Have you travelled to the UK in the last 10 years?

[rrdani]

Experts, I could use some advice on my situation:

In October (2017) I withdrew from the course under which I was sponsored for Tier 4. The original expiry date of my Tier 4 VISA was September 2018. I am still in the UK at the time of this post, but am scheduled to leave the UK in good standing financially and legally, within 60 days of when I withdrew from my studies.

I am about to receive a letter of intent to offer from a company capable of performing the RLMT and securing a Tier 2 CoS. However, I have not received any communication or curtailment papers from the Home Office. I understand from searching these boards that the UK can sometimes take several months to issue curtailment notices.

My questions are these:
1) If my prospective new employer carries out a successful RLMT and applies for a Tier 2 restricted CoS, can that application by affected if my Tier 4 VISA has not been officially curtailed and is still active in the system?

2) If I receive the Tier 2 CoS, can my application for a new Tier 2 VISA be affected by an active (not yet curtailed) Tier 4 VISA still in the system? I'm aware that a migrant can only have one active VISA in the system at any given time, so I think the answer to this one is "yes, the Tier 2 application will be refused if there's an active Tier 4 in the system", but I want to check.

3) Is there any way to see or obtain the status of my current Tier 4 VISA?

4) My current Tier 4 VISA is one of the old ones, that states the full duration of the VISA in my passport (before they were 30 day stamps followed by the biometric card). Is it mandatory that someone from the Home Office or sponsoring university mark this VISA with the updated curtailed information before I depart the UK? I'm concerned that if I send that same passport booklet off in my home country to obtain the new VISA, the presence of the old one (which doesn't expire until late next year) may delay or complicate the application.

Thanks for your time in considering this!

[CR001]

1) If my prospective new employer carries out a successful RLMT and applies for a Tier 2 restricted CoS, can that application by affected if my Tier 4 VISA has not been officially curtailed and is still active in the system?

No. They are two different visa with different rules and are not 'dependent' on each other.

2) If I receive the Tier 2 CoS, can my application for a new Tier 2 VISA be affected by an active (not yet curtailed) Tier 4 VISA still in the system? I'm aware that a migrant can only have one active VISA in the system at any given time, so I think the answer to this one is "yes, the Tier 2 application will be refused if there's an active Tier 4 in the system", but I want to check.

Your educational institution will have informed HO already and they will likely have a note on their system. You cannot HOLD two visa simultaneously. It does not mean you cannot APPLY for another visa while holding a different category visa.

3) Is there any way to see or obtain the status of my current Tier 4 VISA?

Check with your sponsor or phone HO.

4) My current Tier 4 VISA is one of the old ones, that states the full duration of the VISA in my passport (before they were 30 day stamps followed by the biometric card). Is it mandatory that someone from the Home Office or sponsoring university mark this VISA with the updated curtailed information before I depart the UK? I'm concerned that if I send that same passport booklet off in my home country to obtain the new VISA, the presence of the old one (which doesn't expire until late next year) may delay or complicate the application.

No. You are overthinking things. Have a visa vignette in one category and applying for another visa is NOT an issue. Your student visa will be cancelled automatically anyway IF you are granted a tier 2 visa.

[rrdani]

Thank you, CR001, for your reply. I'm sure by this point you've become quite accustomed to people either under-thinking or over-thinking issues. I do appreciate the responses.

[CR001]

Thank you, CR001, for your reply. I'm sure by this point you've become quite accustomed to people either under-thinking or over-thinking issues. I do appreciate the responses.

It is usually the 'under thinkers' we have to worry about as they usually feel that the rules simply don't all apply to them

[rrdani]

Question: can someone point me toward any official language or guidance on pre-selection, as it relates to conducting the RLMT?

Recently, I was interviewed for a position which will require a T2R CoS and in my particular case, the RLMT. The interviews went well and there had been discussions of potentially issuing an intent to offer letter prior to the commencement of the RLMT. According to multiple experts on this board, and some other online resources, this would be a potentially catastrophic action, re: pre-selection / post-RLMT audits.

There will be no intent to offer letter (or any similar communication until the RLMT has concluded), and I'm not particularly worried about this situation because the vacancy is highly specialised, highly paid, and has been advertised for several months in various locations, including professional journals and newspapers, prior to the start of the RLMT (I realise those prior adverts carry little weight as they were not part of the RLMT).

Although most message boards seem to be in agreement on the issue, I have not been able to locate any language on a .gov.uk site or document that relates to (the prohibition of) pre-selecting a candidate, or the numerous shades of gray that surely surround each situation (e.g. mine, when the only reason the RLMT is being considered is because every effort has been made to recruit from the settled workforce and a migrant seems to be the only applicant that meets the requirements listed in the adverts shown prior to the RLMT).

So again, Question: can someone point me toward any official language or guidance on pre-selection, as it relates to conducting the RLMT?

[CR001]

Page 118 and then 121 in the link below (Sponsor Guidance) details the requirements.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 5-2017.pdf

[rrdani]

I could use a little extra guidance on this question. I've been studying in the UK for the last 4 years, and am now applying for a T2R from outside the UK. During my time studying, I returned to my home country multiple times, and did things like take the ferry to Ireland (not Northern Ireland) for 2 days, and then return to the UK.

These days, the online VISA app asks for the 5 most recent 'trips'. I feel like those 4 years of study only comprise one trip, but if I fill it out that way, it doesn't provide information on occasions when I've clearly been granted entry into the UK, as evidenced by stamps in my passport. On the other hand, if I break it down into each individual stint (e.g. a 48 hour holiday in Ireland increments the number of 'trips'), then I'll only be giving an account of about 20 months of travel history to the UK.

I really feel like I've only ever made 2 trips to the UK - for a university open day and then when I was granted initial entry on my T4. But I have over half a dozen entry stamps to the UK because of 1-7 day trips either into Europe or back to the States.

I'd appreciate it if an expert could weigh in on what the officer would prefer to see in this part of the VISA application, including if it would be helpful to include a note in the additional info section at the conclusion of the app.

Thanks for time spent on this.

[vinny]

Best to match with your entry stamps.