Urgent help Ecs came negative

[loveman]

Dear gurus

I need your help urgently. Recently I applied setO for my wife in April. Her employer done the Ecs check today and they said UKVI replied no application found with that number. We provided the application form along with payment confirmation email.

They said they will do a check one more check Friday if not she will loose her job.

Just not sure what to do. Please advise we are so nervous.

Thank you

[zimba]

Which number was used for the check ???

[loveman]

The payment reference number on application I guess is there a different number as it is all we could find on application form.

Thank you

[zimba]

The case ID number sent in the UKVI email

[loveman]

We did not receive any email from them after submission. They gurus on this website also said it's not mandatory to receive this email and payment confirmation email would do. This makes me even worried

[loveman]

HI Zamba

Can you advise what i should do now please, we are in middle of nowhere. as we dont have a case ID

Thank you

[zimba]

Contact the UKVI and seek their advice.
Employer Enquiry helpline
Telephone: 0300 123 5434
Monday to Thursday, 9am to 4:45pm
Friday, 9am to 4:30pm

[loveman]

Thank you Zimba

I contacted them and they asked me to send a letter, i am sure they will take quite a bit of time before they get back to us. In the mean time i contacted Local MP office and they spoke to UKVI and they has said they are unable to find my application using the payment which is very strange!!

1 other doubt in have in mind is they said we will receive acknowledgement email after submitting biometrics. I did submit the biometrics on 10th may. Even now i am able to access the UKVCAS document upload page and it is allowing to do changes. I thought it would be locked after the submission, is this normal and does this suggest UKVCAS did not submit my documents and BIometrics to UKVI and that is the reason why they are not able to track the application.

Please advive

Thank you

[zimba]

The application is submitted on the appointment day but the interface is not locked. Maybe contact UKVCAS as they shoud have the case ID on their system ?

[seagul]

In addition to Zimba advice. You can show to your employer the Home Office's own guidance about section C which prevents the applicant from becoming an overstayer while having the same working rights like before (if any) if a valid application has been submitted before expiry.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 9.0ext.pdf

A person who has section 3C leave remains subject to the conditions attached to
their extant leave unless the conditions of their leave are varied by the Secretary of
State. For example, a person subject to a condition allowing employment may
continue to work as before. Any restrictions on the type of employment allowed or
the number of hours they can work will still apply

[zimba]

This will not work. A positive ECS is required

[Jazz2007]

Hi

Same issue happened with my Son's MN1 application in April and I have emailed the nationality support team. They said it was not integrated into their database(CID) due to some technical issue. After a week it was found by their technical team and confirmed me with the Case ID.His whole process is complete now. I think same issue happened with you. You need to contact the technical team in the UKVI with all the details such as Payment Reference number, Personal details, UAN(Biometrics) etc.

Hopefully, They will find your application soon. It must be some technical issue.

[seagul]

Technical issues/systems errors etc cannot change the fact that a person covered by section 3C has the right to live & work until the decision time although a lot of employers are not aware about it. And also unfortunately from near past the UKVI is not issuing any acknowledgement letter which helps the applicant to submit to their employer.

[zimba]

Technical issues/systems errors etc cannot change the fact that a person covered by section 3C has the right to live & work until the decision time although a lot of employers are not aware about it. And also unfortunately from near past the UKVI is not issuing any acknowledgement letter which helps the applicant to submit to their employer.

The guide given to employers by UKVI to perform right to work checks for an employee does not mention section 3C of anything like that. If an employee cannot present an acceptable valid document like a valid BRP, then a positive ECS is required. Employers cannot be blamed for following that guide

[seagul]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 9.0ext.pdf

A person who has section 3C leave remains subject to the conditions attached to
their extant leave unless the conditions of their leave are varied by the Secretary of
State. For example, a person subject to a condition allowing employment may
continue to work as before. Any restrictions on the type of employment allowed or
the number of hours they can work will still apply

Above quote is from UKVI official guidance to public (including employer) regarding right of work by virtue of section 3C although positive ECS required because as I said above that from near past UKVI is not issuing any acknowledgement letter. An ECS will be positive if the person is covered by section 3C. In my several other threads I have mentioned the same that usually the new employers are reluctant to accept section 3C who wants to see only BRP but existing employer do acknowledge it.

[zimba]

Right to work checks are very specific including the required documentary evidence employers must get from their employees (list A or B) and it is explained in detail: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... y_2019.pdf

No one contests the section 3C extension of the leave however the right to checks are very specific and employers who fail to collect the specific documents so are at the risk of being fined when challenged by UKVI. Employers do not risk it and follow the official rights to work checklist and ONLY rely on the acceptable documents.

[seagul]

An existing employer usually already hold the document/data about their employee as described in list A/B except their new evidence or at least confirmation of right to work. Yes in the absence of any acknowledgement letter while the application is in process the employer can't just believe on verbal communication rather conduct ECS which isn't a new excercise rather from several decades although with not named as ECS. An ECS will be positive if the section 3C is triggered and I m sure in op's case it will be positive despite delays occurring due to technical issues.

[seagul]

Even the same guidance is confirming same as mentioned above at its page 28:

In-time applications
A person’s application for further immigration permission to stay in the UK must be made
before their existing permission expires for it to be deemed ‘in-time’. If they do this, any
existing right to work will continue until that in-time application has been determined. In
such circumstances, a Positive Verification Notice from our Employer Checking Service
would demonstrate your statutory excuse for six months from the date of the Notice. If you
receive a Negative Verification Notice in response to your verification request, you will no
longer have a statutory excuse and you will be liable for a civil penalty if the person is not
permitted to work in the UK. You may also be convicted of the offence of employing an
illegal worker.
It is important that a person makes an application to the Home Office before their
permission to be here expires because this has an impact on their right to work.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... y_2019.pdf

[zimba]

You seem to be repeating yourself despite the fact that I do not disagree with you. I never argued section 3C will not lead to a positive ECS. My argument is that ONLY a positive ECS will put an employer in an uncompromised position and simply pointing out the details of section 3C to an employer will not cut it without an ECS as you also pointed out in the guide yourself.
Also in this case only documents from group 2 under List B will be acceptable

[seagul]

Repetition was only intended to clarify confusion if someone still not getting it despite the official sources confirming it. A positive ECS is only delaying due to system error/technical issue in op's case.

[loveman]

Thank you very much for your support

Despite providing with payment reference number and unique application number ECS check came application not found and as a result My wife's employment being terminated.

Sent a letter 4 days ago to UKVI no reply. Is there any way we could contact technical dept .

Thank you

[Jazz2007]

NationalityFrontEndTechnicalSpecialists@homeoffice.gov.uk,
ApplyOnlineE-Support@homeoffice.gov.uk

Please email both of these addresses, First email-id is related to British Nationality technical support but they are really helpful and atleast navigate you to the right place.

[loveman]

Thank you for your kind reply

I have emailed to the above ID's and also my local MP who chased it down and UKVI replied with the below comments not sure how to follow up after this

"Sopra Steria Limited has confirmed that Mrs ----- attended an appointment at their service centre on 10 May 2019 at Birmingham and that it received delivery of Mrs ----- documents and biometrics the same day.

Regrettably due to an administrative error, we are unable to view the application and documents Mrs----- submitted in order to confirm whether she has submitted a valid application for Further Leave to Remain. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

I will contact you again as soon as we have been able to view Mrs----- application."

They still did not update if i have right to work or not.

Thank you