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Hi,

My application for purple certificate has been finally submitted by my employed 10 days ago. It is for intra company transfer.

I am now in Croatia and waiting to get the certificate after which I will move to London together with my partner.

My questions are:
Does anyone know how long will this process take?
Did any of you have experience of the process and did you have any problems?

Thank you / Hvala

Update: Called UK Visas and Immigration on 00 44 203 481 1736 (number with £1.37 per minute charges) to enquire about this.

The person helping me, though polite, really had no clue about this and kept on talking about a Visa. After a while she finally realised we are talking about Purple Certificate at which point she just said she cannot tell me anything about them as processing times depend on 'individual circumstances'. At this point I really pressed for some answer, after discussing it with someone while keeping me on hold the operator said that it normally takes between 10 and 15 working days to process but again it all depends on individual circumstances.

Again, lovely operator but I find it a bit worrisome that they did not know anything about the certificate and Croatia (they kept saying I was from Ukraine). This pleasure cost me £20.

Up to now I heard it can take up to 6 months, then 8-12 weeks and now 10-15 working days to issue a purple registration certificate. This is really confusing especially since visa applications from outside of EU take considerably less time to process than for an EU citizen.

Another confusing thing is that we Croatians are not subject to immigration control so when I sent my documents (literally passport, 2 photos, 12 payslips and the form) I wonder what is the point of all this and if they need to do it why cannot it be done faster??

Hello there,

What you benefit from is freedom of movement within the EU but this is different from immigration controls, at least in the eye of the Home Office because you (like all other EU nationals residing in another member state) have to meet certain criteria, i.e. exercise Treaty Rights. Therefore you have conditional access to the country.

The way the HO deals with EU applications and sometimes chaotic, and ultimately difficult to understand, especially for someone coming from the Continent where government departments usually deal effectively and fast.

Your certificate could indeed take up to 6 months but I think for your particular case (Croatia is the only EU country with transitional controls), it shouldn't take more than 3 months. They can't expedite it and can't give you any status updates because no-one except the case worker assigned to your case knows. And you will never be told the name of that case worker.

Sadly this is the way our Home Office works. There isn't any particular point, that's just the way it is. It is slow but fair.

Here's a question though. You mentioned submitting passport, photographs and payslips.

Did you submit the Certificate of Sponsorship number of your employer? It's required in Section 4 of form CA(3).


Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input.

Yes, I did get the Certificate of Sponsorship from my employer. They have it streamlined as it is a multinational with tons of overseas workers.

What grates is that my colleagues from all over the world who have been posted to UK at same time as me get their visas much faster than I, an EU citizen, will get my certificate.

Hello,

I applied for my purple registration certificate on April 24th. It is now more than 3 months past and Im waiting. I am also sponsored by an employer. I hope you have more luck than I, this is really frustrating that although EU citizens we still have to wait so long for just a work authorization.

All the best

Pamekpa wrote:Hello,

I applied for my purple registration certificate on April 24th. It is now more than 3 months past and Im waiting. I am also sponsored by an employer. I hope you have more luck than I, this is really frustrating that although EU citizens we still have to wait so long for just a work authorization.

All the best

3 months and still nothing, wow

My application is for intra-company transfer, yours too?

I still find it unbelievable that someone from outside of EU gets a visa in 2 weeks and we have to wait for so long.

No, it's not an intracompany transfer. I am a Professor and the j university is sponsoring me. Thought this would be a straightforward case but I guess it still takes long!

Pamekpa wrote:No, it's not an intracompany transfer. I am a Professor and the j university is sponsoring me. Thought this would be a straightforward case but I guess it still takes long!

Wish you get it asap, best of luck

Hvala same to you!

Pamekpa wrote:Hvala same to you!

Are you still waiting? I am now in my forth week.

Update

After 5 weeks my agency finally received the acknowledgement letter "Your application has been received and is being considered"

Does anyone know in practice how long will it now take for them to make a decision and issue my purple certificate or refuse and send back my documents?

Thank you

Hi! I finally got my certificate on 10th August. So here's my timeline in case you find it helpful:

24th April: posted documents
20th June: received letter saying my application is being considered and with my case number.
3th August: status online switched to decided.
10th August: received certificate on the post.

So overal it took them 3.5 months. I suggest you use the case number in the letter they sent you to check online the status of your application. Word here in the U.K. Is that they are a bit faster these days so hopefully it won't be long before you get it. Good luck!

Really great news. Well done and thank you for this info. Really helps as there isn't much out there to go on.

Checking my application now through the Home Office online tool.

It says:

Awaiting a decision
Application status updated on 16 August 2017

So this is now Awaiting a decision for 6 weeks! Is this normal?

hey gabex. can I ask you what company are you talking about? My roommate is also looking for work, but she can't start working without a NINO, they want a yellow certificate, and she doesn't want to open a company, but she would work as a self employed, for another company, as a carer.
complicated

lukaslocro wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:15 pm

hey gabex. can I ask you what company are you talking about? My roommate is also looking for work, but she can't start working without a NINO, they want a yellow certificate, and she doesn't want to open a company, but she would work as a self employed, for another company, as a carer.
complicated

Members are NOT permitted to name employers/companies on the forum.

