Legal Ease

The UK Border Agency has announced the Government's new annual limit on non-EU workers, which will take effect on 6 April 2011.

At the end of 2010, the Home Office announced that 20,700 visas will be made available to skilled workers applying through Tier 2 of the points-based system, as well as 1,000 visas under a new “exceptional talent route”.

Under this new system, employers will have to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship from the UK Border Agency for a specific post if they wish to bring someone to the UK.

If the employer’s application is successful, the UK Border Agency will give an A or B rating and add the employer to their published Register of Sponsors. The B rating is for sponsors who they think could be a risk to immigration control or who do not have all the correct systems in place. The employer must follow a sponsorship action plan designed to help them become A--rated, or risk losing their licence.

Employers who are licensed as a sponsor are responsible for ensuring that migrants comply with their immigration conditions, by keeping records on them and reporting any changes (such as a failure to turn up for work) to the UK Border Agency. If an employer does not comply with their duties, they can have their licence downgraded or even withdrawn.

The worker will need the Certificate of Sponsorship when they apply for a visa to come into or stay in the UK. They will also need to pass a points-based assessment.

Employers filling a vacancy that attracts a salary of £150,000 or more will not be subject to the limit on the number of certificates of sponsorship that may be allocated.

The annual limit of 20,700 certificates of sponsorship will be divided into 12 monthly allocations. Due to the likely demand in the first month, 4,200 certificates of sponsorship will be made available in April. After that, the limit will be set at 1,500 places per month. Any allocated places that are unused each month will be rolled over to the following month.

In the event that the monthly allocation is over subscribed, Certificate of Sponsorship Applications will be ranked using a points system designed to favour jobs on the shortage occupation list, scientific researchers and those with a higher salary. Once a Certificate of Sponsorship has then been granted to an employer, it must be assigned to the prospective employee within 3 months.

Workers from outside the EU who want to come to the UK will need to have a graduate level job, speak an intermediate level of English, and meet specific salary and employment requirements.

The intra-company transfer route, which will not form part of the annual limit, will also be changed:

The job will have to be in an occupation on the graduate occupation list.

2. Only those paid £40,000 or more will be able to stay for more than a year. The transfer will be granted for 3 years with the possibility of extending for a further 2 years.

3. Those paid between £24,000 and £40,000 will be allowed to come to the UK but for no longer than 12 months, at which point they must leave and will not be able to re-apply for 12 months.


EMPLOYEES RIGHT TO REQUEST 'TIME TO TRAIN'

It has been announced that the Right to Request Time off for Training will NOT be extended to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) from April 2011. The right remains in force for organisations with 250 or more employees, which was brought in last April and was due to be extended this year.

Labels: annual limit on migration to the UK and right to request time to train