HSMP to Tier 2 -issue with Certificate of Sponsorship-HELP!

[HSMPgirl]

Hi guys,

I am intending to switch from HSMP to Tier 2. Basically I didn't get enough points (income) this year to be able to renew my HSMP.

I have a job offer with a law firm, but I've now been informed that there is an issue with the Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship.

Basically, in the guidance notes to Tier 2 it says that the Certificate has to be issued within 12 months of the end of that year's Milkround. Since I was offered the job in July 2007, that means that the Certificate would have needed to be issued by the end of July 2008, i.e. 12 months after the 2007 milkround finished.

However, technically that would have been impossible, since the
"certificate of sponsorship" did not even exist at the time. Tier 2
did not come into force until 27 November 2008.

I mention that the job was in a law firm because the practice in law firms in the UK is to recruit 2 years in advance, so the 12 month Milkround rule would not be applicable in this case.

Also, such a certificate would have only been valid for 3 months in
any case (i.e. the applicant then has to make a Tier 2 application
within that time), which means that the certificate should really only
be applied for a few months before the job commences.

Therefore, the Home Office are asking for the impossible!

During my time in HSMP, I was working in another field, but I unfortunately didn't have enough income points for the renewal.

So what do I do? My HSMP is about to expire...(by beginning of July)....should I tell the firm to apply anyway and explain the situation in a covering letter on in the application?

I will be actually be reaching 10 years in November 2009 and will apply for ILR then, so I cannot afford to leave the UK now...