I was told that my visa got cancelled at the airport

[Mabincredible]

Hi. I wanted to share an unexpected situation that occurred when I arrived in the UK today from my teaching trip abroad at Luton airport. I was informed that my visa had been cancelled by my current employer (an NHS trust). Surprisingly, the Home Office had attempted to contact me back in May while I was overseas but I received no missed phone call from them, and since I recently moved home, I doubt the letter would have reached me.

What puzzles me is that in May, I had a discussion with my supervisor about the possibility of exploring new opportunities, but ultimately, I assured her that I would be staying. I never formally submitted my resignation. It seems unusual for the trust to cancel their sponsorship based solely on an open discussion with my supervisor.

I also recall receiving a request from an HR staff member towards the end of May, asking for a copy of my BRP. At the time, I was informed that it was because they didn't have a copy on file.

Now, I have been informed that I have until mid-August to resolve this matter or leave the country by then. I plan to contact HR first thing on Monday, but I'm curious if there could be any other explanations for this situation.

Additionally, I checked my BRP card on the Right to Work platform, and it still displays my original expiration date in mid-2024.

I appreciate any insights or guidance you may have regarding this matter. Thank you.

[razergd1]

First of all, the record the border force sees and the "share code" system are not the same. It appears to be that HR probably withdrew your sponsorship .

Now it is a bit odd. Did you go to your workplace since? What have they said? Can you turn up to work and everything is business as usual?

It is weird, resignation usually requires you to send some formal thing such as a letter, email or something similar.

[Mabincredible]

Everything appeared to be business as usual. There are on going discussion around projects that I’m involved in.

[razergd1]

Well, I cannot give you immigration advice. But I strongly suggest that you check it with your employer. It sounds like someone may have sent the wrong information to UKVI.

I would like to point out that many work contracts may contain a clause that obliges you to notify your employer if you stop being eligible to work.

In parallel it is worth to apply for SAR to understand what information the HO holds on your immigration file. (This can take 30 days).

Did you get any formal letter at the border? Something that says that your visa is being curtailed? Is your address in the immigration file correct?
Worth validating and updating as well.

[vinny]

It’s quite strange. If your leave had been cancelled or curtailed, then I think they could also have refused your entry. Unless they changed the Guidance.

[Mabincredible]

The border control officer told me that I have until august to sort things out, but she was unable to tell me the reason of my visa being cancelled.

[vinny]

Have a talk about this with your employers ASAP.

[Mabincredible]

Have a talk about this with your employers ASAP.

Thanks, I will do.

The HR may have the solution, but just in case, what will be my options if the HR mistakenly withdrew their sponsorship?

[Mabincredible]

Additionally, is there an emergency Home Office contact number over the weekend? Thanks.

[CR001]

For you, there is only the general call centre number, which is outsourced to a third party agents, so they can't see your full file information, just generic stuff.

[Mabincredible]

For you, there is only the general call centre number, which is outsourced to a third party agents, so they can't see your full file information, just generic stuff.

Thanks. I thought that may be the case. The border control officer asked me to contact the home office but she did not give me any specific contact info.

If I can only contact the generic call centre, how may I still get in touch with the home office since they have tried to get in touch with me? Thanks for your time.

[maledicta98]

Hi, just wondering - did you manage to get an update from either your employer or HO?

Was just curious as this case seems VERY abnormal (especially if, as you say, you had a conversation about withdrawing in May and then the HO contacted you to cancel the visa also in May) as curtailment decisions normally take a couple of months as a rule - visas aren’t automatically cancelled the minute a sponsor notifies the HO, unless they’ve DRASTICALLY changed the guidance.

Perhaps it’s different for NHS jobs maybe?

[Djsuccess]

Hi. I wanted to share an unexpected situation that occurred when I arrived in the UK today from my teaching trip abroad at Luton airport.

I am not sure what job you do for the NHS trust in question, I am just wondering if the teaching trip you went to do abroad is related to your NHS job. You also mentioned that you informed the HR that you wanted something different, did you mean a change of role within the same NHS trust or something completely different?
While this whole visa curtailment issue seems strange, I think there might be some lessons to learn here as well on your part.

I hope you can resolve the issue as soon as possible.

[maledicta98]

Hi. I wanted to share an unexpected situation that occurred when I arrived in the UK today from my teaching trip abroad at Luton airport.

I am not sure what job you do for the NHS trust in question, I am just wondering if the teaching trip you went to do abroad is related to your NHS job. You also mentioned that you informed the HR that you wanted something different, did you mean a change of role within the same NHS trust or something completely different?
While this whole visa curtailment issue seems strange, I think there might be some lessons to learn here as well on your part.

