ICT long term to Tier 2 general with change of sponsor

[zevite]

I was granted ICT long term visa in valid from 28 March 2012 (CoS date 10 March 2012) for 3 years. This was extended to 5 years last year with the same employer. And I have visa valid till Apr 2017

The client I was placed with through my employer now wants to absorb me and they have mutually agreed to let this happen.

I wanted to know
1) Is this possible to change from ICT long term of one employer to Tier 2 general or second employer (without going out of country)
2) My Income is above 42000 per year in the duration I was in ICT
3) If this is not possible to change from UK
i) what is the best way forward
ii) will cooling off period apply for my tier2 general visa
4) What will my new sponsor have to do for this to happen

Thanks for you assistance

[rubyracer2]

I'm not an expert but 12 month cooling off applies for a Tier 2 ICT to Tier 2 General. the exceptions are

1) ICT was issued before April 2011
2) You are earning above 155K GBP per annum

An option is for your spouse to apply for T2G visa and you converting to his/her dependent

[CR001]

1. No

2. Not relevant as you cannot switch in country.

3.
i) Dependent apply for Tier 2 G from home country and you apply as Tier 2 G dependent within the UK (if you have a spouse and they qualify)
ii) Yes, 12 month cooling off period applies and is counted from the date you leave the UK.
iii) They have to have a licence to sponsor you and do a full and proper RLMT process to make sure there is no EU/British citizen or settled person available in the market to do the job (to prove you were not pre selected for the role) before they can issue a CoS to you.

[zevite]

Thanks for the clarification much appreciated.