Working and living in the UK with a British passport Skilled Worker Visa can be like sleeping with your eyes open. Migrants can lose their livelihoods in a blink of an eye and face a 60 day ultimatum to either find a new job or be deported to their home country.
Only a few authorised companies in the UK can sponsor a Skilled Worker Visa. Once an employment ends, things can get out of hand quickly. It is a race against the clock where every rejection, delay, or dead-end can lead to the forced departure of the country.
A UK-based tech worker experienced this distress firsthand. He worked as a tech creator in Rwanda after graduating in 2021. However, he soon got an offer to work for a global tech company. He began as an intern, and then became a full-time employee. He came to the UK via the Skilled Worker Visa Program. Just as he was settling in to his new career and life, a company layoff left him in a bind.
The story of a tech worker who requested anonymity for reasons of job security, as told by TechCabal.
Hello from the UK
In early 2021, I attended a session where volunteers were invited to receive feedback on their portfolios. I signed up right away. I met a recruiter from a global tech firm, one of the panelists, during that session. She liked my drive. We connected on LinkedIn, and we kept in touch casually.
In the summer of 2021 she contacted me again. The company offered an internship for recent graduates. I didn’t need convincing. I applied, had interviews, and was offered the position. It was a remote position with the tech company at a time when people were still recovering from the global pandemic of 2020. I was in Rwanda and worked with a large team across Europe.
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Joined a team that focused on the onboarding experience for work account users. I was able to meet other creatives with similar experience, expand my network and commit to a single goal: to obtain a full-time job offer. I cultivated my network, improved my portfolio and made sure my performance was visible to my employer.
After the internship ended, a performance evaluation was conducted. Fortunately, after a headcount was done by the company, it discovered that they needed new employees for one of their creative departments. I was able to secure a full-time job offer with the help of the recruiter. After I accepted the offer, discussions began to relocate me to UK.
The company partnered with a firm of accountants to handle all my visa paperwork and temporary accommodation in the UK. They helped me with everything from figuring out taxes to healthcare.
It took [to get my visa] over two months to complete the process. I had to go through a health screening, a tuberculosis testing, and provide documents, such as a police record and affidavits, explaining discrepancies with my surname, despite corporate support. The waiting was the most difficult part: I went for weeks without any updates, not knowing whether I should panic or plan. It took some time.
By 2022, the tech company for which I worked sponsored me to relocate to the UK with a Skilled Worker Visa.
Fast-forward to 2025. After working in various teams within the company, there was a sudden layoff of all employees. My name was listed on the list of employees who were to be fired.
Find another sponsor or go home.
The UK Home Office sent an email within hours of my being laid off. My visa and stay were tied to my employment, and the layoff meant that my employer’s sponsorship had ended. I had 60 days to either find a new employer or leave the UK. This is the curtailment time.
When the email arrived, I was in a panic. I was already grieving over the loss of my job, and now immigration uncertainty loomed.
As I began to plan for three possible futures, I considered finding a new UK employer, moving to another country or returning to Rwanda. I began looking at flats in Kigali, Lagos and the UK while sending out my applications. I interviewed with seven companies. Six companies rejected me outright – they didn’t continue to sponsor my visa. Only one was willing to discuss it.
I finally applied to a fintech firm I admired. I was able to connect with a recruiter, and I rushed through the entire interview process. Fortunately, my company agreed to sponsor me. The process was faster because it was a visa exchange and not a new application.
I managed to survive the 60-day countdown. It took its toll.
A curtailment comes with an emotional burden
When a notice of curtailment arrives, there is no soft landing. The message from UK Home Office is coldly detached. For them, it’s just business as usual. The emotional burden is heavy for the migrant who receives the message.
The curtailment period brings a sense unadulterated fear–of losing somewhere to live, of disrupting fragile advancement, of hearing that years of hard work might soon be for nothing.
UK Tweet
Help me for a lady. She came in as a dependent, but I don’t remember what the guy did. He was deported in accordance with Part 9 of the Immigration Rules. She has 2 months to leave the country or find an alternative.
