URGENT - Is my Tier 2 valid for ILR?

[lawabidingimmigrant]

Reference Post:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 4b7103dc1c

1) Do not resign (irrespective of notice period) from your present job until you have been approved for a new employer's Tier 2. As per immigration rule, once the subject (you) have resigned from your current employer, you stay will become invalid after 60 days (or the time of your Tier 2 expiry- whichever shorter). Hence, it is highly recommended for one NOT to resign until you have heard back from UKBA.

What if the subject has a 90 day notice period with existing sponsor without which subject will not be given relieving letter? And without relieving letter your new job offer from new employer will not be valid?

My situation was as below:

1) Entered UK on 27th March 2010 on Tier 2 (General) valid from 22/03/10 to 30/04/11

2)Extended visa by 2 years and got BRP - Tier 2 Leave to Remain valid until 30/04/13

3) In September 2011, I got a better paying job offer. But because of 90 day notice period with my existing employer, my new employer decided to issue me CoS and process my visa application only after serving notice period and getting relieving letter from ex employer.

Luckily my ex-employer relieved me in 37 days only. So my last day with this employer was 21/10/11. My ex-employer then requested cancellation of my Tier 2 visa on 01/11/11 and I received letter from UKBA on curtailment of leave to 18th Feb, 2012.

4) Meanwhile my new employer issued me a CoS and we had to process my Tier 2 (General) visa with new employer from out of country as my family member in home country suffered a stroke.

5) I got a Tier 2 (General) visa with new employer valid from 17/1/12 to 03/02/15.

6) I joined my new employer on 13/02/12 ( Joining delayed by a month due to internal project alignments)


I switched my employer before my existing leave to remain (curtailed) expired. Does this count towards continuous period for ILR?


My Tier 2 Leave to Remain was curtailed to 18/02/12. I have retained the original letter from UKBA on leave curtailment.

I joined my new employer on 13/02/12! I changed employment from out of country instead of in country but before my existing leave expired.

Please confirm if my stay in UK on Tier 2 till date from March 2010 onwards will count towards ILR?

[lawabidingimmigrant]

50+ views. Anyone?

I've changed employer from out of country instead of in country due to personal circumstances. Only overhead for my new employer was to issue a restricted CoS instead of unrestricted CoS and go through the monthly quota set for out of country applications.There was no cooling off period applicable to me at the time of change of employment in Dec 2011-Jan 2012.

So if a change of employment is done out of country before the expiry of existing leave to remain, does that period count towards ILR?

Mods, Gurus, anyone else who's been in a similar situation?

[lawabidingimmigrant]

125+ views

Anyone?

[lawabidingimmigrant]

Close to 200 views ... anyone in similar situation for change of employment?

My employer did not know about any impact on continuity of residence. I was given two options for change of employment

1) In country
2) Out of country


I chose options 2) to see ailing family member in home country. I was going to be back to UK on a new visa before my current leave expired and eventually I did return before it expired and joined new employer.

[lawabidingimmigrant]

250+ views ... Can't believe nobody can/wants to reply !

[safatafa]

Hi there
Did u switch or applied for entry clearance (out of country ) I am not sure if u can switch, did u have a restricted cos or unrestricted . I am tempted to say ur clock reset from when u applied out of country but I ll wait till u let us know this...

[lawabidingimmigrant]

Thanks for reply. My new employer gave me two options to switch:

1) apply in country with an unrestricted CoS.
2) apply out of country (Tier 2 General) with a restricted CoS using monthly quota set for out of country applications.

I chose option 2) as I had to see an ailing family member in home country and my new job was going to start after a month's time. And it was holiday time for Christmas & New Year.

Neither I or my new employer were aware of any possible impact on continuity of residence.

However I have been back to the country and started working for my new employer before my existing Tier 2 Leave to Remain (Curtailed) expired.

Please advise if my stay in UK during my previous employment can be counted towards ILR? Thanks.

