Switching Companies and COS

Hi,

I've recently been issued an COS with my employer and the certificate is for a job that is not on the shortage list. I have worked for this company for some time and I am not entirely happy with the work/the company. I would like to stay in the UK and ideally would want to move on from my current company.

I understand that I can change companies only if the new company has a valid certificate of sponsorship for that post or I could take over a certificate if someone has left a job who was being sponsored. Could someone please confirm that this is correct?

If there is anyone who has been through the process of switching companies and CoS it would be great to hear of your experience and how you came across another company who was able to sponsor you. Obviously at the moment obtaining a CoS is difficult and I have no idea how to start job hunting specifically for a job/company that has an available CoS.

You can apply for leave to remain on the basis of a CoS applied for and granted to the named applicant (you).


regards

That is very interesting - I hadn't looked into that yet. Could you please point me in the direction of information/resources regarding how I would go about applying for limited leave to remain and the requirements. Thank you.

are you interested from applicant's point of view OR from employer's/sponsor's point of view?

eitherway, ukba website is a good starting point

Thanks Aresenal but I was referring to 'sushdmehta' who indicated that since I have been been issued a CoS I can apply for leave to remain. I was hoping for resources relating to applying for leave to remain after being issued a CoS.

I may not totally understand what 'leave to remain' is but from what 'sushdmehta' stated in response to my question it seems that 'leave to remain' is something separate to my CoS and will enable to me to live in the UK without being bound to my current, sponsoring employer?

Or is leave to remain simply the category I will be under on my visa (its currently being processed)?

Leave to enter / remain is what people generally call a "visa".
Leave to enter is applied for from outside the UK (also called entry clearance).
Leave to remain is applied for from within the UK.

One applies for leave to remain (visa) after one is issued a CoS (only sponsorship authorisation, not a visa) by an employer.

CoS is only meant for Tier 2 (i.e. - sponsored) migrants. And leave to enter / remain as a Tier 2 migrant restricts your full-time employment to the named sponsoring employer.


regards

Thank you! I understand-

So back to my initial question: in order to work in the UK under tier 2 I can switch companies but the new company has to have a CoS for the post. Am I correct?

And is it possible to take over someone's CoS for a particular job if they have left the company before the CoS has expired?

pepper wrote:Thank you! I understand-

So back to my initial question: in order to work in the UK under tier 2 I can switch companies but the new company has to have a CoS for the post. Am I correct?

Yes

And is it possible to take over someone's CoS for a particular job if they have left the company before the CoS has expired?

COS is a number that is generated when a company enters details of prospective employee or current employee in sponsor management system on UKBA website. Only that employee can use the COS number as the details on the leave to remain/leave to enter application should match with what the company entered on UKBA website. Once that employee makes the application for leave to remain/leave to enter the COS is considered used and cannot be used again.

I hope this answers your question.