A Skilled Worker in the eyes of the Immigration Rules is a worker who:
– works for a UK employer that has been approved by the Home Office;
– has a Certificate of Sponsorship from your employer about the role you’ve been offered in the UK;
– does a job that is on the list of eligible occupations;
– is paid a minimum salary – how much depends on the type of work you do.
The government are changing the system from 2022 supposedly to make it easier for businesses to support workers that they are recruiting or bringing from overseas. Sponsorship licence applications before this new system have typically been processed within a period of eight weeks, but applicants are currently seeing extensive delays, presumably due to the rise in the number of applications.
The government has outlined a three-phase program to be introduced across 2022-2023 in order to streamline the process.
The first phase is set to be implemented in the middle of 2022 and will focus on providing a more customer friendly experience for sponsors and workers. For example, a worker’s application will be pre-populated with the information provided prior to an employer’s approval, saving both the sponsor and worker from having to enter the data multiple times.
The second phase is aiming for the end of 2022 and will see the introduction of a new Management System for sponsors. This will give the sponsor key information on the worker’s status and actions they need to take. There are currently plans to implement an automatic data checking service which will fill information about the employer based on information held by other government departments.
The final phase is likely to be implemented early 2023 and will introduce automatic compliance checks meaning that prospective sponsors will have to provide evidence in compliance visits which will be designed to target those sponsors who present a higher risk of non-compliance.
Along with this new system, the government has announced that it is planning to create a new route to be known as the ‘Global Business Mobility route’ which will incorporate and reform a number of existing sponsored worker categories.
With so much changing in terms of this route, it is difficult to predict whether the new system will be more beneficial or cause unintended issues for sponsors.
Should you have any questions in relation to Business Immigration or Sponsor Licences do not hesitate to contact us at: immigration@curzongreen.co.uk or on 020 3443 3705