'Don't ignore new visa process' companies urged

Companies planning to employ overseas talent on Tier 2 visas after the UK leaves the European Union at year's end are being urged not to let the Covid-19 outbreak distract them from embarking on the immigration registration process as soon as possible.

David Sapsted

22 April 2020

Claire Taylor-Evans, a senior associate specialising in employment and immigration at law firm Boyes Turner, points out that employers will need a Sponsorship Licence from the government if they hope to hire from abroad after December 31 (unless, of course, the transition period is extended).In a website article, she points out that the government appears intent on pressing ahead with the new, points-based system and says that "despite being in the grip of a global pandemic, we need to prepare for the future and a new immigration landscape".Ms Taylor-Evans says that all companies who do not already hold a Sponsorship Licence should register as soon as possible because there are an estimated 900,000 UK employers who will need to apply."Given that we are less than eight months away from the new system, and the current processing times are up to two months, we are expecting a significant backlog," she says."In addition, compiling the relevant documentation is time consuming and, in our experience, clients experience significant internal delays in this stage of the process, ultimately delaying their application."Employers need to submit their applications well ahead of the new immigration system coming into force as there will be an inevitable last minute scramble to register at the end of the year. Whilst it might seem counter-intuitive, with employees on furlough and business facing an uncertain future, now might be a good time to prepare to make an application."Under current plans, any firm planning to recruit a new employee from January 2021 who is a non-UK national, will require a Sponsorship Licence - the initial permission granted by the Home Office or UK Visa and Immigration Authority (UKVI) to hire skilled foreign nationals under the Tier 2 route.Ms Taylor-Evans points out that employers must make an application to the UKVI to prove their eligibility, appoint key existing personnel to manage the licence and meet the extremely strict reporting and record keeping requirements imposed by the UKVI.The current cost of obtaining a licence is £1,476 and the timeframe from submission to approval can be 8-12 weeks. Additionally, employers must pay an Immigration Skills Charge of £1,000 for each year of the migrant’s visa, which in most cases will be for five years."The application process consists of submitting an online form, accompanied by a number of original documents to establish that the company is genuine, which can involve an audit by the UKVI," Ms Taylor-Evans says."The entire process is far from straightforward and business infrastructure and compliance is key. Under the current UK immigration regime, for those UK employers who are successful in their sponsorship licence application, there are still additional hurdles to overcome before a skilled migrant can be successfully appointed."While she says some of these hurdles - such as the Resident Labour Market Test and annual quotas on Tier 2 numbers - will be lifted under the new system, "for those employers unfamiliar with the sponsorship regime, the bureaucracy and cost of having to comply with the new immigration system will be significant".