Company acquired by another company - T2 Visa application

[hayat2014]

Hello need urgent advise, please help thanks in advance

I am working for company lets say "X" which sponsored me in 2011 and i got T2 General visa for 3 years. My visa will expire in September this year. Recently my company X is acquired by another company Y. Company Y is also registered on the Tier 2 registers of sponsors.

Now company Y is changing the legal entity for the Company X. I contacted the HR departement and they are saying this:

Y is a licensed sponsor of workers on the approved Home Office list, therefore, when applying the legal entity will be Y, but employer will be the same, "X".

1. I am not sure how it will work when i apply for visa application, Should my COS be issued using sms from company Y or Company X
2. RLMT is required or not?
3. Will my visa application be treated as extention application or new application.

I am very worried due to this sudden change at the last moment, can you please help

thanks a lot

[hayat2014]

Any view on the above questions, pls?

urgent need of guidance

Thanks in advance

[Althalus]

I am not a solicitor but I have gone thru something similar, so I'll give you a few tips:

- You can transfer under TUPE, along with the rest of your colleagues. The only difference is you being a T2G migrant, you need the new company to hold a T2 sponsor license to "accept" you.
- Your employers (HR, if they are the ones responsible for implementing the T2 sponsorship guidelines) should read the guide for employers. There's a whole section regarding TUPE and takeovers.
- You state the new company already has a license - that's good! If the new company does not hold a license it can be a bit of a pain cos they'd need to get one first, before being able to sponsor you.
- The old company has to report to UKBA you will transfer under TUPE and the new company has to do the same stating they will sponsor you. There is a time limit for this, so ask them to look it up.

- Most important of all, if HR is clueless, ask them to get advise from a competent immigration solicitor. Any problems during the transfer and the UKBA may curtail your visa. The UKBA helpline is far from good and gave my HR conflicting advise, so imho it's better for everyone involved to try a solicitor that's on your side. Any problems during the transfer and UKBA will curtail your visa, and let me tell you, it's a pain in the *** trying to get it reinstated afterwards: nobody on their side owns up and it's nigh impossible to contact them.

Hope everything turns out fine,
Regards.

[Althalus]

This, chapter 13:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _04-14.pdf

[hayat2014]

Thank a lot for the information

[imm_applicant]

Hi guys

I've got a similar situation but need your assistance on this. I'm working with Company A and they are sponsoring me for Tier 2 General Visa at the moment. Company A has been acquired by Company B and my current employer (i.e. Company A) is saying that, from 1st August, all employees will be transferring over to Company B as per the TUPE process. We are told that after the TUPE consultation, all visas would be transferred to Company B. This would be probably after the employees have been transferred to Company B, i.e. after 1st August.

My question is that: Would there be any issue if I'm on holidays and out of the country for few weeks in July and return to the UK after 1st August (i.e. the date of transfer from Company A to Company B). As I would still be on Company A's visa and not Company B's visa when I'm returning back to the UK after 1st August. Would this be of any issue with the Uk Border Agency?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks