Employer Tier 2 Sponsorship License revoked

[UK111708]

Hi All,
Apologies for the long story. Kindly help/suggest if possible..
My employer sponsored my Tier2 visa just a few months ago. He had charged me 4000 pounds for sponsorship and i had to bare all the other expenses for my visa and coming all the way here to UK with my family (spouse and 2 kids). He said that he had very good contacts and client base and had convinced us to come here. Both me and my spouse used to have very good software jobs which we had left believing in this employer. As per the COS he had offered 35k per annum. But after coming here, he never even bothered whether we are alive or not also and had never helped with atleast a single client interview call. Fortunately i could get a contract for 2 months and this employer being my umbrella company had taken away 35% of my earnings which was as per our agreement and i am fine with this. Though i came here 6 months back, he paid me salary only for the 2 months i had worked for. He claimed that he had been paying taxes for me and generating my paystubs every month. He asked me to pay the amount he paid for my taxes later. I lost my contract 2 months back and my employer stopped paying me any salary since then. Now all of a sudden, he sent me a letter stating that the home office had revoked their tier 2 sponsorship and had asked us to search for some other employer and sponsorship. Below are my current concerns
1) Now even if i get a permanent position with a valid cos sponsorship so as to avoid such employers like my current one again, i might end up paying my VISA fee again which would cost me atleast 4000-5000 pounds considering the NHS health and premium charges so as to get it within my cooling off period. I requested my employer to pay back atleast some of the amount we paid for the sponsorship which could help us in our new visa processing but he denied paying back. Is there a way we can get this amount back legally?
2) As per the COS he had obliged to pay me salary every month but he paid me only for 2 months. Is there a way i could report and claim my salary atleast?

Please help with the procedure so that i can save atleast some of my losses.

Thanks a lot and apologies for my long mail.

[Wanderer]

Hi All,
Apologies for the long story. Kindly help/suggest if possible..
My employer sponsored my Tier2 visa just a few months ago. He had charged me 4000 pounds for sponsorship and i had to bare all the other expenses for my visa and coming all the way here to UK with my family (spouse and 2 kids). He said that he had very good contacts and client base and had convinced us to come here. Both me and my spouse used to have very good software jobs which we had left believing in this employer. As per the COS he had offered 35k per annum. But after coming here, he never even bothered whether we are alive or not also and had never helped with atleast a single client interview call. Fortunately i could get a contract for 2 months and this employer being my umbrella company had taken away 35% of my earnings which was as per our agreement and i am fine with this. Though i came here 6 months back, he paid me salary only for the 2 months i had worked for. He claimed that he had been paying taxes for me and generating my paystubs every month. He asked me to pay the amount he paid for my taxes later. I lost my contract 2 months back and my employer stopped paying me any salary since then. Now all of a sudden, he sent me a letter stating that the home office had revoked their tier 2 sponsorship and had asked us to search for some other employer and sponsorship. Below are my current concerns
1) Now even if i get a permanent position with a valid cos sponsorship so as to avoid such employers like my current one again, i might end up paying my VISA fee again which would cost me atleast 4000-5000 pounds considering the NHS health and premium charges so as to get it within my cooling off period. I requested my employer to pay back atleast some of the amount we paid for the sponsorship which could help us in our new visa processing but he denied paying back. Is there a way we can get this amount back legally?
2) As per the COS he had obliged to pay me salary every month but he paid me only for 2 months. Is there a way i could report and claim my salary atleast?

Please help with the procedure so that i can save atleast some of my losses.

Thanks a lot and apologies for my long mail.

You got scammed, it's illegal to contact on Tier 2 visa, no wonder the licence was revoked.

You are on very sticky ground so it might be in your best interests to leave the UK and just draw a line under it.

[Casa]

For clarity, I think Wanderer intended to write 'illegal to contract on Tier 2 visa'

[Wanderer]

For clarity, I think Wanderer intended to write 'illegal to contract on Tier 2 visa'

Yes! I left that one for you to find! Well done!!

[Casa]

@Wanderer....ah that's my copywriter/editor day job kicking in.

[CR001]

It never ceases to amaze me how people try (or think they can) use the strict Tier 2 General like it is a Tier 1 General and work for an umbrella company contracting. Surely when asked to pay a 'facilitation or CoS fee' of £4k the alarm bells should be ringing loud and clear

[UK111708]

I now understand the trouble i am in. My ignorance and blind belief in such companies had really ruined my career now. But is there anything which i can do / complain against this company to the home office so that atleast we can stop him from cheating and ruining any other candidate. What should my approach be? i know he is already planning for sponsoring some new batch of people in the next slot on a new company name as he asked us for some referrals earlier. Can i claim my unpaid salary or my sponsorship amount? I read earlier that the home office wouldn't mind who pays the sponsorship amount or what my negotiations were with my company but could there be some legal point which i can show this employer feel insecure and payback my losses? Kindly advice.

[Frontier Mole]

To be blunt you are as much part of the problem as the Sponsor. You purchased a COS for a job that never existed and in effect you have entered the UK under false pretences.
You have participated in the fraud as you knew that it was a contracting role and as such is not allowable under Tier 2.
Now that the scheme has unraveled you are complaining that you are the victim here. Sorry you knew the score and have admitted that you purchased a COS. A real job role would not require the purchase of a COS....

Good luck going forward, you have zero hope of recovering your purchase cost of the COS and if you find another Sponsor you better make sure you are not contracting. UKVI follow up the Tier2 migrants from revoked contracting Sponsor as the chances are they move onto yet another contracting firm.

If you really want to stop the ongoing abuse publish the name of the new company.....