Tier1 validity

[tier1toTier2]

I am from India and applied for my Tier1 ( General) visa from India in 2009 December and got the visa valid from Feb, 2010 to Feb 2013.

I then travelled to UK on the visa on May 2010 and went back on June 2010.

I then applied for a Tier2(ICT) visa in July from India and its now valid from Aug, 2010 upto Sept 2012.

I again then travelled to UK on Oct, 2010 on the Tier 1 visa and stayed upto Nov 2011.

My Tier2(ICT) was not stamped then and the Immigration staff did not ask about my tier2.

I again then went back to India on Mar 2011 and came back on Tier 2 last week Mar 2011.This is the first time my tier2 got stamped, at the immigration check the immigration officer asked me for which visa i was travelling on, and i said Tier2 and then when I asked her if i can come back on Tier 1 , she said Yes.

I have been talking to the VFS centers in India and the UKBA here in UK and I have not been able to find a satisfactory answer for that. They both say i can enter again, but give no answer on if i will be able to make an application for extension. The VFS says that since my tier1 visa does not have a cancellation stamp, its still valid. The ukba also said so the same, but on a another occassion they said that the tier1 is not valid and now it
is overridden by tier2.

Now I want to know whether I can still go back to India and travel to UK again on Tier1 visa and whether I will be eligible to make an application for an extension of Tier1 in future.

I have seen the earlier posts about this and know that an instruction has changed for the multiple visas. But that has changed sometime may be after I got my tier2. I am really confused.

Please bear with me and dont ask why i went for tier2 when i had tier1.

Please let me know if you can help on this. And do let me know the way forward to get an advice on this.

[geriatrix]

Your Tier 1 (General) visa is not valid any more.
See also Can I have more than one visa?.

Till some months ago / last year, one could hold more than one visa and inform IO at a UK port on which visa he/she wished to enter UK. But, as per new instructions (linked above), this is no longer possible.

[tier1toTier2]

, but still i dont understand , why i got positive responses from the immigration officers and the call centers.

[nafe12]

but still i dont understand , why i got positive responses from the immigration officers and the call centers.

Maybe they didn't know the rules had changed?
The link sushdmehta posted is pretty clear


Out of interest, why did you apply for the Tier 2 when you already had a Tier 1? Did it bring you any extra benefits?

[balak2]

Sorry to hear about your case. Unfortunately, you have overlooked your Tier 2 visa application and quite surprised to know that you opted for a Tier 2 ICT visa in place of a lenient Tier 1 visa with the old set of rules.

See if you can switch to the Tier 1 application by lodging a fresh application before it closes in April.