Skilled worker visa - Employer changed under TUPE

Hi,
My circumstances are as follows:
1. Skilled worker visa sponsored by Employer A valid from Apr,2022 till Apr,2027
2. All employees were transferred from Employer A to Employer B on Jan,2023
3. Employer B did not have sponsorship license but they submitted their application to Home Office for sponsorship license.
4. Employer B asking me now to apply for updating existing skilled worker visa with new employer details (my assumption was this will be taken care internally as part of TUPE process with Home Office?)
5. What will happen to dependents as their visa still valid till Apr,2027 (Do they also need to change their visa immediately ? Can they travel outside the country with existing visa ?)

Thanks in advance on your precious advice.

ashish19_2005 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 05, 2023 1:26 pm

4. Employer B asking me now to apply for updating existing skilled worker visa with new employer details (my assumption was this will be taken care internally as part of TUPE process with Home Office?)

An expected process for TUPE is as follows:
post2114795.html#p2114795

those sponsored workers being transferred / TUPE are identified and the Home Office informed of the transfer. The receiving employer must obviously hold a sponsor licence, once that is confirmed the Home Office “moves” the transferring migrants to the new employer. This is an internal process for the Home Office and does not impact on the migrant, your right to work is maintained, you do not need to apply for a new visa, there is no need for a new COS and of course there are no additional costs to pay.

So you should be right, it's an internal process, but new employer need a license.

Thanks for your response, yes Employer B now got the sponsorship license - but they are requesting new CoS for me to apply visa again.
Ideally as per above steps, they should have informed Home office that employee get transferred as part of TUPE.

ashish19_2005 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 05, 2023 2:04 pm

Thanks for your response, yes Employer B now got the sponsorship license - but they are requesting new CoS for me to apply visa again.

They shouldn't. See quote from sponsor guidance:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... _v.1.0.pdf

C4.10. Workers who change employer under TUPE or similar protection do not
need to make a new application for permission, and the new sponsor does
not have to assign a new Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to the worker,
provided:
• the new sponsor has a valid sponsor licence in the relevant route and
has confirmed that it accepts responsibility for the worker, and
• the worker’s duties remain unchanged

meself2 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 05, 2023 2:21 pm

ashish19_2005 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 05, 2023 2:04 pm

Thanks for your response, yes Employer B now got the sponsorship license - but they are requesting new CoS for me to apply visa again.

They shouldn't. See quote from sponsor guidance:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... _v.1.0.pdf

C4.10. Workers who change employer under TUPE or similar protection do not
need to make a new application for permission, and the new sponsor does
not have to assign a new Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to the worker,
provided:
• the new sponsor has a valid sponsor licence in the relevant route and
has confirmed that it accepts responsibility for the worker, and
• the worker’s duties remain unchanged

Thanks for pointing this out, I shared the same with HR and hope they will fix it internally with Home Office. Thanks so much again for sharing this valuable info

I believe the issue here is perhaps the importing employer did not have a licence. In that case the TUPE should not have been undertaken until the company had the licence in place.

So if the TUPE took place in Jan 2023 then it took place without the sanction of the Home Office simply because you can’t TUPE skilled worker migrants to a company that is not licensed.

It is a mess and to be honest given the circumstances if a visit was to take place to employer B I think their licence would be in serious jeopardy.

I suspect employer B has not outlined the full position to the Home Office and want you to proceed with a new COS because all the TUPE migrants have actually been working illegally since the transfer. I hope my thinking is wrong for your sake