Advice for future grads seeking work?

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong board, but this is more of a question of how to look for work, and not really a question about the process of obtaining the tier 2 visa as you have to find someone willing to sponsor you in the first place...

As it's been announced, the current government has closed the Post-Study Work category in the Tier 1 visa. I'm finishing my MA in September, and I was really hoping to stay and work for a couple of years, but the only option available to me now is to find an employer able to sponsor me on for a Tier visa (and able to offer me a salary of over £20,000/yr). In my searching so far, employers are not interested in sponsoring you for a Tier 2, even when they don't have to prove that no UK resident can also fill the same position you're applying for. The flipping US Embassy doesn't even sponsor their own citizens for a Tier 2 apparently.

Does anyone have any advice on how to search for future employment under the new rules? Is there some magic list out there that lists companies eligible to sponsor graduates for a Tier 2?

I know that no one owes me a living, especially when I'm looking for it in a country not my own. The reasons I want to stay for work are complicated, and I'd rather not go into it in this post, but the short answer is my 3+ year relationship with a Londoner.

I have gone to career services, but they weren't really able to help me. The career counselor I spoke with said I should consider speaking with an immigration lawyer, but I'm not sure how they'd be able to help me. Is there another office at the University that could help direct me or at least advise me on how I might go about getting help? Or would an immigration lawyer be able to give me some advice this summer?

The US Embassy has plenty of citizens who work for the State Department and the Foreign Service so they really don't need to sponsor people for visas. Your best bet if you want to stay in the UK is to get married to your Londoner. A Tier 2 Visa is for people who are specialists in their field, fill a niche role, or have been headhunted for a position. I'm sure you can see why it would be unlikely that a UK employer would sponsor a recent graduate.

We'd love to get married, but he's between careers right now so doesn't meet the current income requirement, much less the one proposed for June.

I'm so screwed. We should have just gotten married last year when we were both working full time.

Thanks anyway

Will the UK parents be third-party sponsors?

Both of his parents said they would be willing to, but I thought under the new rule changes third party support will no longer be considered for anyone trying to obtain a spouse visa (http://www.marriagevisahelp.com/index.php?page=uk-immigration-changes-to-rules-for-third-party-support. [nofollow]

The article said it may be different for fiance visas, but seeing as how fiance visa has to turn into a spouse visa a few months later, I'm not really sure if that makes a difference...

Nothing has been officially announced yet. Why not get married quickly and apply?

It's best to use the official UKBA website for announcements rather than third party sites.

Both of his parents said they would be willing to, but I thought under the new rule changes third party support will no longer be considered for anyone trying to obtain a spouse visa (http://www.marriagevisahelp.com/index.php?page=uk-immigration-changes-to-rules-for-third-party-support.

Nothing official has been announced yet, so we don't know whether third party support will still be allowed after June - also, you would be applying for FLR(M), not a fiance or spousal visa and at the moment, we don't know whether the rules for FLR(M) will change in the same way as visas applied for outside the UK. [By the way, the link in your post isn't working for me - I get a 404 - Not Found notification]

Why not get married and apply for FLR(M) before June? Then you could apply for the visa under the current rules instead of the new rules and not have to worry about it.

Another thought: have you been living together for 24 consecutive months or more? If you have, you could qualify for an Unmarried Partner FLR(M) and apply right away, instead of getting married first.

Hi DeluxeFox,

There is a list of companies that have Tier 2 sponsorship licenses on the UKBA website. The list is available here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/employersandsponsors/pointsbasedsystem/pbsregisterofsponsors.

On another note, Fiance visas are only available for those applying for leave to remain from outside of the UK, and those here in the UK under Fiance visas are not able to work.

I agree with ksand24, have you considered the Unmarried Partner visa? The financial requirements (as of right now) still remain that you must prove that you and/or your partner can support yourself without public funds. There has not been an official announcement about the changes to the family migration visas yet, so you still have time to sort something out. Registry office weddings are cheap and fast...