Need some urgent advice, i will appreciate a quick response

[wellletschat]

Hi,

I need some advice/guidance from anyone, I am in a difficult situation at present and will appreciate any sort of help.

I am on a work permit. In February I accepted the employment from another company (lets say company A) who were willing to sponsor my WP (work permit). Now I was aware that a company needs to secure a WP first and then only I can work for them legally. I gave all the information which is required to put up the WP application and was certain that they must have applied for my WP and all. When I joined them, to my surprise, they still hadn't applied for my WP. According to them it was ok to work for them and there were few examples like that in the company where they got the WP after they started working for them. So I thought that like them it will be fine for me as well and thats where the problem started. These guys took 4 months to sponsor my WP which was insane. Meanwhile I got another offer from a company (lets say company B) but they said that they will take over my existing WP (which wasn't there). Now I was in a situation, so I started forcing my current employer (company A) to get the WP, finally I got the WP and my new company (company B) took over from there and sponsored a new WP for me which took only 1 week. Now my leave to remain from last employment was about to expire on the 28th July, so I send the FLR form with the WP to the home office. The home office found that I was working for company A without a valid WP and they rejected my Leave to Remain.

I did put up an appeal against it with my new employer (company B) but today I came to know that it was rejected as well which means I have to leave the country now. I had already resigned from the company (company A) who messed up with my WP since I thought that things would be smooth once I got the WP from the company B, so they are not bothered about my leave to remain getting rejected

This is the situation and I need some information

1) Can I take my employer (company A) to the court? Although I was at fault as well since I started working for them but I guess they were at fault as well and I am not sure if Home Office will do anything against it ? But they have messed up with my career, my legal status and everything and I surely want to do something against them

2) Is there anything I can do against the rejection of the appeal ? or I have to leave the country ?

3) My new employer (company B) is willing to sponsor a WP again for me once I am back in India. Will this refusal of leave to remain create any problem for me if I want to come back to UK ?

Any help in this will greatly appreciated. I have a 7 weeks old daughter and I have to take her back home, all this will be quite expensive for me.

Awaiting a response at the earliest.

Regards

[Wanderer]

To be honest mate I think you take a step back and stop blaming others for your predicament. - to me it's crystal clear.

Certainly would look good suing a company you were working illegally for.

As to the solution I don't know, but ignorance of the law in this this country is no excuse, so if I were you I wouldn't try and play the 'it's not my fault' card with the HO.

[SYH]

1) Can I take my employer (company A) to the court? Although I was at fault as well since I started working for them but I guess they were at fault as well and I am not sure if Home Office will do anything against it ? But they have messed up with my career, my legal status and everything and I surely want to do something against them

I guess you have a civil suit against them for misrepresenting the situation which caused you harmed

2) Is there anything I can do against the rejection of the appeal ? or I have to leave the country ?
You appealed, whats left after the appeal?

3) My new employer (company B) is willing to sponsor a WP again for me once I am back in India. Will this refusal of leave to remain create any problem for me if I want to come back to UK ?

Sure of course it will but I guess if they believe your story that you were under the impression that you had a valid permit or thought it was ok based on their representation, they might be lenient.

Any help in this will greatly appreciated. I have a 7 weeks old daughter and I have to take her back home, all this will be quite expensive for me.
Well I think you still have to leave and then come back if approved.

Keep in mind the situation with the misrepresentation is separate from you wanting to appeal or appeal the appeal.

Regards

[wellletschat]

To be honest mate I think you take a step back and stop blaming others for your predicament. - to me it's crystal clear.

Certainly would look good suing a company you were working illegally for.

As to the solution I don't know, but ignorance of the law in this this country is no excuse, so if I were you I wouldn't try and play the 'it's not my fault' card with the HO.

Thanks, I think you are right, I shouldn't blame others since I was at fault as well. So now I can just hope that they allow me back in the country. And I will see what I can do against the company, do you know any idea about how to go ahead ?

[olisun]

To be honest mate I think you take a step back and stop blaming others for your predicament. - to me it's crystal clear.

Certainly would look good suing a company you were working illegally for.

As to the solution I don't know, but ignorance of the law in this this country is no excuse, so if I were you I wouldn't try and play the 'it's not my fault' card with the HO.

Thanks, I think you are right, I shouldn't blame others since I was at fault as well. So now I can just hope that they allow me back in the country. And I will see what I can do against the company, do you know any idea about how to go ahead ?

Do you have anything in writing from company A which details all you have posted in your original post?

[wellletschat]

I never imagined any such situation like this will ever happen to me, so I don't have too many things in writing, but I do have all the emails which I used to send to the person who applied for my Work Permit and his responses as well. I am not sure how good that would be but the Home Office knows that I worked for the company A without a valid WP which is a fault of the employee as well as the employer, will that not be sufficient to take them to the court ? Or do I need something more to take them to the court ?

