Getting sponsored on a Tier 2 visa from a tier 4 student visa

If you're not in the UK, then unfortunately you can't convert your Tier 4 Visa to a Tier 2- so you'd be affected by the visa cap etc, I think

I just accepted a contract to join an investment fund (small boutique) and have applied for a conversion from tier 4 to tier 2.

My 2 cents: I knew many people in the same position as me at the LSE (where I studied). I've seen people with Deutsche Bank internships not get sponsorships with First Class grades in Economics, Data Science Masters students with stellar grades and work experience not get a sponsorship either.

Its brutal out there. I did a lot of research into this in my first year and realized that my university priorities would be very different from my European flatmates, as the pressure to get awesome work experience was higher for me than them - they can look around for internships after graduation and then find their path - some people with firsts at even the top uni's do this. Only a handful walk into their ideal job right away (15% maybe, and a good portion of them work for consultancies or banks, when their first internship comes in some other country, in many cases through a connection).

In my second year I can't even explain the stress of holding a part time job to pay my bills, uni studies and then the relentless pressure to get a good set of relevant work experiences to have a chance of getting a tier 2 visa. Thing is a lot of the tier 2 jobs go to the big 4 account firms - pardon my language, but I didn't kill myself for 3 years to work in an accounting or audit job that is of no interest to me, to earn 28k pre-tax in central london. That's garbage. Employers know they have an over-supply of talent from all over Europe and a ton of good international students, and the wages barring the big 3 consultances, a few boutiqe finance firms and the Investment Banks are really not great. That's digressing a bit, however.

The only real way to get the sponsorship is actively check the tier 2 list of sponsors (just search for it on google, there's a pdf on the home office website with an updated list). Don't bother applying to any company not on there - a brand new sponsor license takes 3+ months and is very expensive. Unless you're a genius who is going to change the world, its not going to happen. It sucks when you see a job you love but can't apply for as the company can't sponsor you...you have to suck it up, i learned to.

I've seen people with nowhere near my skillset (pardon the self aggrandization) but I worked relevant part-time roles for my final 2 years and got stellar internships and grades, and built a hell of a network in the field of my interest - people with half these credentials walked into roles i wanted, but couldn't even apply for because I have an Indian passport. That's ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. I've paid 54k in uni fees alone ffs. The rules are so demented its beyond belief.

End of the day, I felt sad many times, lost hope - my family took out a loan to send me here. No way I can pay them back with the pay in my home country in the field I'm interested in. Lots of bad stuff comes into your mind. Apply lots - know you'll have to work 10x as hard in the interview/job process as your european counterparts, but that it is possible. I applied to 20+ startups and 20+ investment firms who do the work I like. I got 2 offers rescinded because even though the companies do sponsor applicants...it still costs them a few thousand to sponsor someone from tier 4 to tier 2 (this was told to me by both firms so I think its legit. Days and days of preperation, doing assesments...and it ends with that. Eventually, this week, I got a great offer at one of my top choices.

The date of my first application for a graduate job was October 1, 2017. I already had 2 good summers of relevant experience and a full year of part time eexperience in my second year at an investment fund, and like an 81 average at one of the best uni's in the country. Took me 11 months, around 40-45 rejections, 2 rescinded offers to get here, a month before my student visa expired.

Moral of the story//TL;DR: Its a **** system. Most people not in your shoes won't understand it. Your second year and third year, or if a masters student, your entire masters year should focus on job search/experience and then degree - all you need is a 60% really. No one rejects you if you don't have a first. Build a network, hustle like crazy and suck up the rejections - and remember its only 3.5% of all internationals who get these visas. Don't feel sorry for yourself, become valuable enough as a brand and product yourself that someone will hire you on a good salary.

Cheers for the reply but don’t know if you missed it or not, I graduated already so can’t go back and get experience or add more time on that work visa. Been applying for tonnes of jobs and like you said got the sponsor list open at all times. Took like a week off because I was burnt out and had my grad party. But this article published yesterday was welcome: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/sep/04/bring-back-work-visas-overseas-graduates-say-uk-universities
On LinkedIn and been connecting with some CEOs and what not. Also about to enroll on an IT masters course with Open university.

I tried the linkedin route - its reasonable but requires a lot of time. Not sure what career field you're interested in, but there are always events (well at least in London) - quicker and more efficient for networking I feel.

I graduated 4 months ago, but had an extra 4-5 months post my graduation date on my student visa - you can use the time to get experience and then hopefully find a good job and get a visa conversion from tier 4 to tier 2 right? Because, the whole RMLT thing only really works for exceptional upper management people, not students - unless genius PHD's.

The article is all well and good, but sadly, nothing will change till Theresa is in charge. She was one of the biggest proponents of scrapping it in the first place, and she wasn't even the PM then. It won't go away on her watch.

Anyways, all the best - its a brutal path, but not impossible!

I think part of the problem with Tier 2 visas at the moment a) the monthly cap, and b) the earning requirements. If you are not applying for a visa for an occupation on the shortage list, as I understand it, you're very likely to get rejected unless your projected salary is over £40,000. For a recent grad, this is unlikely, and it's a waste of time for companies to sponsor you for a visa they know will get rejected.

If you want to get a Tier 2 visa, I'd suggest focusing on jobs on the shortage occupation list:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-k-shortage-occupation-list

At the moment, don't forget that UK companies can still recruit talent from across the EU/EEA without any visa issues- so it's not just UK students you are competing against.

FWIW I do agree that the UK needs skilled immigrant labour, especially as we appear to be running off a cliff with Brexit. However, Teresa May has always been ideologically against immigration, and wants to force immigration numbers down regardless of whether it's a good thing for the country or not!

Undoubtedly will be much more difficult. You will need to find a finance role that plays to your unique set of skills (namely languages) to put you in the best position.

The very high end of the market are likely to sponsor but you’ll need a stellar CV for those organisations.

I’m not talking about learning a language. I am talking about business fluency in your home language (and any others).

The MSc won’t really help - the only advantage that really gives you is transferring from the student visa to the Tier 2 (if your time limit isn’t up).

You’ll typically find most finance graduate programmes open in the late summer and close by mid to late November. But would your CV be strong enough for a competitive finance graduate programme?

I do mean literal languages. If you are not fluent though, it means very little.

Depends what area of finance you want to end up in. You need to get internships relevant to which career you want to go for. That might be difficult though doing an internship over the last part of your MSc - plenty do it, but it’s not straight forward.

That’s the problem you will have. You are only limited to 20 hours a week during term time on your student visa. Limits you to holidays, when typically finance internships are 6-12 weeks over the summer.

Ultimately prepare for the fact you are more likely to return home than stay in the UK post graduating.

If you are already working part time to find your course, an internship is looking highly unlikely