Complex Change of Employment situation

[khan890]

Hello,

I joined Company A in November 2012 and their T2 visa expiring November 2015. I secured a new job at Company B and got T2 visa in March 2015 which will expire June 2017. My start date at Company B is mid-July and currently serving my notice period at Company A.

Meanwhile, Company A advertised a new position which I successfully achieved and that position was advertised at their website and other professional job search engines for 37 days, but was not advertised at Job Centre. The HR mentioned that they need to advertise the position at Job Centre for 28 days in order to meet the LMT requirements. Without this, they can’t issue me a CoS and I can’t apply for a Change of Employment T2 visa to work for Company A.

I need to leave Company A by mid-July as I already resigned. I’m happy to stay with Company A, but due to the additional 28 days I can think of the following options. I seek your suggestion on which option has the least risk associated with securing T2 visa to work for Company A.

Option 1: Withdraw my resignation from Company A, inform Company B that I’m not joining them mid-July, wait for the outcome of the 28 days advertisement at Job Centre, if successful, then apply for a new T2 visa to work for Company A.

Option 2: I’ve left with 14 days annual leave, so apply for that leave from mid-July to the end of July. This means my resignation period will finish by the end of July, not mid-July. Join Company B at mid-July and wait for the outcome of the 28 days advertisement at Job Centre, if successful, then apply for a new T2 visa to work for Company A. Resign Company B (notice period during probation period is one week) and start work at Company A.

Option 3: Leave Company A by mid-July, start new job at Company B immediately, wait for the outcome of the 28 days advertisement at Job Centre, if successful, then apply for a new T2 visa to work for Company A, Resign Company B (notice period during probation period is one week) and start work at Company A.

Which option is the safer option in securing T2 visa to work for Company A?

For Options 1 and 2, can I work for Company A while I’ve T2 visa to work for Company B? Will I meet the T2 extension requirements when making a Change of Employment visa application to work for Company A, as given below:
• you have the same job as when you were issued your previous permission to enter or stay in the UK
• you’re still working for the employer who assigned your certificate of sponsorship

Thanking you in advance for your time and response.

[ravi_ei]

You can only use option 3. Since your visa is already sponsored by company B now so you cant work for company A from the start date mention on company B COS ( on which u have current visa ). It will be illegal according to tier 2 rules if you work for company A after the start date mentioned by company B COS.

Another thing is if you dont start working with company B by their mention start date, company B has to inform UKVI that you did not start the job and you may get your visa curtailed by UKVI.

Now what I am going to mention is by personal opinion. Company A still need to finish RMLT so things are still not sure. Though everything may go smooth but what if some issue occurs in between. So its safe to start the job with company B to have a job in hand. Then if everything falls in place with company A, get a COS from them and switch back to company A. That way you will always be safe from job perspective. Also do not resign from company B until you get the visa again from company A.

[khan890]

many thanks ravi_ei for your advice and personal opinion.