Cooling off period for tier 2 general

[sid1583]

Hi,

I came to UK in March 2012 firstly on a Tier 2 ICT short term staff migrant till Sep 2012. I went back to India and then applied for a Tier 2 ICT Long term staff migrant which is valid till July 2015. My wife came to UK with me on Tier 2 ICT Long term staff migrant partner visa. Both my wife and I have a sponsor now in UK who is willing to sponsor a tier 2 general visa for us. I read on the UKBA website that there is a cool-off period for switching from Tier 2 ICT to Tier 2 general visa.

Can I please be advised what are the options that we have to reduce or negate the cool off period for both of us?
Appreciate any guidance on this subject.

[physicskate]

Can I please be advised what are the options that we have to reduce or negate the cool off period for both of us?
Appreciate any guidance on this subject.

Your wife (currently dependent) can become a Tier 2 PBS holder and you can become her dependent. This cannot be done from the UK. You would both need entry clearance and your wife would have to be issued a Restricted CoS,

[sid1583]

Thanks for the response. Do we know how long does this process takes and if there are bits that can be done from UK itself to reduce the turnaround time.

My wife has actually cleared her interview with a company who is ok to wait for her to get a Tier 2 general visa.
Do we both need to go back for this process or it can be done individually?

[manci]

your wife's prospective sponsor has to assign a CoS to her which probably involves doing an RLMT (takes 28 days). She can wait until the CoS is assigned before she travels to her home country in order to apply for entry clearance from there. Estimates of visa processing times are available for each country on the UKBA website.

You needn't leave the UK at all, when your wife returns with her T2G visa you can apply in-country to become her dependant.