The Tier 2 General visa offers the opportunity to work in the UK as a skilled professional. You can apply for a Tier 2 General visa if you are over 16 years old non EU national and
♠ have a job offer and a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) from an organisation that is a licensed sponsor in the UK; and
♠ score a minimum of 50 points for attributes (certificate of sponsorship and appropriate salary); 10 points for the English language requirement and another 10 points under the maintenance requirement; and
♠ don’t fall for refusal under general grounds for refusal; and
♠ have not had entry clearance or leave to remain as a Tier 2 migrant at any time during the 12 months immediately before the date of the application, unless you were not in the UK on a Tier 2 visa during this period, or will earn a gross salary of £153,500 or higher.
You must not have overstayed your visa for more than 28 days unless your application was submitted before 9 July 2012. If you are under 18 years of age your parents, legal guardian, or sole parent with legal responsibility for the child must: support the application, and give their consent to your travel arrangements to the UK, and reception and care in the UK.
If you have, or were last granted, visa as a: student; postgraduate doctor or dentist; student nurse; student re-sitting an examination; student writing-up a thesis; student union sabbatical officer, or Tier 4 (General) student; and are currently sponsored by the British Government, your own government, the British Council, or any international company, university or independent school; or were being sponsored by the British Government, your own government, the British Council, or any international company, university or independent school, and that sponsorship came to an end 12 months ago or less – you must provide unconditional written consent from the sponsoring government or international scholarship agency to the application and must provide the documents to show that this consent has been obtained.