Tier 2 Visa. Change in Employer Shareholders.

[Macpro]

Hi There,

I have couple questions about Tier 2 visa and was wondering if you people can shed some light on this please.

I am on Tier 2 visa and I currently work for a Public company with US as main headquarters and UK as regional EMEA headquarters. Company is currently listed on NASDAQ with wide range of public shareholders.

In few months from now my company will go Private and all shares will be under new set of private equity firm shareholders. These shareholders are not based in UK and does not have Tier 2 sponsor license.

Company name and brand, our CEO/management team, regional headquarters, and my job remains unchanged. Only thing that will changing is company going from Public to Private with new set of shareholders.

Question:
1) Can I still continue my employment as nothing changes in terms of role or company name or business side or not ?
2) If I cannot, what should the new company do to protect existing employees ?

I read through chapter 13 of Sponsor guidance but unfortunately my situation is not closely matched. Can someone please help answer my question.

Kind Regards

[manci]

IMHO this will depend on the status of your sponsor, i.e. whether they are a company registered in the UK or a foreign company with a branch in the UK (you can check this through the Companies House website). In the former case there wouldn't be any change to the sponsorship assuming the UK company remains as it was at the time it obtained its sponsor licence. In the latter case they would have submitted certain information about the US parent company when they applied for the sponsor licence and if this changes I would suggest that they report it through the SMS.

[Macpro]

Thanks Manci. Company is registered in UK and remains as is. Even the parent company in US remains unchanged, except going from public to private. Yes I made our Level1 user aware of this and we will report this change to home office early next year.

Just so I understand your reply, are you saying that my tier 2 sponsor status and my visa will not affected if above statement is true ?! Can you please confirm this when time permits.

Kind Regards

[manci]

Thanks Manci. Company is registered in UK and remains as is. Even the parent company in US remains unchanged, except going from public to private. Yes I made our Level1 user aware of this and we will report this change to home office early next year.

Just so I understand your reply, are you saying that my tier 2 sponsor status and my visa will not affected if above statement is true ?
yes IMHO
Can you please confirm this when time permits.

Kind Regards

[Macpro]

Thanks Manci.