[safatafa]

I know u said u switched out of country with a restricted cos for extensions I know u are not allowed but this is the first case where switching is done out of country.logically speaking i think it is ok ur period will count but I ll wait for experts to reply.

[lawabidingimmigrant]

I know u said u switched out of country with a restricted cos for extensions I know u are not allowed but this is the first case where switching is done out of country.logically speaking i think it is ok ur period will count but I ll wait for experts to reply.

Thanks. I'm waiting for experts to reply too on my case.

[lawabidingimmigrant]

Manci, Vinny, other experts, anyone please?

Can my stay in UK during previous employment be counted towards ILR if I've switched employers out of country but before the expiry of leave to remain (curtailed) ?


New Restricted CoS assigned: 15th Dec 2011
New Employment started on: 13th Feb 2012
Last day with previous employer: 21st Oct 2012
Visa Cancellation requested to UKBA on: 1st Nov 2011
Leave to Remain (Curtailed) Expiry Date: 18th Feb 2012
First Entry in UK: 27th March 2010

[manci]

I switched my employer before my existing leave to remain (curtailed) expired.
........................................................
I changed employment from out of country instead of in country but before my existing leave expired.

Please confirm if my stay in UK on Tier 2 till date from March 2010 onwards will count towards ILR?

Refer to p26:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

This page tells you about the continuation of lawful leave during absences from the UK.

The continuous period is maintained if:

 the applicant leaves the UK with valid leave and re-enters the UK whilst that leave remains valid, provided the absence(s) do not exceed 180 days in a relevant 12 month period.

 the applicant’s leave expires for 28 days or less whilst outside the UK and the applicant returns with fresh entry clearance.

If the applicant’s leave expires whilst they are outside the UK and they apply for fresh entry clearance more than 28 days after the expiry of their previous leave, then the continuous period is deemed broken and leave is not aggregated.

Yours is an unusual situation and going strictly by the words above you do not satsfy either of the two conditions for continuity. This is because when you received entry clearance on the basis of the new restricted CoS your pevious leave, although not yet expired, would have been cancelled. Has your passport been so marked?

However, considering the second condition, if you had let your curtailed leave lapse and applied for entry clearance within 28 days of its expiry continuity would have been maiantained.

IMHO this is a case for using discretion by the HO and it would be unreasonable to take this episode as breaking continuiy.

It would be interesting to hear the opinions of others.

[lawabidingimmigrant]

Thanks Manci for the reply. Appreciated.

My last day with ex-employer was 21st Oct 2011. My new job was going to start in first week of Jan 2012 (After Christmas & New Year holidays)

I had two months time. So I and my new employer mutually agreed to process change of employment from out of country with restricted CoS using monthly quota set for out of country applications so that I can spend couple of months with my family.

Both I and my new employer (Tier 2 A-rated sponsor) were unaware that switching employment from out of country may cause an impact on the continuity of residence. Change of employment process was already very confusing for my hiring manager.

(My new employer had no issues from its side and was OK to do in country change of employment using unrestricted CoS but I had requested them for doing it out of country)

Will await feedback from other experts on the forum too.

[lawabidingimmigrant]

This is what I found on Page 25 in below link:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

“If your employment ceases prematurely you must return your passport (and BRP) to
the UK Border Agency within 28 days in order for us to update your records. If you do
not submit your passport (and BRP) we will update our records with the information
held on file.”

In my case, I resigned from my job to switch to different employer. When I switched my job out of country, I returned by Biometric Residency Permit to the UKBA officials at Heathrow airport voluntarily on my return to UK as I did not have a clue what to do with the BRP which was no longer valid as it had my ex-employer as a sponsor.

Official at Heathrow just smiled and accepted my BRP. Not sure what he did with that later.

I hope no issues in the future.

[aarvika1983]

Hi lawabidingimmigrant,

I'm a newbie to immigrationboards and is now in a similar situation (impact of 60days curtailment on ILR) as you were. Could you please let me know did you get any advice from senior members of the group?

I hope you are on ILR now looking at the last post date on this?

[geriatrix]

I hope you are on ILR now

Yes.