It is natural for an employee to want to change company, change departments or get promoted to advance in their careers. If you have a Skilled Worker (Tier 2 General) visa, it may be complicated to change your employment or job role within the company depending on the condition of your visa.
Changing the employer
Everyone wants to develop their career or be valued for a better salary. Most employees do not think twice about brushing up their CV and changing jobs. If you’re taking a job with a new company, you must always make an application for further leave to remain in the UK. Your new employer must act as sponsor for the application.
In order to change employer, the new employer must satisfy the condition below:
- Your new employer should have a sponsorship license
- Offered job should be on the list of SOC Code over NQF level 3
- A new Certificate of Sponsorship (COS) must be allocated
You cannot change employer until the UKVI formalities are completed, otherwise you may be in breach of your work visa. This could affect your immigration record with the Home Office and your prospects of successfully applying for another work visa or settlement in the future.
If a new employer does not have a sponsor license and does not want to apply for one in a timeframe that is acceptable for you then you won't be able to take up the job offer, even if you are a perfect fit for the job and the employer is offering a dream salary. If you were to take up the job then your existing Skilled Worker visa or Tier 2 (General) visa would not cover the new employment and you would therefore be in breach of your visa conditions.
If you leave the company without a new job offer, your work visa will be curtailed by the Home Office. This is the case even if your loss of employment is outside of your control, for example;
- The employer's sponsorship has been revoked
- The employer is going into administration due to bankruptcy
- The employer has made you redundant
If you cease to work for your employer then your work visa becomes invalid. Normally the Home Office will send you a curtailment letter that gives you 60 days to either find new employment with an employer who has a Sponsor Licence and can allocate you a Certificate of Sponsorship so you can apply for a new Skilled Worker visa or to leave the UK. Unfortunately, 60 days may not be long enough. Therefore, if a new company does not have a sponsor licence, they should apply for a sponsorship quickly.
New Job role with existing Employer
Many people think it may be too complicated to look for a new job whilst on a Skilled Worker or Tier 2 (General) visa but they may want to apply for internal promotions or job changes, assuming that their work visa will cover them as they aren’t changing employer. Likewise many employers will not see a need to report the change in your employment description to the Home Office as part of their Sponsor Licence duties.
It is important that your employer report changes to ensure your immigration record remains blemish free and to make sure that the Home Office do not decide to carry out a sponsor compliance visit due to failure in report under the terms of the Sponsor Licence.
Even if you are staying with the same employer, you may need to make a new work visa application if;
- You are doing a different role in the company with a different Standard Occupational Classification code to the one contained on your Certificate of Sponsorship;
- You used to earn over £159,600 a year but your salary has now been reduced to less than that; or
- Your job was previously on the shortage occupation list but the new job is not on the shortage occupation list.
It is not impossible to change companies or change your job role within your company with your work visa. Before doing so, you must ensure that these changes do not affect the immigration records or your future plans to apply for permanent residency (ILR) in the future.