European law solution to continued employment

We were contacted by a large publishing business which was unhappy with the advice it had received from two other immigration service providers about an employee whose lawful employment in the UK was based on his marriage to an EEA national.

When the company became aware that he was separated, it sought advice and was told that he would have to return overseas and wait for up to three months for a tier 1 (general) application to be processed. Our client was unable to issue a certificate of sponsorship under tier 2 because its sponsorship application had not yet been processed by the UK Border Agency.

Our detailed understanding of European freedom of movement law enabled us to give robust advice to the effect that he could remain in the UK and our client could lawfully continue to employ him for the foreseeable future, thereby buying time to prepare and file the appropriate application either under tier 2 or tier 1 (general).

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