Applying Tier 2 Visa in the 28 days Grace Period

[Lokez21]

Hi Manci,

My Employer in my company's cover letter written that:
"I would like to bring to your attention that because of personal health problems, there has been a delay in arranging the necessary documents needed for the Sponsor licence application. I am however happy to discuss this with you if required. Furthermore it has also been a whole new experience for a young growing company to go through this Sponsorship process and understanding the depth and details involved.

Considering the time frame of 4 to 8 weeks for a decision to be made regarding the Sponsor application, I made an urgent request on March 27 whilst submitting the application and provided a photocopy of his visa which was about to expire on 13th April. Unfortunately the application process took more time as we had to go through compliance check. Since the decision of the sponsor licence had not been decided during the time prior to his visa expiry, he was advised to wait for the decision and apply within 28 days."

Will this be sufficient enough to show as an evidence the application is submitted late??
Since we didn't know the status of our company's licence in the first place, i have been advised to apply with in 28 days. Even though this is not my personal fault.

Please advise. We have asked regarding this to a sponsor licence case worker and he written to us that:
"In the case of Lokesh Sivakumar, I would strongly advise he contact's an immigration solicitor/advisor to discuss his case. One option available to him is to apply for leave to remain in the UK under the Tier 2 General category however on the application under sponsor details, state you are currently awaiting a decision on the licence application. This would prompt the caseworkers to put his application for extension on hold until a decision is made on the Sponsor Licence for Customer Impact Solutions Ltd. As long as the application is submitted within 28 days of his visa expiry it could be considered as an in-time application. The submission of an application within the 28 day period of overstaying does not mean the migrant's previous leave is either re-instated or extended. Therefore an applicant without valid leave at the point they submit their application continues to be an overstayer from the point their leave expired and throughout the period their application is pending. As the applicant has no leave during the period their application is pending they have no permission to work in the UK."

Even when I am applying in 28 days, he asked me to submit the application without a COS.

However our company has been registered in the list of Sponsors and my employer is still waiting to get the sms credentials.

Will await to hear your thoughts.
Thanks

[manci]

apply within the 28 days and enclose a letter from the company confirming that they have their licence but are not in a position yet to access the SMS. As soon as they have access the CoS will be assigned. Once it is write to the HO and provide the CoS number.

[Lokez21]

Okay.
Will Do.

Thanks a lot Manci

[Lokez21]

Hi Manci,
Need your help again matie.

My company got their access to SMS. They say we have been allocated Restricted COS by default.
I think for my case, I will be needing Unrestricted COS as I don't require a RMLT(Previous Visa = PSW).

We need to request for UCOS for 184£. Let us know we are doing it right.

Also do you know how long it normally takes for home office to grant us an U-COS after requested?

Thanks a lot Manci.

[manci]

check what your sponsor obtained from the HO. If they just got an allocation it would be for unrestricted CoSs and they would then have to assign a CoS to you. The fee for both type of CoS is £184 - ask if they paid this fee.

[Lokez21]

Hi @manci

My Sponsor believes he has got access to restricted COS by default(as it asks for "*Have you met the RLMT?"). He also said it doesn't specify restricted or unrestricted COS anywhere as this confuses him much more. Is there any clue to find out whether it is unrestricted COS or restricted COS? For some reason the compliance officer who checked our company thought I will be applying from India, so she might have awarded us restricted COS by default. (Just a guess.)

Regarding my application for Tier 2 General visa, my sponsor directly got a letter from HO saying that they have received my application and my sponsor should assign a COS within 7 working days.

I have not taken my biometrics yet. Planned to take them on 15th day which is 9th of June. Before I take my biometrics, can they able to reject my application saying my sponsor/I haven't allocated/provided COS yet?

One last question,
Assuming we have to get a new unrestricted COS for 184£, how many days will it take for Homeoffice to grant us an unrestricted COS so that they can assign that to me.

Wishing you a great health on behalf of everyone whom you have helped.

[manci]

Your sponsor is clearly new to the sponsorship system. If they have any questions ask them to call the employer helpline: 0300 123 4699

If they haven't paid the fee they would not have got a restricted CoS for you. If they got an unrestricted CoS allocation they can assign a CoS to you now.

