Tier 2 ICT to Tier 2 General

[Vikas34338]

Hi ,

I am currently on a tier 2 ICT Established Staff visa granted prior to 6/04/2010.

If I want to change my employer and want to swtich under Tier2 general visa with them, what happens to my status when my current visa is withdrawn and before the new visa is granted.

Does it affect my 5 year continuity that is required to get the ILR?

[manci]

If you want to switch to a different employer you should get a CoS from them first following which you can apply for leave to remain. If you do that before your current leave expires then it will just be replaced by the new leave.

Don't give notice in your present job until you have a new CoS.

Your eligibility for ILR after 5 years will not be affected by the switch.

[manci]

Hi Manci,

I am working for the same employer (ie. DO NOT change employer) its just the project being changed.. so rephrasing my scenario as below can you please answer :

1) Does 12 months cooling off period apply to me as my COS/VISA was applied before 6 april 2011?
COS Start date: 17-Jul-10 & End date: 17-Jul-12
VISA start date: 26-Jul-10 & End date: 17-Aug-12

2) If cooling off period applies to me then is it from my last day in UK i.e. 25 sep 2011 i or from my VISA expiry date i.e. 17-Aug-2012

Also just to let you know that i am not eligible for long term category as my salary is less then 40K.

Appretiate your quick answer

1) Since you are not going to apply for entry clearance in the T2 ICT Long Term Staff category the cooling off period applies.

2) The 12 month cooling-off period applies from the time you last had leave. When you left the UK in September 2011 your employer should have informed UKBA and, if they did that, UKBA would have curtailed your visa and would have informed you of this by writing to your UK address. In this case the 12 months are to be counted from the date of curtailment. If, however, your employer did not inform UKBA of your departure then the 12 months are to be counted from the 17 August 2012 visa expiry date.