[avjones]

Take who to court, for what?

[ball1333]

I never imagined any such situation like this will ever happen to me, so I don't have too many things in writing,

Rule #1 of anything involving money or shelter: get it in writing. I hope you will never find yourself in a situation like this again. Good luck.

[vilkatis]

How were you paid?

If you have pay records, it's a place to start.

Of course, that will lead to what codes you used for tax & social purposes, if any. I am suspecting this may have been one of the big red flags when you did try to go legit. You 'worked' for four or more months, but the tax & pay records show less than a legal presence in country.

If you have pay records (electronic bank transfers are far better than nothing), it gives you some basis to show deceptive behavior on the part of the employer. It may not help you, but it could get them in enough hot water to prevent them from screwing other people over like seems to have happened in your case.

Those emails, all printed out & organized, could get turned in to show your honest efforts to be legal and the fact that you were deceived.

Might help you, might not. Right now, you are in a real long-shot situation.

Yes, you screwed up. But it's pretty clear the employer is more than slightly dodgy. If it doesn't cost you too much effort, you can do a service to the folks that come after you and get this employer sanctioned, maybe even severely.

Publishing the name & other info on the employer in a few forums, and maybe contacting a couple of newspapers..? Again, maybe help you, maybe not. Publicity is a possible tool here.

-- vilkatis

[VictoriaS]

Publishing the name & other info on the employer in a few forums, and maybe contacting a couple of newspapers..? Again, maybe help you, maybe not. Publicity is a possible tool here.

-- vilkatis

Be careful of the law of libel....


Victoria

[vilkatis]

Publishing the name & other info on the employer in a few forums, and maybe contacting a couple of newspapers..? Again, maybe help you, maybe not. Publicity is a possible tool here.

-- vilkatis

Be careful of the law of libel....

Victoria

I understand the warning as being general advice.

I was very certainly not suggesting libel. However, free speech of exactly factual information is a protected right.

Yes, be careful.

No, don't be intimidated.

One of the ways by which sleazy businesses take advantage of immigrants is controlling them through fear of their own actions. This case clearly represents elements of a business that did not comply with UK immigration laws.

In fact, it appears they are in flagrant, premeditated violation of several.

They should have to answer for that. Just as much as any individual will when they engage in less-than-fully-legal activities.

This case deserves a bit of daylight. If everything you posted here is truthful, it deserves to be covered by a BBC reporter, or an Independent reporter (or both or more).

That company should never have given one minute of work or pay without your work permit being fully in place. They have (likely) done it before and they (likely) will do it again, so long as someone doesn't step in and investigate and shut the violations down.

I am getting more than a little ill reading the Immigration Watch and British National Raving Loony Party hate speech diatribes about the "evil immigrants" "screwing the country over." There are sleazy business operators that are causing just as much trouble, and far worse.

Their free ride has to stop, too.

-- vilkatis

[VictoriaS]

Oh, I totally agree, they need to be exposed, just be careful how you do it.

For example....posting it here, with names, or posting it on any other board or telling your friends, leaves you at risk.

Telling a journalist, thereby leaving them to do the research and get the claim backed up with evidence, leaves the risk with them, so is a better option.

Also, notifying the Home Office, so that no others get caught in this, is certainly a no risk policy. If they don't take action, that is when journalists would be more interested in the story.

Victoria

[SYH]

This is when I think an MP could be useful if he likes your story.

[Administrator]

.

For the Record:

If a member here goes through a 'Bad Experience' with some company or organization (employer, adviser, advocate, etc. etc.), we will support your right to speak out freely and openly about ANY details you wish to publish.

Even (and especially) if you have a gripe with workpermit.com. (Under which circumstances, we very definitely reserve the rights to defend ourselves with any information required to do so!)


However, IF and/or WHEN you choose to do so, you are taking an oath that you are speaking EXACTLY the truth.

No embellishments. Keep it to facts, no drama.

One of the resources we are trying to offer here is that if things 'Go Wrong' or you have some gripe or some information to report that will be useful to other immigrants, we will support your right to speak openly and truthfully.

If you feel strongly enough about a situation and you wish to name the names, we expect you to take great care and responsibility to ensure the information is truthful.

In this particular topic, IF and ONLY IF every statement has so far been true, the identities of parties engaged in illegal behavior could be posted & we will keep them posted so long as we have some sort of evidence to back up the claims.

People attempting to immigrate deserve protection from unsavory businesses ....

JUST AS ALL BUSINESSES deserve protection from immigrants who are less than truthful.


FINAL WORD : POST WITH GREAT CARE.

