Travelling to the UK while Tier 2 is in progress

[tier2applicant123]

Hello everyone,

I have signed an employment contract with a global company operating in the UK and they will be sponsoring my Tier 2 visa. However ever since I signed the contract (3 months) the HR department (which constitutes of 1 person) has been religiously ignoring my e-mails and calls and not giving me or my prospective bosses (senior directors) any information about the next steps or the visa process. It is difficult to get a good grasp of the situation since I am not in the UK and my prospective bosses are working from abroad because of the nature of the business. They have been repetitively communicating that they are looking forward to me joining them as soon as possible.

As you can imagine this is very annoying as I cannot properly plan my life. I am quite lost with what I should do. In the contract it is explicitly stated that the company is supposed to make the necessary proceedings for my visa, but I have the impression that they are doing nothing. Could you please advise me about this situation? I am desperate for some information and advice, especially on what my rights are. The start date is conditional on the visa but they have not even provided any information on it.

Thanks a lot!

[CR001]

They need to apply for a RCoS once the full and proper RLMT has been done. You can only be offered a job after this process NOT before (unless they have done it previously or your job is on the shortage occupation list).

Once they get a RCoS and assign it to you, you will have to apply for your visa.

[tier2applicant123]

Hello everyone,

I have signed a contract with my Tier 2 visa sponsor employer and they are soon starting the RLMT. I want to travel to the UK for holidays while it is in progress, so I will apply for a tourist visa since I still have my passport. I just wanted to check if this would get in the way of the Tier 2 process in any way i.e. creating suspicions about my purpose of visit and risk the work permit. I will only be on holidays to see my friends and travel a bit, nothing work related at all. Do you have any experience or knowledge with a similar case?

Thank you in advance!

[Djsuccess]

Hello everyone,

I have signed a contract with my Tier 2 visa sponsor employer and they are soon starting the RLMT. I want to travel to the UK for holidays while it is in progress, so I will apply for a tourist visa since I still have my passport. I just wanted to check if this would get in the way of the Tier 2 process in any way i.e. creating suspicions about my purpose of visit and risk the work permit. I will only be on holidays to see my friends and travel a bit, nothing work related at all. Do you have any experience or knowledge with a similar case?

Thank you in advance!

You shouldn't have been offered a contract before RLMT is carried out. The appropriate way is to do RLMT before offering you a contract. So if RLMT is been done and a settled worker applied, they might offer the job to a settled worker. As far as immigration rule is concerned, you don't have a job yet and the contract is invalid.
You can apply for a visiting visa if you want to, provided you meet all the requirements. It shouldn't your future TIER 2 application. But if your visiting visa application is rejected and you apply for Tier 2 visa a couple of months later, it might create some suspicion.
on a personal note, why would you want to apply for a tourist visa now to go visit friends if you are planning to apply for Tier 2 in a couple of months or so? Why not just be patient and sort out your Tier 2 application, you can be visiting your friends once you enter UK with your tier 2 visa. Again, this is my opinion