Various Tier 2 (General) Questions

[hdenniso]

Hello,

I had a few general questions in regards to the Tier 2 (General) Visa. I am currently waiting to hear back on the restricted Certificate of Sponsorship application my potential employer made for the December round of allocations. In the meantime, I am trying to gather everything needed for my own application (If I am lucky enough to make one).

The questions I have are as follows:

1. I possess a UK NARIC Equivalency Document from when I came to the UK on a Tier 4 Visa in 2016. NARIC assessed my High School Diploma, and my Undergraduate Degree. My Postgraduate (Teaching Certification) is from the UK. Will I need to gain a new document from NARIC for this application? No new qualifications have been gained outside of the UK since the last document was issued to me.

2. How long after a Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship is granted may the applicant apply? My potential employer had stated the following:

The Home Office will review our submission from the 11th December. It can take up to 3 weeks for them to provide a response (so the latest we should get an outcome would be 1st January…we may potentially need to add a couple of days on to that as it will be the festive period…maybe not…but I am trying to prepare for the ‘worst case scenario’). Then we get confirmation we can proceed with assigning the certificate of sponsorship to yourself…we fill out another online application that details more about the role and yourself as the applicant. We will then get an outcome as to whether we are granted a certificate of sponsorship.

Which leaves me under the impression that there is more to assigning a restricted Certificate of Sponsorship than I had previously known.

3. When it comes to my part of the application, will a contract between my potential employer and myself need to be submitted? I understand that start date, end date, salary, Certificate of Sponsorship number, and Sponsor license number all need to be submitted, but I did not know if there was additional documentation needed.

4. Does accommodation need to be arranged prior to the application? As the application has the potential to be denied, I have not gone through arranging permanent accommodation for myself. I had read in a previous post that the applicant was asked for where they would be residing within the UK. My initial residence in the UK will be my boyfriend's flat, but this will not be my permanent residence as my job will be 2 hours from his current flat. Will I need to find a flat (and sign a lease) before the application is made?

5. Finally, once I have all the documents collected and my application made, are these sent to the Sheffield (UK) address? When I made my Tier 4 application, I sent my documents to New York City as this was the main consulate in my country. Will I send my Tier 2 application to the main consulate in my country or to the UK office?

I apologise for the lengthiness of the post, but have not been able to find answers to these questions in my previous research. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.