Tier 2 General Visa delayed by 12 weeks-Will Escalation help

[Porus]

Hi Experts, I have applied Tier 2 general visa along with my daughter of 3 years old and it is delayed by 12 weeks. I receive mails from UKVISA service every time that the "decision on your application has been delayed whilst further
enquiries are being conducted". SLA for this visa is 100% by 12 weeks and my application has crossed 12 weeks. Can I complain to Croydon office against British High commission case worker in Delhi handling my case? . Will it any way jeopardize my visa application?.Please suggest .

[Frontier Mole]

Wasting your time complaining to Croydon as all PBS activity is managed by Sheffield.
As for getting a result - your complaint is not going to get you anywhere. There is obviously an issue with either you or the Sponsor, that will not get resoved in either case by complaining.
As your an overseas applicant and your subject to a restricted COS there is nothing that will persuade them to speed up their decision. Hav you checked with yourSponsor to see if others they are Sponsoring are held up in the same manner?

[Porus]

Thanks Frontier Mole for your inputs . 1) Against me if issues are there why they are investigating for 3 months .I have been in UK as Tier ICT migrant for 1 year till July this year and stayed in UK 2006-9. Bank Balance or Marriage certificate verification should not take 3 months or they can interview me to get more details for background check further. Is there anyway I can request for an interview ?. 2) Sponsor is a Tier 2 A High School and SOC was Shortage occupation list with migrant visa getting stamped just days before the dependent application was submitted.So ECO could have got all the details of main migrant as well . Not a single background check call has been made to Sponsor either for the main migrant or for dependents as per latest discussion with Sponsor. Sponsor has given Tier 2 general visas to migrants from Australia /Jamaica this year and it all went without issues. Should I ask the Sponsor to write a mail to UKVISA Sheffield or Delhi to request for interview or generally stating they are available for any queries against my case ?. Just last year the very same British embassy from delhi issued me Tier 2 ICT in 4 days looking at all the past year records and now they are doing background check for 3 months for Tier 2 general dependent visa which is a big mystery for me. Please suggest.

[physicskate]

Thanks Frontier Mole for your inputs . 1) Against me if issues are there why they are investigating for 3 months .I have been in UK as Tier ICT migrant for 1 year till July this year and stayed in UK 2006-9. Bank Balance or Marriage certificate verification should not take 3 months or they can interview me to get more details for background check further. Is there anyway I can request for an interview ?. 2) Sponsor is a Tier 2 A High School and SOC was Shortage occupation list with migrant visa getting stamped just days before the dependent application was submitted.So ECO could have got all the details of main migrant as well . Not a single background check call has been made to Sponsor either for the main migrant or for dependents as per latest discussion with Sponsor. Sponsor has given Tier 2 general visas to migrants from Australia /Jamaica this year and it all went without issues. Should I ask the Sponsor to write a mail to UKVISA Sheffield or Delhi to request for interview or generally stating they are available for any queries against my case ?. Just last year the very same British embassy from delhi issued me Tier 2 ICT in 4 days looking at all the past year records and now they are doing background check for 3 months for Tier 2 general dependent visa which is a big mystery for me. Please suggest.

If you were in the UK until July as a Tier 2 migrant, you are subject to the 12 month cooling off period... Which means you are ineligible for a Tier 2 visa (in any category) for 12 months after you have left the UK.

[Porus]

Hi Physicskate, I appreciate your response. However please note that Tier 2 Migrant (ICT ) to Tier 2 General Dependent switch can be done without any cooling off period. I am applying from out of country as my Tier 2 ICT visa expired and I cannot do switch in.
Please let me know if you can guess any reason why UKVISA need to investigate for 3 months in the background for any details of me rather than setup an interview and get details upfront and do background check.

[Sheffield_Marketeer]

Hi Porus,

I believe you may actually be under the requirements of a cooling off period.

You say you had tier 2 ICT until July 2014. Did you get it post 6th April 2011?