There are only six weeks left.
Sir Dickson (@Ministryib10), June 14, 2024.
There’s also crippling uncertainty. Migrants are aware of what is coming, but they don’t know how to deal with it. When faced with a curtailment notice by the government, African migrants have three options.
Your first option is to look for a new sponsor. This means that you need to find a company who is not only hiring but also licensed and prepared to sponsor a Skilled Worker Visa. Only 134,901companies in the UK –or about 3% of nearly 5.5 companies registered in the country—are authorized to sponsor foreign workers for temporary work, Skilled Workers, or Global Mobility Visas. This drastically reduces the number of employers who are willing to sponsor a migrant. According to a digital nomad who spoke with TechCabal, even when a migrant has made progress on a job application, these employers could lose interest once visa sponsorship is mentioned. It’s just more paperwork.
Employers have to prove that the role is necessary, confirm that it can’t be filled by local talent and then request formal permission to sponsor. The process of getting approval for Certificates of Sponsorship (COS), which are issued by companies, can be tedious. Few are willing to do that.
The problem could be beyond the paperwork. It may be that the employer is already at capacity for the sponsorship slots they are authorized to offer each year. Or, it could be the employer cannot afford the new salary threshold for visa sponsorship. This is PS41,700 ($49,000), which is the new salary threshold for most skilled worker roles (up from the PS38,700 on July 22), whereas health and care jobs are still PS25,600. These thresholds represent the minimum amount that skilled workers can earn after tax deductions. It’s also possible that a company has simply exhausted their budget for sponsoring visa applicants.
The cost and complexity of sponsoring can lead to even the most qualified candidates being overlooked. This is not because they are unqualified, but rather because of their lack of skill.
A second option is to change visa routes. This comes with its own challenges. Some migrants in tech may be eligible for a Global Talent Visa if they can demonstrate exceptional ability. Other options include a Graduate Visaand a Spouse Visa for those whose partner has British citizenship, or a stable immigration situation in the UK. Each of these options has its own requirements, limitations, and timelines.
These routes require careful preparation, eligibility and sometimes a little luck. The long processing times make them out of reach for many people who are caught in the 60 day countdown.
Leaving the country is the third and most painful choice. Not only the UK but also the life you have built there. Migrants with Skilled Workers visas invest a lot of time and money to get there. They leave their families to adapt to new systems and settle in unfamiliar cities. The loss of progress when forced to leave is more than just a job. It often means starting over in a place that they thought they left behind.
At the moment, it takes five years to qualify for Indefinite Residency (ILR) on a Skilled Worker Visa or Health and Care Worker Visa in the UK. ILR is a legal right that allows you to live and work in UK without requiring a visa. It is a guarantee of security, a permanent residency, and a future independent of employer decisions. This future is fragile.
A migrant, for example, could lose their job after the fourth year of their stay in the UK. All of their progress will be lost if they are unable to find a new sponsor. They return home without anything to show for all the years they spent building their life abroad.
Even worse, this five-year journey may become longer. The UK government is considering an extension of the ILR timeline to ten years. The stakes are even higher if this happens.
What does it mean to stay and how to plan?
Skilled worker visa holders are susceptible to disruptions. A single corporate decision could ruin their future after years of hard work, system integration and tax contributions.
It is difficult to plan for the future when you are in a precarious situation. The idea of building a career, settling down or even staying in one place can feel risky. Many African professionals moved to the UK from developing economies. A curtailment notice can throw everything out of balance.
Skilled workers on visas are some of the most vulnerable residents in the UK. Their ability to perform on the job is usually enough to get them through the five year period leading up to ILR. According to a digital nomad who requested anonymity, it is important for migrants to behave well.
Some sponsors are beginning to understand the emotional impact of sudden layoffs. In some cases, particularly in industries that have been hit hard by the economic downturn, migrants receive advance notice of upcoming workforce reductions.
Although this warning does not lessen the emotional impact, it allows migrants to plan and prepare for what is to come. * To maintain privacy, the names of those featured in this article and their workplaces have been anonymized. Mark your calendars
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