Wrong start date on the Certificate of Sposorship- pls reply

I received a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from my employer. I am currently on a Tier 1 (Post Study Work) visa and has been working with the company for more than a year on the current role. When issuing the tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship, the employer have to write the work start date on the relevant box. They wanted to write a start date within 3 months from the CoS assigning date. But they were advised by UKBA employers help line to put the date according to my current leave expiry date which is 12/03/2010. They issued the CoS on 19/10/2009 and I sent the tier 2 application on 21/10/2009 in order to switch into the Tier 2 category from PSW. Now my employer came to know that I am not allowed to apply more than 3 months before the start date stated on the CoS. Now that they have assigned the CoS and I have already applied more than 3 months before the start date written on the CoS, what can be done to amend the work start date and make the application a valid one. My employer is ready to issue another CoS if required.

We contacted the UKBA help line and Immigration Bureau several times and it seems every individual there is making different suggestions. Even if a new CoS is required then we are confused about the work start date. Could anyone suggest us on this as my employer can't really depend on employers help line anymore.

As far as I know, in the CoS you need to put in the actual start date of your "new" job for which Tier 2 is being applied. Since "technically" this is not your new job, I think your employer is right in wanting to put a start date within 3 months from the CoS assigning date.

The end date of your current leave to remain doesnt matter. Obviosuly the new job start date should be within 3 months of the date the CoS was raised.

Did you hear anything back from the UKBA? I think you may need a new CoS number and have to re-apply. Let me know how you got on..

Good Luck

Thanks for the reply. I contacted UKBA employers help line several times and it seems everyone is providing different suggestions. They seem to be not very clear about the solution of this kind of problem.

ap007 wrote:As far as I know, in the CoS you need to put in the actual start date of your "new" job for which Tier 2 is being applied. Since "technically" this is not your new job, I think your employer is right in wanting to put a start date within 3 months from the CoS assigning date.

The end date of your current leave to remain doesnt matter. Obviosuly the new job start date should be within 3 months of the date the CoS was raised.

Did you hear anything back from the UKBA? I think you may need a new CoS number and have to re-apply. Let me know how you got on..

Good Luck

My application has been approved by UKBA and received all docs today. Thanks to Almighty. I sent a completed change of circumstances form with a covering letter from my employer which said that the work start date has been changed. We stated that since there is no provision to change the work start date in the CoS, we are sending the letter to change the date and enclosed the Change of Circumstances form.

I hope this might help others who would be in the same situation in near future.