PSW now Tier 2 General but about to resign- how to stay inUK

[Skylar1331]

My Situation: Up until a few weeks ago, I had a PSW Tier 1 visa from completing my masters at Oxford. The PSW allowed me to get my job in the UK as a Project Manager for a large international education company with a London office. I stayed on my tier 1 visa for 1 year and 7 months, up until a few weeks ago when they switched me to a Tier 2 visa sponsored by them. My PSW was due to expire on Nov. 15th and they liked me after having worked with me for so long. I was quite uneasy about this move as I've been unhappy in my job, but they did it in one day by hiring a third party law firm and taking care of maintence funds etc. so I just had to go and give my biometrics.

Unfortunately, the project changed scope and as we are about to deliver the product of the first two year stage and are beginning talks about work to come over the next year, I realized it was no longer an appropriate position for me. I would risk losing a glowing letter of recommendation if I stayed and/or my sanity/happiness. So, I spoke to my supervisor and she agreed to let me go as the job was a mismatch going forward. However, she asked me to give her a letter of resignation dated for November and assured me I would have time in Nov./Dec. to look for something else (I have a four week notice period).

I believe it will be nearly impossible to get a new job in the UK as I'm in a highly specialized field (applied linguistics), make £39k and now know I won't have a sponsor. I've written to our main competitors who have both responded that they want me and invited me for interviews before I clarified the visa situation and they said I didnt' have the right to work in the UK and were sorry but couldn't proceed.

Normally I would move back to the US where I can get a high paying job, but my partner is a UKC and has just secured a job he loves in London. We have been living together for a year (though only on paper since last month) and have a lovely home which I am not looking forward to having to leave in January. He wants to leave with me if I have to go but he is not well and can't be without the NHS so that's not a solution. Eventually after we've shared a lease for two years we want to apply for an unmarried partner visa.

I looked into switching to a TIER iV and thought I might pursue a PGCE in French primary education but I'm not sure I can get on a course by January and/or if I can secure funding.

Questions:
I have some questions I would be so appreciative of your help in answering:
1. Is my old Tier I PSW visa dead now that it was switched to a Tier 2 a few weeks ago?
2. Did my employer have to give me a SOC code because I came from PSW? IF so where can I find this as it's not on the documentation sent to me by the third party lawyer.
3. If I contact other employers in the UK, what should I tell them about my status which would make it clear how to hire me?
4. Can I extend the 60 day period after I hand in my letter of resignation so that I can stay in the UK longer?
5. Should I leave the UK after 60 days and come back as a tourist?
6. Can I stay on my lease as a tourist if I am independently wealthy enough to continue to pay my monthly expenses?
7. Will staying as a tourist without a visa make it impossible for us to apply for an unmarried partner visa in two years?
8. It says I can go from Tier II to Tier IV from inside the country, should I not leave after 60 days and stay and apply for a Tier IV for fall 2013 or would that be illegal?
9. What are the maintence requirements if I come from a low-risk country on Tier IV from Tier 2?
10. If I get on a PGCE course will it be easier for people to hire me in the future in the UK?

What would you do if you wanted to try to stay in the UK and support yourself in this situation?

Thank you so much for any advice/help you can offer!

[Lucapooka]

1. Yes
2. Yes, but I cant tell you where to look. They should have this in the sponsor files.
3. You would need them to sponsor you under the T2 system.
4. It would be 60 days from the date the UKBA notifies you. (para 230 of the PG).
5. If you so choose. But re-entry would be based on the quality of the answers you give to any probing questions about your real intentions. It seems it would not be to visit but to continue residing. That would be a problem.
6. Yes.
7. No.
8. Yes.
9. See the policy guidance.
10. Who knows? I know a cab driver with a PGCE; can you drive?

[physicskate]

10. Who knows? I know a cab driver with a PGCE; can you drive?

I really wouldn't recommend undertaking a PGCE just to stay in country. It is a TOUGH course - 70, 80 hour weeks of dealing with some pretty shocking conditions.
The people who tend to be the most successful really want to become teachers and are fully committed to education.

It is also pretty competitive to get on a course.

Very few courses will start in January (if any)...

But that's just my two pence.

[Skylar1331]

Thank you for the feedback- so I would need to be a straight up Tier 2 and they would have to do a resident labour test for me now unless I stay within my company. Hmmm. Sounds like we will have to leave the UK as what company would want to go out on such a limb?

Staying in the UK as a tourist might work if I can get onto a PHd course at Cambridge this fall- but at that point I'd be applying for a Tier 4 from outside of the country correct? In any case, a question for another board I guess.

[Lucapooka]

You can't stay as a tourist and nor can you enter as one to study; that would have to be a student visitor visa. You may not need to apply fot this if you are not a visa national, but you will need the necessary evidence to qualify for this type of leave when you arrive at the border.

[Skylar1331]

So I cannot leave the country and come back in with my status declared as tourist visiting my partner and his family if I ensure I have a return ticket booked and am independently wealthy? Could I not then repeat the process until we have decided next steps in where we are moving to?

[Lucapooka]

But re-entry would be based on the quality of the answers you give to any probing questions about your real intentions. It seems it would not be to visit but to continue residing. That would be a problem

It's possible to re-enter as a visitor soon after a period of long residence but you have to explain the reason for the visit. If they suspect that it's not a visit but, rather, a continuation of your previous residence on a new status that does not permit residence, you may be refused; I can't say that it will but I can say that it might. What ties would you have to your homeland that might show you will leave the UK after the visit? Will you have secured a job in the US by then?

