When we received that email from the Home office, our sponsor’s license was revoked and visa curtailed. It feels like the world stopped for a moment, I mean why won’t it feel that way? We left our lives in Nigeria and moved here, and a little over 6 months into the country, still finding our feet, when this news.

If you’re reading this in a similar situation, I want you to know something important: you can get through this. My partner and I did, and in this post, I’m sharing the exact first steps we took that helped us secure new sponsorships within such a short period.

We refused to panic 

This sounds simple, but it was the most important decision we made. When your visa is curtailed, fear wants to take over. But panic clouds judgment, and you need clarity now more than ever. It is at this point that scammers will want to swoop in and ruin your life and savings. You need that composure and clarity to think straight. We were almost victims of this, just got scammed out of £99 pounds before we said enough was enough. I will share this story in my subsequent videos and blogs.

We gave ourselves a few days to process this shock and then made a decision that we are going to take decisive steps to land another job. We kept our faith in God so tight and spoke words of affirmation that our effort will be worth it at the end.

We Completely Revamped Our CVs

We were fresh out of the Nigerian job market and had very few months of UK experience. I will say we were lucky to have worked for a couple of Agencies and homes in the UK, so that covered the part for our UK experience. 

Here’s what we included in our revamped CVs

  • Both the UK and Nigerian experience with clear dates and responsibilities (Explain reason for gaps in your employment, if any)
  • Verified references from both countries (we were sure that our former employers are reachable and able to give our references.
  • All relevant certificates, including our care qualifications and any training completed
  • DBS Update Service registration number prominently displayed at the top

That last point is crucial. Many care homes won’t even interview you without a DBS check, and showing we already had the Update Service meant they could verify us instantly. It removed a major barrier.  Therefore, I will urge you to get an enhanced Dbs done and, within 28 days of issuance, make sure to add it to the Dbs update service. It costs 16 pounds right now to do that.

We Became Strategic Job Hunters

Indeed became our headquarters. We set up job alerts with specific keywords: “visa sponsorship,” “care worker sponsor,” “certificate of sponsorship.” Every morning, we’d check new postings before they got flooded with applications. We had the Indeed app installed on our phones as well, so as the jobs were being posted, we applied striaghtaway.

We applied to everything that fit, even if the location wasn’t ideal. When your visa is running out, you can’t afford to be picky about the location of the job, you can always relocate later once you’re secure.

In addition to simply chasing applications, we also employed other strategies to help us secure UK visa sponsorship. I have shared these strategies in this post: 3 Ways to Land UK Visa Sponsorships.

The Government tried to help

On the other hand, the government also tried to help. They sent us an email after we received a curtailment letter. The email contained useful links and emails of the government agency that supports employees who had their employer licenses revoke find another job. 

There were no guarantees, but you should look out for their email and follow their instructions; you never know where the new offer with sponsorship will come from.

I wish you all the best in your applications

From your dear friend 

Anthony.