I hope you can resolve the issue as soon as possible.

This is exactly why I’m very confused because it simply doesn’t add up.

1. If it IS a case of withdrawn sponsorship, the timeline is insanely fast from “a casual chat with a supervisor” to “visa curtailed” in what is essentially 2-3 weeks, if HO had tried to inform OP of cancellation in May. Yes, yes, luck of the draw, and it’s POSSIBLE, but way too fast for the norm: especially for a SWV considering a recent FOI showed that only 8 curtailments of these had been processed in the last year. Is it possible the original poster incurred a withdrawal a few months before?

2. Yes travelling after sponsorship withdrawal is very risky and not advised, but from anecdotal and personal evidence, the risk is entirely in a curtailment/cancellation decision being made prior to return (and people not receiving them in that case), hence the visa not being valid on return. In that case, the border officer would be well within his rights to refuse you entry or grant you explicitly defined temporary admission (with a written document to go with it), not simply mention it and say “check with the HO”. According to the guidance, visa is simply not auto-cancelled just because sponsorship is withdrawn, a caseworker has to action the decision.

3. Whilst the RTW portal isn’t the same thing a border officer sees obviously, and even though the portal takes a bit longer to update, they generally ARE more accurate than OP’s timeline. Last year, my cancellation after Withdrawal of Sponsorship came only 4/5 months after said withdrawal notice, but the RTW was updated (and showed an early expiry) within a few days of the cancellation.

4. The granted time is also very weird (as is the continued employment?) If the curtailment happened in May, then the “validity period” would be cut to July I suppose, aka 60 days. Mid August is later than that.

It is certainly possible that your visa got cancelled at the border for some reason and it still hasn’t been updated, but I simply don’t think it’s something as simple as a withdrawal of sponsor notice in May - did you tell the Immigration Officer your trip was unrelated to work (if it was)? Or was there any visa issue prior to May? I’d honestly suggest you get a SAR with both your trust and the HO, OP, as this is VERY confusing and not really normal.

[Djsuccess]

Hi. I wanted to share an unexpected situation that occurred when I arrived in the UK today from my teaching trip abroad at Luton airport.

I am not sure what job you do for the NHS trust in question, I am just wondering if the teaching trip you went to do abroad is related to your NHS job. You also mentioned that you informed the HR that you wanted something different, did you mean a change of role within the same NHS trust or something completely different?
While this whole visa curtailment issue seems strange, I think there might be some lessons to learn here as well on your part.

I hope you can resolve the issue as soon as possible.

This is exactly why I’m very confused because it simply doesn’t add up.

1. If it IS a case of withdrawn sponsorship, the timeline is insanely fast from “a casual chat with a supervisor” to “visa curtailed” in what is essentially 2-3 weeks, if HO had tried to inform OP of cancellation in May. Yes, yes, luck of the draw, and it’s POSSIBLE, but way too fast for the norm: especially for a SWV considering a recent FOI showed that only 8 curtailments of these had been processed in the last year. Is it possible the original poster incurred a withdrawal a few months before?

2. Yes travelling after sponsorship withdrawal is very risky and not advised, but from anecdotal and personal evidence, the risk is entirely in a curtailment/cancellation decision being made prior to return (and people not receiving them in that case), hence the visa not being valid on return. In that case, the border officer would be well within his rights to refuse you entry or grant you explicitly defined temporary admission (with a written document to go with it), not simply mention it and say “check with the HO”. According to the guidance, visa is simply not auto-cancelled just because sponsorship is withdrawn, a caseworker has to action the decision.

3. Whilst the RTW portal isn’t the same thing a border officer sees obviously, and even though the portal takes a bit longer to update, they generally ARE more accurate than OP’s timeline. Last year, my cancellation after Withdrawal of Sponsorship came only 4/5 months after said withdrawal notice, but the RTW was updated (and showed an early expiry) within a few days of the cancellation.

4. The granted time is also very weird (as is the continued employment?) If the curtailment happened in May, then the “validity period” would be cut to July I suppose, aka 60 days. Mid August is later than that.

It is certainly possible that your visa got cancelled at the border for some reason and it still hasn’t been updated, but I simply don’t think it’s something as simple as a withdrawal of sponsor notice in May - did you tell the Immigration Officer your trip was unrelated to work (if it was)? Or was there any visa issue prior to May? I’d honestly suggest you get a SAR with both your trust and the HO, OP, as this is VERY confusing and not really normal.

It appears the OP was overseas for a long period. Was the teaching trip overseas related to the NHS job? Was this a case of the HR knowing that the OP was going abroad for another job? I think the OP needs to clarify a few things here.