Please.

the Admin

[wellletschat]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for the replies. I appreciate all the responses and they are very helpful.

Yes, I do have all the payslips, bank statements, Offer Letter and every other thing which clearly states that I have worked for them.

Right now I don't have a choice but to go to India since my Leave to Remain has expired and according to the letter from the Home Office, I should plan to leave the country which I am doing since I have no intentions in staying in this country illlegally. One of my main concerns was that would I be allowed back in the country, so today I went to Citizens Advice Bureau to tell them about the situation and to get their advice. They called up Immigration Advisory Service to check about it and according to them it should be fine to come back since my employer is ready to sponsor a WP, he is ready to do everything which can help me in coming back to the country.
Any suggestions from anyone about what all documents should I ask from my employer, I have taken the offer letter, letter of employment, is there anything else which will help me ?

Now about the company which actually put me in this situation, I have been in this country for more than 4 years on a valid WP through out my stay but this company has messed up with me, obviously nobody who is in this country legally would want to do something which is not legal in the eyes of Home Office which does mean that something has gone wrong somewhere. I definitely accept my mistake and I think it is a fair decision from the Home Office regarding rejecting my leave to remain but guys, if a British Company's IT director who sponsors WP on your behalf says to you that "don't worry, we have done in the past and there is no problem like this", you will start thinking that he knows the law more than you since he has done it in the same way (although not correct) and you believe him and that is what I did and it was the biggest mistake ever in my life.

I am not sure if I should name the company here but whatever I have said here is correct. Infact there is a well known recruitment agency involved as well who recruited me for this company and I remember calling the consultant every week to check the status of my WP before I joined the company but I feel that person was more concered about his bonus and commision and had no clue about WP at all.

I don't want this to happen to anyone else and I am willing to do whatever so that it shouldn't happen to anyone again. My situation is already very bad and I don't think it can get worse but I can certainly help all other people who can be in this situation in future.
According to the Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, an employer commits an offence if they employ / continue to emply an individual subject to immigration control who does not have leave to enter or remain in the UK which allows them to undertake full time employment. I feel this means that when I started working for them, since they hadn't sponsored my WP, they commited a crime and they should be punished for it.

Any suggestions from anyone ? Right now I am not too worried since I am anyway in a bad situation and also leaving the country in few days time and even if I can't come back it is ok, I will feel dejected but still I want some actions to be taken against such employers who play around with people's career and life.

Regards

[SYH]

I had a similar experience but it was the other way around. I wanted to be in France so bad, I found an employer from NY who offered me a job. Once he did, he expected me to jump on a plane with promises alone. I refused and sent him a work contract through a visa program for students.After it was approved, when I finally got to France, I found that I was the only legal non French person working in the company. Even the French people didn't have a lot of the normal labour benefits because the employer wasn't declaring us on an official payroll so we weren't paying any taxes contributing to health insurance, and etc. As a former student, I was still covered health wise and tax wise I contacted an attorney and made sure I gave the govt what was their share so that if one day I ever was in a position to work in France again, I was in their good graces. I say all this not to brag but to say that it was really just a matter of luck at the time that I happened to do the right move at each step of the process. I could have just as easily been put in your situation believing the employer that it will be no problem because let me tell you he said that to every other non French employee in the company so it is real easy to get sucked up in the crookedness of others because they take advantage of the enthusiasm of your dream. Strangely enough I actually ended up working in a risky manner with the next french employer but I regularized that situation too. I was basically working for free for 3 months, the 3 months that I can stay as a visitor after my first visa expired. When the visa processing took too long, I went back to the USA. Unfortunately the employer and I couldn't agree on a new contract so I simply billed the company as Self employed from the USA for "research" to compensate me for the work I did for them during the 3 months I wasn't renumerated.
In any case, it isn't so bad for you since it looks like you can come back and you have an employer who wants to sponsor you.
Good Luck and Be Weary

[Kathryn_jonez]

But how many years have you been in this country?
I was told here in this forum, once you leave to your
country and come back your ILR clock will be reset.

[wellletschat]

Hi all,

Got the Entry Clerance visa and I am back in UK. I will appreciate if you can tell me what I can do against my last employer ?

Awaiting your response.

Regards,

[SYH]

Hi all,

Got the Entry Clerance visa and I am back in UK. I will appreciate if you can tell me what I can do against my last employer ?

Awaiting your response.

Regards,

The simplist is to inform your former employer you are back and situation legalized and you will brining his bad actions to the attention of the proper authorities, he might respond with some compensation for you to accuse them in the legal arena. This would be the best and simplest result. I doubt he will react in such a manner. If he does, take a deal and move on. There is no point in belaboring this issue. Life is too short