Some questions related to switching employers

[farazk86]

Hi,

I'm sponsored by a University since last 1 year on a contract of 18 months. I was searching for jobs and have recently been offered a job from another University. They have made their offer and are waiting for me to accept it.
I have asked HR at my current job about the notice period and they state that I have to give 2 months notice before leaving. Thats fine, but having never been through this, I have a few questions regarding notice periods, visa and salaries.

From searching online I have read that its best practice to not give your notice here until your visa is accepted at new employer as your visa may be rejected and then you would have no where to go. But this is what confuses me, if I dont give my notice here how can I get my visa process to start at new place?

So to summarise

• At what point should I give my notice here? Should I ask new employer to start visa procedure without informing current employer? Or should I complete my notice period here and at the end I should start visa switching procedure?

• If I get my new visa before my notice period is over, would that mean I wont be paid for the remaining of my notice period since I am no longer under their sponsorship?

[Akorotaeva]

Ha, identical situation to the one I was in!

This is risky, but this is what I did last year:

Told my employer I had a better offer and gave 3 month notice.

Applied via Premium Service for change of employment, and received my new BRP 2 weeks before finishing my notice period.

Finished my notice period and started my new job.

The last day of my old job was the day before the COS start date for my new employer, so no gap.

[Akorotaeva]

You are allowed to finish your notice period as long as it does not go beyond the work start date on your new COS. So make sure your new employer puts a start date after the end of your notice period.

[farazk86]

Ha, identical situation to the one I was in!

This is risky, but this is what I did last year:

Told my employer I had a better offer and gave 3 month notice.

Applied via Premium Service for change of employment, and received my new BRP 2 weeks before finishing my notice period.

Finished my notice period and started my new job.

The last day of my old job was the day before the COS start date for my new employer, so no gap.

Thanks for replying. So I assume the best route to take to avoid any confusions would be the premium window service like you did. Or is mail route also possible?

I will ask my new employers to put in the start date after my notice period, and if I apply through mail and get my visa before my notice period ends would I be allowed to continue to work for my previous employer and also get paid for that? As I read that if I am no longer sponsored by a company I cannot be paid from them either. Is that true?

[Akorotaeva]

Yes you are allowed to work for your old employer until the start date on your new COS. You should of course be paid for that work.

This is provided that your old BRP expiry date has not passed, which does not seem to be the case. They will stop sponsoring you after your last day with them.

Up to you how you apply: because you can't start the new jov until you receive the new BRP, I found that Premium was the only option.

[farazk86]

Yes you are allowed to work for your old employer until the start date on your new COS. You should of course be paid for that work.

This is provided that your old BRP expiry date has not passed, which does not seem to be the case. They will stop sponsoring you after your last day with them.

Up to you how you apply: because you can't start the new jov until you receive the new BRP, I found that Premium was the only option.

Many thanks for your help Akorotaeva.
The reason for my confusion is that, to the best of my knowledge, when applying for the new visa under the new CoS I would have to submit my current BRP/visa with the application form. When the new visa will be issued it will obviously be from the start date of the new CoS.
So youre saying that under that new visa, I can continue to work for my current employer and also get paid for that time?

[Akorotaeva]

Your new BRP will not start on the new COS start date, but rather on the day it is issued. So for example my BRP was issued on the 15/09, and my start date was 04/10.

The rules state you can continue working for your old employer, yes. Don't worry. People have done that, it's not an unusual situation!

Rules:

You can continue working for your previous sponsor until the start date on your new certificate of sponsorship if your current permission to stay is still