Individuals who entered the UK under Tier 2 (ICT) on or after 6 April 2011, or those who entered before then but have since made an application for entry clearance from abroad, will have to leave the UK for the 12 month ‘cooling off’ period before they can return under Tier 2 (General). The only exception to this rule is if the individual has been offered a new role and will be paid a salary at the ‘higher rate’(this is currently £152,100 but it will be increased to £153,500 on 6 April 2014).

Sorry, but this might be the reason for the delay but even then the reply should come in earlier.

[glrrajesh]

Hi Porus,

I am in the same situation as you were. Can you share what happened to your VISA? Did you get your visa? Did you escalate?, if yes how did you? Could you please share all the details which can help me to track. Sorry for too many questions. Thanks

[Porus]

Rajesh,
In my case where I have applied Tier 2 General dependent visa after few months of my Tier 2 ICT Migrant visa expired is still under investigation . I have hired immigration solicitor who has petitioned to Upper Tribunal for urgent consideration and with a threat of financial suit and awaiting results in 10 days hopefully . Please note that in this thread there are couple of posts suggesting cooling off period for this case which is not true as couple of people have done that with example threads seen in this forum as well.
So whats your case please elaborate and I can atleast give you hope as according to my Solicitor my case is unique in its delay.

[glrrajesh]

Hi Porus,

I had applied for tier 2 general visa on 25th March 2015 through a sponsor who had issued me a CoS. a week later i received a call from home office asking me to come for a personal interview session. It happened on 09th April 2015 and i answered all his questions appropriately. Finally he said the address of my sponsor is different from the one mentioned in the CoS (not sure where he was looking at), he then said i need to wait for a decision to be made. I checked with my sponsor and the address the immigration office was mentioning was a very old address. So i thought lets wait!
Now i am in the 10th week and when i enquire through the email for i get a response as yours (still in process, wait patiently). I am confused why it is being taken so long. They have not contacted my sponsor employer as well. I have been to the UK multiple times on Tier 2 ICT and had never such delay in VISA. Most of my documents provided now is the same as that i provided for Tier 2 ICT only the CoS being different. Not sure why they are taking so long to do enquiry. i doubt if they have shelved my application and forgotten.
Can i also use a immigration solicitor to escalate? How much does he charge from india for you? Please let me know what best can i do THanks porus

[physicskate]

Rajesh,
In my case where I have applied Tier 2 General dependent visa after few months of my Tier 2 ICT Migrant visa expired is still under investigation . I have hired immigration solicitor who has petitioned to Upper Tribunal for urgent consideration and with a threat of financial suit and awaiting results in 10 days hopefully . Please note that in this thread there are couple of posts suggesting cooling off period for this case which is not true as couple of people have done that with example threads seen in this forum as well.
So whats your case please elaborate and I can atleast give you hope as according to my Solicitor my case is unique in its delay.

Porus, the reason we suggested there is a cooling off period is because your original post was inaccurate - there was no mention of Tier 2 General DEPENDENT!!! You said you were switching from Tier 2 ICT to Tier 2 General, in which case there would have been a 12 month cooling off period.

[Porus]

Rajesh,
Not clear on your post whether you had 12 months gap after your tier 2 ICT migrant visa expired when you applied tier 2 general.
Please remember that you can apply Tier 2 general migrant visa only after 12 months after your Tier 2 ICT migrant visa (if you had) expired . In case you earlier had Tier2 ICT dependent visa then this 12 months gap is not required for your Tier 2 general main migrant visa . In the latter case , the investigation by HO is basically about your company and you have no control over the delay . In my case , I have hired a solicitor paying 50 k rupees and its 3 months over and he is now asking me to withdraw and reapply citing a hanging computer analogy . This solicitor even came in BBC (Husband/wife both are solicitors) and for me its disappointing . Tomorrow I am having a paid consultation with UK solicitor to get his ideas as this solicitor has a service called "Chaseup Visa " where he promises decision in 4-6 weeks in his website. Again its an experiment I am undertaking considering the reapply Visa option cost with Surcharge is very expensive for me.