As with all companies that have sponsor license it is listed on the Home Office list of Registered Sponsors https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... rs-workers

CR001 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:26 pm

lukaslocro wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:15 pm

hey gabex. can I ask you what company are you talking about? My roommate is also looking for work, but she can't start working without a NINO, they want a yellow certificate, and she doesn't want to open a company, but she would work as a self employed, for another company, as a carer.
complicated

Members are NOT permitted to name employers/companies on the forum.

I forgot to add PM me. Is that allowed?
I'm in a bit of a rush, since I'm doing this between my break. I'll have to go back to work soon.
And she can't. And care companies need people to work. How ironic, isn't it?

gab3x wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:28 pm

As with all companies that have sponsor license it is listed on the Home Office list of Registered Sponsors https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... rs-workers

Yes, I know about this list. But I'm not sure on how to proceed with the application towards one of these companies.

lukaslocro wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:40 pm

CR001 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:26 pm

lukaslocro wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:15 pm

hey gabex. can I ask you what company are you talking about? My roommate is also looking for work, but she can't start working without a NINO, they want a yellow certificate, and she doesn't want to open a company, but she would work as a self employed, for another company, as a carer.
complicated

Members are NOT permitted to name employers/companies on the forum.

I forgot to add PM me. Is that allowed?
I'm in a bit of a rush, since I'm doing this between my break. I'll have to go back to work soon.
And she can't. And care companies need people to work. How ironic, isn't it?

You don't have access to the PM privilege as you are a newly registered member.

yeh thanx anyway.
loooks like I'll try ireland. This yellow certificate is bugging me and could take months. In that time I could find work as a carer in ireland, bring her there and she can start working there aswell.
Can you please tell me, if you know, if Ireland has restrictions, or is it just the UK?

gab3x wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:12 pm

Checking my application now through the Home Office online tool.

It says:

Awaiting a decision
Application status updated on 16 August 2017

So this is now Awaiting a decision for 6 weeks! Is this normal?

Great news hopefully - after waiting for 97 days my status has changed to DECIDED. Now I have to wait for 10 days to find out what the decision is.

Is there any way to find out beforehand?

Finally my representative received my documents and the purple card today. It has been a really long wait,made worst by the fact that there isn't much info out there for Croatians applying for Purple Certificate.

Below is the final timeline, I hope it helps next person who finds themselves here looking for a bit of insight into the process.

10th July: posted documents
16th August: received letter saying my application is being considered and with my case number
18th October: status online switched to decided
26th October: HO sends the paperwork to my representative
1st November: representative received certificate on the post

So there you go 3.5-4 months wait seem to be the norm.

Good luck everyone & thank you all for support through this process.

Hey guys,

Many thanks for the discussion here - very helpful.

I‘m a Croatian national employed by the US company and I have been working in Vienna, Austria for the past three years. My employer wants to transfer me to our UK subsidiary in London as of September 1, 2018. Obviously, I have to apply for a Tier 2 visa. Is it better to apply for a Tier 2 General or Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer? And is there any difference between those two? I guess the latter would be applicable in my case.

Also, I have read somewhere that the application for a purple cerificate can be submitted 3 months prior the planned employment date, not earlier. Reading your posts, I understood the process can take over 3 months, so is it possible to apply even earlier for the visa?

I have also been told there is a personal interview with an Immigration Officer in the UK prior the issuance of the purple certificate. Does this mean I will have to fly to the UK just for the interview?

Many thanks for any help and clarification with this - very much appreciated.

All my best
Domagoj

Hi Domagoj,

Let me explain as briefly as I can.

Once you sign a contract you need to apply for purple certificate. You cannot start to work before you get the purple certificate.

What you need to do is apply for Purple Certificate via intra company transfer, this the corect route in your case and easiest. You don't need to have any language test, you just need sponsorship number (your company will do that), your contract/offer letter, passport and photos.

It will take some time for your company to get the sponsorship number issued. They need to be registered with Home Office as a sponsor in order to do this. If they are not registered they will have to get registered.

My company went via a solicitor who sent the documents by post. This is the longest possible route to take. The easiest way is to book yourself an appointment via the Premium Centre. Thing is when you go to book an appointment the system tells you there are no spaces available in next 45 working days; however, if you do this at midnight UK time on Sunday/Monday (or any other day) you will be able to get a slot as this is the time when they open up free spots. You then book a time and pay immediately.

You then go to Premium Centre and, providing you have all the necessary documents, you will get your card the same day.

There is no interview involved using route I have taken.

That's it really. I don't know other routes and I don't know this process in great detail.

Hope this helps. It is a bit of a drag but it's worth it