The process for assigning a CoS is described here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ng_CoS.pdf
and:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... onsors.pdf

If they haven't got an unrestricted CoS allocation yet they can apply for one through the SMS - it usually doesn't take more than a few days to get one..

[Lokez21]

Thanks Manci.

Will pass this info to my Sponsor.

[Lokez21]

Hi Manci,

By God's grace, I am delighted to inform that I have got the BRP.
The most complicated case has went down smoothly. Hearty thanks for your guidance. Without ur guidance I wud have been totally lost.

My sponsor have given the start date as 30th June. Shud I have to wait till then to start working again or shall I start now itself?

Once again thanks a lot.
Lokez

Dear all,
I applied Tier 2G visa during my 27th day of overstaying(Previous leave = PSW) with a sponsor note saying that my company have applied for sponsor licence and will assign COS once we have been granted licence. Luckily home office accepted my application.

So the mandra is ...
Research|Ask Manci|Apply|Hope|Get the BRP.

Wishing you all good luck.

[Amber]

Congratulations!

[shoonism]

Hi, Manci and Everyone :

I have some queries about my extension application.

My current Tier2 visa will be expired 28th June. Now I am applying a new position from a different company but probably the decision for the application will be made beyond of my visa expiry date. I guess it would be around middle of July. I think I should stay here to have an interview and get the final decision by middle of July.

From this thread I have found there would be 28 days grace period for Tier2 visa. If I apply my extension beyond of my visa expiry date but prior to 28 days after the day, is it will be processed as normal? I would like to confirm this is true.

I have two question about this issue.

1. Can I apply Tier2 extension application within 28 days after expiry of my visa if I get a new offer and my prospective company assign a uCoS to me? And would it be considered a 'normal application'?

2. If I fail in getting a new offer and come back to my country in the middle of July, I would have a chance to get a stamp of 'overstaying' at the airport? If so, it would affect my future application to any category of UK visa or entry clearance to UK?

I contacted international office of my previous company about this. But he said they recommend me to apply application before expiry of my visa. This is different from what I got to know from this forum.

Many thanks for your help in advance.

[Lokez21]

1. Can I apply Tier2 extension application within 28 days after expiry of my visa if I get a new offer and my prospective company assign a uCoS to me? And would it be considered a 'normal application'?


If you have a valid u.COS and if you apply during 28 days. It will be considered as a normal application but u will be considered as an overstayer after the expiry of the visa.

HO says: "As long as the application is submitted within 28 days of his visa expiry it could be considered as an in-time application. The submission of an application within the 28 day period of overstaying does not mean the migrant's previous leave is either re-instated or extended. Therefore an applicant without valid leave at the point they submit their application continues to be an overstayer from the point their leave expired and throughout the period their application is pending. As the applicant has no leave during the period their application is pending they have no permission to work in the UK."

I strongly recommend you to apply before ur visa expires. After the expiry of visa your status will become overstayer and will break continued stay period in the UK which will affect the ILR applications.
Also If you are looking for a new sponsor within that 28 day period, no sponsor will be willing to take in an overstayer without a valid expiry leave.

2. If I fail in getting a new offer and come back to my country in the middle of July, I would have a chance to get a stamp of 'overstaying' at the airport? If so, it would affect my future application to any category of UK visa or entry clearance to UK?

I don't think you will be stamped as an overstayer on ur passport. But their system will record and display the period you overstayed.

[adithi10]

my husband who is a tier 4 dependent is in similar situation.

Since he is tier 4 dependent his company needs to provide him restricted CoS. And our visa expires on 30th aug 2014. but on the day our visa expires it will be only 26days since the job has been posted.

So his company has told him to apply for Tier 2 visa through post with the letter the company gives stating that they will assign the Cos as soon as it been allocated on 11th of sept 2014.

could you please let me know the procedures like what happens after we submit the form. and what needs to be done once the CoS has been allocated.

Your help is highly appreciated.

Thanks

[Lokez21]

Hi Adithi,

Make an in-time application on the last day of the visa expiry or the day before with a letter from the company explaining that the company is waiting for the COS to be allocated.

After a week, ur husband has will be sent a letter from Homeoffice asking to enroll for the bio-metrics within 15 working days. I suggest not to enroll for it straight away. Delay it as much as u can until ur hubby's company has been allocated a COS and assigns it to him. Homeoffice will send you 2nd biometrics letter with duration of again 15 working days if you have missed the first one and again 3rd letter with a signed post with duration of 17 working days.
Only after bio-metric enrollment is completed, Caseworker can start processing the application. So u are technically delaying until u sort COS problem.

