Changing position, working out notice period, and expiry of leave

[celloza]

I find myself in a very particular situation, for which I've been unable to find succinct information on the gov.uk website, on which I would advice.

I was issued with a Student visa in 2020, to start my Master's studies in the UK in January 2021. My wife and two kids were granted dependent visas on my Student visa at the same time. Upon arriving, we received our BRPs, which are valid from 03/01/2021 until 24/10/2022.

While studying, as is allowed by my visa, I started working at a local company on a part-time basis. Their offer included that, once that time came round, they would sponsor my application to switch to a Skilled Worker visa.

Once I completed my studies in June 2022 the company employed me full time (again, allowed under my Student visa given that my course was completed), and I started enquiring as to the progress of the issuance of a CoS for me. At that time, they had reached their CoS allocation limit, and had to request an increase which, according to all the information I could find, would take 12 weeks plus.

Afraid this may take too long, and I'd be in breach of my visa conditions, I started looking around for alternative employment to cover my bases. If my company were not able to provide me with a visa in time for 24 October, I wanted to have another option, as I absolutely want to avoid going back to my home country. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been for a few interviews and, due to my industry and the size of the organizations I applied at, this does sometimes take a couple of weeks.

On Tuesday this week (4 October) my current employer issued me with a CoS. As I want to stick to my visa conditions, I promptly applied for, and paid for, an application for myself to switch from my Student visa to a Skilled Worker visa on the back of the CoS (as the CoS was issued for 4 years, I had to take the 5 year option). I also applied for my wife and two children as dependents, for a total of about £17000.

My question (finally) is: I received a call from one of the companies whom I interviewed with, and they'd like me to come and work for them. The position is (in all senses (including financially)) better. There are however no guarantees about when they would issue a CoS for the position. The terms of my agreement with my current employer state a notice period of three months, which I would honor. Since my visa application has been completed, I still have leave under Section 3C, and would be able to do this.

However, a number of different eventualities can occur:

1. I need to provide an answer to the job offer from the other company. If I decide to go with them... what happens with my application? Do I cancel it, wait for them to issue me with a new CoS, and then apply for visas using this new CoS? What happens if this CoS does not get issued before my current visa expires? If I applied with the new CoS in time, am I allowed to work out my notice period with my current employer while that application is being decided? What if it is decided, and granted, but I have not yet completed my notice period?
2. Do I leave my current application, and hope it gets issued before my 3 months notice period? I understand that I would need to do new applications for visas then (which for 5 years, would total around £6000). I'd like to avoid this at all, since we've had to save a while to be able to afford it.
3. Do I cancel my current application, and apply for a Graduate Route visa? I've somehow convinced myself that this is the best option, since I can wait for it to be issued, work out my notice, and not have these edge cases of whether the new CoS is issued or not. However, this would mean my ILR journey will start later (and I pay for a round of Graduate Route visas, and then Skilled Worker visas). Luckily I won't have to pay the IHS surcharge for 4 people for 5 years again.

Any advice?

[CR001]

Not sure why you didnt apply for the graduate route visa instead of creating all this stress for yourself.

[celloza]

Just because I didn't expect to receive an offer, and the longer I stay in the UK without having that time contribute towards my ILR, I need to pay the IHS surcharge for 4 people every year.