[Skylar1331]

I'll have my driver's license and I own a home in the US. Would that be enough? Would I need to carry documentation that proves I own that house? Given the fact that I've been living in the UK for a while wouldn't it make sense that I come back to stay with my partner so he doesn't have to leave his job as a teacher mid-term?

[Lucapooka]

Given the fact that I've been living in the UK for a while wouldn't it make sense that I come back to stay with my partner so he doesn't have to leave his job as a teacher mid-term?

It does make sense but that is a perfect reason to refuse your entry on that basis. It seems you wish to continue your residence with your partner. It's really up to you how you frame your reasons for entering the UK; I'm just saying that you should be prepared to have good quality answers to any concerns about your motivation for entering on that visit status if that status is not appropriate to the reality. They have sweeping powers and can and will refuse based on what they think is the case rather than what you say.

Home ownership is not perceived as a strong social and economic tie if you have not lived in that home for some considerable time.

[vinny]

I am resigning from my job on November 28th on which date my employer will be contacting the UK Home Office to let them know that I will no longer be sponsored by them. I have to give four weeks notice so essentially I will be working right up until Christmas. I am an American citizen on a Tier II visa which I just switched to from Post Study Migrant a few months ago.
Unfortunately, our house was broken into a few weeks ago and my brp was stolen. We reported it to the police that morning and have the crime number and documentation etc. and I just today notified the home office. Because I am planning to cancel my new visa when I leave my job, do I need to apply for a new BRP? I'm currently looking at jobs in the EU and do not want to risk sending my passport away for so long if I will not need the new permit.
More complicated still is that my partner of a year and a half would like us to spend Christmas at his mother's house in Liverpool. I would like to be able to get in and out of the UK to interview with potential employers over the next few months and will be packing up our house and putting belongings in storage on Dec 19, spending Christmas with his family and then hopefully re-locating to Europe for a new start.

Questions:
1)If I have not yet submitted my letter of resignation and leave the country, can I get back in without my BRP? (I've spoken to my employer and they asked me to wait until Nov. 28th to satisfy a project deadline and then to complete my four weeks notice period with the understanding that I can be absent to look for new work in the meantime.)

2)I have travel booked on Nov. 22nd. If I submit my letter of resignation early can I leave for this travel and come back without my brp?
3)Can I use a change of circumstance form to notify the home office of the situation?
4)Is there a help bureau I can go to in London? Someone said I could explain my situation and get some help from the Home Office if I went to a help desk near Victoria Station?

5)Should I have my partner’s mother write me a letter that I will be visiting her for the holidays so I don’t have trouble getting in and out of the UK after I have submitted my letter of resignation? (My partner is a UK citizen and we can’t go to the US for more than 90 days so we are trying to stay in the EU until we decide what our long term plans are- we don’t want to be forced to marry just so we can co-habitate and I may be pursuing a phd in the fall if the right job opportunity doesn’t come up.)

Any suggestions on the best way to approach this with the authorities? I assume if I leave and try to come back I should have all paperwork sent to me with my original brp, the police documentation of the theft and potentially a copy of the letter of resignation I am submitting?
Any advice would be much appreciated.

[iworker]

i am not an expert on this, but why not go back and apply a fiance visa and come back. U will have the rights to work and would not need sponsor to start a job.. as soon as u start, if they think u are good enough, u can change to T2, but that will have to be applied from home country.

Maybe this helps?

[Skylar1331]

Now that my new visa brp has been stolen and I've reported it missing, I'm wondering what to do in the next month about interviewing with jobs and universities in the eu, not to mention an important family obligation in Italy next week that we have tickets booked for. We've given up on the idea of keeping our house, are moving belongings to Liverpool for storage at my partner's mum's house and moving out on dec19. Unfortunately I believe I technically work for my company still so I don't know ifi can tell the border I am traveling without a brp because I'm changing status soon anyway (to tourist) have given up my home/job and can't be without passport while I wait for a replacement that will be irrelevant as soon as it arrives. I am thinking of going and taking the notification to the leasing agent of our move as well as the letter of resignation dated for a few days after we return- I'll bring the police report and original documentation too of course. Am scared about being detained while they check the database- can my Ukc partner ome with me or will I have to face them all alone? I'm the theft victim after all but somehow I don't think they'll see it that way. Does anyone have any advice on the Brp issue? Is there someone I cn call at the home office before I go?

The fiancé visa is a good idea- thank you for that! It's not long term though as we really don't want to be forced to rush marriage because of nationality/border issues (pride sucks). I'm in talks with a few uk universities who are looking for doctoral funding for me and am trying to propose a project in a French university (if I could just get to Paris next month it would be much easier!) but both would mean I have to go back to the states and apply for a student visa to either the uk or Shengen.

To me, that means I should just travel over the next few weeks and try to switch my status to tourist and not be intimidated by the stolen brp. There is so much to worry and stress about that I feel all the worse about the travel restrictions the uk is putting in me- can anyone advise?

[physicskate]

i am not an expert on this, but why not go back and apply a fiance visa and come back. U will have the rights to work and would not need sponsor to start a job.. as soon as u start, if they think u are good enough, u can change to T2, but that will have to be applied from home country.

Maybe this helps?

Fiance visas do NOT allow work. Spouse visas do...