WP to Tier 1 (General) : Strange

[pavans29]

Hi
I was working in India and came to UK on work permit. Since then, I was working for him receiving salary in UK. Basically, I was on UK payrolls. Recently, I switched to Tier 1 (General). I had informed to my current employer regarding this change. Subsequently, I resigned to the job (who had processed the work permit) and served the company for the notice period (one month as per contract in UK). The employer is telling that he cannot relieve me immediately and also not in a position to tell me the relieving date. The reason behind this is he wants to inform home office in UK and India seeking their clearance. I am very much puzzled on hearing this. As per my understanding, whatever my employer is telling is not relevant.
He was also telling me to stop P45 if leave the company without his consent.
How can I get relieved from my employer?

[SKUK]

Have you got yourself a new job?

[jhp]

You can show them your tier1 visa. In general if you have obtained your tier1 visa it means home office has automatically cancelled your wp. You can try sending an e-mail to home office and asking them if this is the general process. Anyway I suppose it does not take a lot of time for your employers to let home office know that you are leaving their services. Your employer does sound "differnet". Have you signed a cntract with your employer tha you will be employed with them for a certain period. In case you dont get a P45 from your employer , you can submit a P46 (I think) to your new employers.

[umanghere]

when u moved from WP to tier one ,original WP should automatically get cancelled.So there should be no reason to worry.
Also if you have legally served notice period and all relevant proof( resignation email etc) then they have no right to stop giving you P45.
I think this seems to be a case of pressure tactic from your current employer nothing else.

[PaperPusher]

Your employer does not need "clearance" from the Home Office in the UK!

They just have to fill in this form when you have left:

Notification of Premature End of Employment

If you have worked your notice period - LEAVE!! Nothing that they can do.

If it matters to you, perhaps because you want to stay on good terms & may wish to return in the future, then you could explain the situation and ask for a reasonable release date to tie up loose ends and have a handover period for a project (for example). This is just my take on it - but please see above!

In general if you have obtained your tier1 visa it means home office has automatically cancelled your wp

This is not the case, in practice it means that the leave has been cancelled, but the WP is between the employer and the HO. The employer agreed to send the form above when they applied for the WP.

[pavans29]

Friends,

Thank you very much for your advise.
I had written to the home office and got reply today. I had forwarded the same to my employer. He is now negotiating with me regarding the relieving date.

Home office reply is as follows although answer is expected, just for reference:

Once you have been granted a Tier 1 visa, then you are able to change employer as you wish without seeking further authorisation from employers. You do not need any further visa or permission as the Tier 1 is granted to you and not to any employers, thereby giving you the right to move between employers as you wish.

Your employer can contact our employers helpline for confirmation of the rules regarding Tier 1 applicants if he wishes, or he could e-mail us himself and we can confirm your right to work. We do not give case specific answers to employers but can advise on the general rules.

[krishnasathish]

Hi Pavans

can you tell me the procedure to convert WP to Tier1 General?

thanks