Tier 2 CoS advice please...

Hi Everyone,
I am a Non-EU candidate and I moved to UK from another EU country in Sep'11 under tier 4 student visa. Now my course is complete and I'm planning to switch to Tier 2, however I have some problems here.

The course that I came here is PG.Diploma (9 months). By sheer misfortune I was unable to pay tuition fee on time as a result my UNI made my then student Visa invalid and then I had to apply agian for the student visa and I did and I'm waiting for it, meanwhile my course was finished and I passed it.

Mine is a health profession and I have to do one year internship to be a qualified person in my field. To start this training latest date I have is Aug 17th, say roughly 40 days from now. My employer has the Tier 2 A rating sponsor license...But I was told that with PG.Diploma I can not switch to tier2 Inside UK...if this is true then I can go back to my home country and from there I can apply & come under Tier 2.

Now the questions I have are....1) which CoS my employer has to assign me i.e. restricted or unrestricted???

2) How long it takes to get the CoS approval from UKBA and to assign me the CoS??? (he already has a license)

3) Now I'm awaiting for student visa from UKBA..if by some misfortune something goes wrong and I don't get student visa...what effect it might have on my Tier 2 approval from my home country???

4) Since I don't want to want to miss my training from the latest date possible which is Aug 17th, I'm thinking of starting it under student visa (course completed so I can work full time) when I get he CoS and everything I just want to quickly fly to my home country and get this thing sorted in 20 days( that's the max holidays I can get during my Internship and general processing time for tier2 in my home country is 10 days..so there is a safe margin)....is it a good Idea??

I know it's too long so as complicated...Please advice me. Thank you very much in advance..[/i]

To establish whether you can switch from a Tier 4 student category to Tier 2 General will depend on your particular circumstances, see paragraphs 17 and onwards in the Tier 2 policy guidance:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... idance.pdf

If you can switch your sponsor/employer probably does not have to carry out a resident labour market test (which takes 28 days) but, again, this depends on your particular circumstances, see:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/busin ... arkettest/

"Internship" as such is not a job although it is considered a working category for immigration purposes. See:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... p&start=20

If you move to Tier 2 General and irespective of whether you apply from the UK or abroad your future sponsor will have to assign a CoS to you. Ask them if they would be able to do that in view of current immigration rules concerning the minimum job level, salary, etc.

For conditions of working on a Tier 4 visa see the T4 policy guidance:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... idance.pdf

Thank you manci, In my case RLMT is required because my profession is not Shortage occupation list and I didn't do MSc.

From Tier4 to Tier 2 switching according new guidleines paragraph 17 says that we have to have a bachelor or Postgraduate degree so in my case its a Pg.Diploma..so I don't think I'm able to switch inside UK.

now the only question I have is...1)I have a UK bank statement with funds maitained for the last 3 months so can I use this in my home country if I apply from there..

2) I'm thinking both Tier 5 and Tier 2 are the same ... is there any difference between them...because my professional body is giving us CoS for Tier 5 for this year internship I could take it..or I can go with tier 2 with my employer..so I'm thinking since both are PBSs I don't see much difference between them...I'm planning to take Tier 2 instead of Tier 5 for future purposes... please advice me on this Manci..

thank you.

Venki8 wrote:Thank you manci, In my case RLMT is required because my profession is not Shortage occupation list and I didn't do MSc.

From Tier4 to Tier 2 switching according new guidleines paragraph 17 says that we have to have a bachelor or Postgraduate degree so in my case its a Pg.Diploma..so I don't think I'm able to switch inside UK.

now the only question I have is...1)I have a UK bank statement with funds maitained for the last 3 months so can I use this in my home country if I apply from there..

2) I'm thinking both Tier 5 and Tier 2 are the same ... is there any difference between them...because my professional body is giving us CoS for Tier 5 for this year internship I could take it..or I can go with tier 2 with my employer..so I'm thinking since both are PBSs I don't see much difference between them...I'm planning to take Tier 2 instead of Tier 5 for future purposes... please advice me on this Manci..

thank you.

1) U can use UK bank statements as long as they comply with UKBA requirements.
2) Venki are u talking about pre-reg pharmacist?If that is the case I am also in the same exact situation.

I don't know the details of what you are actually doing but Tier 5 is only for the following five sub-categories and from what you wrote I didn't think you fitted into any of them
• Creative and sporting
• Charity workers .
• Religious workers –
• Government authorised exchange
However, since you say that your professional body is assigning Tier 5 CoSs I stand to be corrected.

If you established from the T2 policy guidance that you are not eligible to switch in-country there is a problem with your internship starting date of 17 August.This is because the RLMT takes 28 days to do and your T2 sponsor can only apply for an allocation of a restricted CoS after the RLMT has been completed. The deadline for the monthly allocation request is the 5th and the decision is made on the 11th. Considering all this, in order to get a restricted CoS allocation by 11 August the RLMT must be started by tomorrow 6th July latest. Refer to the sponsor guidance paragraphs 244 and onwards:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

In light of the above you should weigh up the pros and cons of the two options available to you (T2 or T5).

If you are considering the Tier 5 option look at paragraphs 8 and 459 onwards in the sponsoer guidance (Government authorised exchange).