HR Articles

Last month, we posted an article on the role of the Authorising Officer and explained that this person does not have access to the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) unless he/she is a Level 1 or 2 user. Since then we’ve received enquiries from HR staff wanting to know more about the SMS, who has access to it and the differences between a Level 1 and 2 user.

Tier 2 sponsors should have by now received an email from UK Visas & Immigration reminding them that the CoS annual allocation process will soon begin and any unused unrestricted CoS in the SMS will expire on 5 April 2018. Sponsors should start thinking about how many unrestricted CoS they’ll need from 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019.

Tier 2 sponsors will be pleased to hear that rules which came into effect from 11 January 2018 now allow Tier 4 Students on non-PhD courses to switch to a Tier 2 General visa when they have completed their course.

A few weeks ago we wrote about how the Home Office’s Restricted CoS limit was reached in December and many employers saw their applications refused.

Businesses with sponsor licences have a huge responsibility to ensure that the points based system is not abused. The role of the Authorising Officer is to effectively manage the licence and ensure the employer is not in breach of its sponsor duties.

For the first time since July 2015, the Home Office’s monthly Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) limit was reached and many employers saw their applications refused. Data published on the government’s website shows that 1,527 applications were granted. Successful applications had to score a minimum of 55 points as opposed to the usual 21 points (see data for previous months).

In 2017, we saw the government push ahead with its policy to reduce net migration to “sustainable levels.” Businesses saw the introduction of the Immigration Skills Levy, the closure of the Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer (ICT) route and an increase to the minimum salary threshold for skilled workers.

The Home Office has recently published its quarterly figures for the number of illegal workers identified between April and June 2017. The figures show that illegal workers are not just isolated cases.

Last year, UK Visas & Immigration launched the Tier 2 and 5 priority change of circumstances service for business sponsors. UKVI’s current processing time for requests via the SMS is 18 weeks – which as our clients know is 18 weeks too long.

The London Mayor has kicked off a week long trade mission to India and Pakistan by criticising the British government’s current stringent visa policy. Speaking in Mumbai, Sadiq Khan said he was “lobbying” with the government to change its visa policy and it was in London’s best interests to keep Britain open to highly skilled workers.