I believe within first 15 days your husband's company will get and assign the COS issue.

You guys will be fine.
Good luck with the application.

[adithi10]

Thank you lokez21.

Once the CoS is allocated how do I let them know since he will be leaving cos number space blank

[adithi10]

So when do I apply as tier 2 dependent of him coz my tier 4 will be expiring on 30th august. He will be applying on 29th August. Will it be fine if I apply along with him?

[Lokez21]

In my case, Homeoffice posted a letter asking to assign the COS to my sponsor.
My sponsor then wrote back to them the COS details. To be on Safer side, I also sent that COS pages of the tier 2 application after getting the details from my sponsor.

[adithi10]

Ok. Hope it works fine. Fingers crossed.
I am also applying for visa along with him.
Last time our 1200£ went coz the company did not know they had to give restricted cos.
Thank you so much for your reply.
Will bug you again if I have any queries.

[adithi10]

my hubby's restricted cos has been rejected since the company forgot to mention salary in the job advertisement.
we had applied for visa with a letter from company telling will be providing with the sponsorship details once it has been assigned.
today our 28 days overstay period also ends. what should we do?
if we tell the home office to return our document will it be calculated as overstay.
can anyone please tell some good options so as what to tell home office or how to go about.
thanks in advance

[Lokez21]

Hi Aditi

That was really unfortunate to hear.
Is the employer willing to assign one more rest.certificate of sponsorship? I think they will have to do the RLMT / advert again.

Your status is still not an overstayer since you have made an in-time application. But confirm with others as I am not sure myself.

One option is to try and appeal so that you can extend your stay provided your employer is happy to proceed with the RLMT. This can extend your stay for upto 4-6 months but with no rights to work. Meanwhile your employer carries the RLMT activity on the side.

Once you’ve applied you can stay in the UK until you get a decision on your appeal(upto 4-6 months), as long as you make your appeal before your leave to remain expires/ within 10 days of your application.
https://www.gov.uk/immigration-asylum-t ... -in-the-uk

Please ping @Manci and others for more advise. Not sure of other ways.

You will still have an option to apply from home country with R.COS with the same employer.

Very good luck.

[adithi10]

Hi Lokez,

As of now the company has terminated his employment.

they have put up a new advertisement today and they will apply for new R.COS on november.

They have told us to go back and apply from india and they are willing to pay the amount we had spend on the application.

Its just that we dont want the tag of over stayer.

Now that he has no job we have no other go but to return to india

@Manci : Please help

[manci]

@adithi10
what exactly did the refusal letter say about leaving the UK?
(in these situations passports are normally returned at the airport on departure)

[adithi10]

@Manci
The application did not get refused since we had a letter from company stating we will provide the sponsorship details once we get restricted cos.
We did not do biometric also since R. Cos decision did not come.
Company got a mail that R. Cos is rejected.
Now we need to go back and apply from India.
We had made in time application on 29th August as our visa was expiring on 30th august. The cos rejection mail was received by company yesterday.

[manci]

@adithi10
please confirm that your situation is this:

you had a T4 visa which expired on 30 August and your husband had PBS dependant visa which also expired the same date;
both of you made separate applications on 29 August, you to extend your T4 leave and your husband to switch to T2G;
your husband did not have a restricted CoS at the time of the application and enclosed a letter from the prospective sponsor explaining that they had applied for one but it had not come through yet;
on 26 September your husband's sponsor's application for the restricted CoS was rejected.

If the above is correct then neither of you is an overstayer because both of you submitted applications before your visas expired. Your leaves, as they were at the time of the applications, continue under section 3C.

The HO will respond to both applications. Your husband's will be refused because he didn't have a CoS. Once his refusal is received he should leave the country within 28 days from the date of refusal. He can continue to work until his refusal is received. You can continue to study and your leave will hopefully be extended.

[adithi10]

@Manci

Thank you so much for your reply.
All you mentioned was correct and I had applied as tier 2 dependent.

So do I need to call HO n tell or do i need to fill the application withdrawal formwhich is online.

So how will the application get rejected since we have not enrolled for biometric. The biometric letter they had send for 1st time expired on 19th September.