I'm needed at my current post until my contract finishes at the end of December, and don't want to leave the university high and dry by quitting early (which I could technically do on my fixed term contract but don't want to burn bridges). The new employer is willing to wait for me until Jan 2020. As I understand, if my application to switch employers is rejected, my existing BRP/visa date with the university still remains in effect, and I would be able to apply again for another Tier 2 visa extension for another year in my current position (which I know the university will sponsor). Given this, I don't want to give notice at the university until I'm sure that the visa switch has successfully gone through, just in case I am rejected (so I'll still have a job here for another year at least when trying to decide what to do with my life!
). I haven't been able to find any information about how far in advance the HO would potentially issue a new BRP/visa? For instance, could I apply for a visa in July or August with the start date of my new position being mid-January 2020? My assumption is probably not and that I'd likely have to wait and apply less than 3 months before the new position is due to start (so mid-October for a mid-Jan start), but if I am denied it will be a long time for the new employer to wait to find out if I can definitely take the job or not (they have some EU candidates they could potentially take but don't really want to as they only want to work part-time and fly in 3 days a week so couldn't be involved in on-call duties), and it's also not much time for the university to begin advertising a replacement for me that would be hired and ready to start in mid-Jan (assuming they do find someone); in general notice periods within our profession are 4-6 months. Any advice people could offer on any of the above would be very much appreciated!
Thanks in advance.