A Guide for HR Staff and Recruiters on Sponsoring Workers and the New Points Based Immigration System

The government is slowly releasing information on its planned new UK’s points based Immigration system, the latest in the series of Home Office announcements being dated July 2020. With the new scheme and the end of free movement of EU citizens coinciding in early 2021, HR staff and recruiters are anxious to know how the changes will affect their businesses as well as their HR and recruitment practices and procedures. In this blog we provide a guide to the new points based immigration system for HR staff and recruiters.

Immigration, employment law and Sponsor Licence solicitors

Whether your business is a start-up or a UK based multi-national the new UK points based Immigration system may affect your expansion and recruitment plans or, at the very least, affect your projected recruitment costs. UK immigration solicitors can help get your business ready for the new points based Immigration system and advise you on your best recruitment strategies. Call the immigration lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us here. Appointments are available through video conferencing, Skype or by telephone appointment.

The essentials of the new points based Immigration system

If the news has escaped you, on the 31 December 2020 the free movement of EU citizens will end. A day later, on the 1 January 2021 the government plans to implement its new points based Immigration system. The new Immigration system will apply equally to non-EEA citizens and EEA citizens. There is a caveat though. The new points based Immigration system won't apply to your employees if they are an EU citizen and:

• Have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme

• Have pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme

• Have moved to live in the UK prior to the 31 December 2020 and apply for pre-settled status before the cut-off date for applications for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme of June 2021.

Important points for HR staff and recruiters

Important points for HR staff and recruiters include:

• If you have any existing employees or job candidates who are EU citizens then unless they apply for pre-settled status or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme by the government imposed cut-off date then an employer will only be able to employ them if the business has a Home Office issued sponsor licence and sponsors the worker on a work visa. Sponsoring an employee who is subject to Immigration control leads to additional costs for an employer, such as payment of the Immigration skills charge and Sponsor Licence application fee. That’s why it is preferable, from an employer’s perspective, that any EU employee secures settled status. For the EU citizen employee, settled status gives freedom to change job without having to find a sponsor to employ them and being able to live their life free of Immigration control whilst not losing the nationality of their EU country of origin

• If you have urgent recruitment needs, or as a recruiter you are looking to place job candidates from the EU into a UK business, it is best to do so before the end of free movement on the 31 December 2020. That is because provided the EU national moves to the UK on or before the 31 December 2020 they have until June 2021 to apply for pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. If the EU national arrives to live and work in the UK on or after the 1 January 2021 they won't be eligible to take advantage of free movement transition rules and they will miss the cut-off date for being present in the UK to meet the eligibility criteria to apply for pre-settled status before June 2021. The EU national will therefore be subject to Immigration control and need a work visa or other type of visa

• Immigration applications under the new points based Immigration system rules will open before the end of the transition period (the 31 December 2020) so HR staff, recruiters and employers should ideally be getting familiar with the new points based Immigration system rules now, especially as the government has published a document entitled ‘’The UK’s points based Immigration system further details’’ to give more information to UK employers and HR staff on how the planned new Immigration system will work in practice

• Employers will need to budget for increased recruitment costs unless they can meet all their recruitment needs through employing UK or settled workers. That’s because EU workers will need work visas and their employer will need to have a sponsor licence and pay the Immigration skills charge. In addition, the Immigration health surcharge will be payable

• An essential part of the new points based Immigration system is that any UK based employer who wants to recruit either medium level or highly skilled workers from either the EU or non-EEA countries will need a Sponsor Licence. The sponsor licence has been re-labelled as a Skilled Worker Licence or Intra Company Transfer Licence depending on whether an employer wants to recruit skilled workers on skilled work visas or transfer existing employees on Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer visas

• As the government is increasing the range and types of jobs that meet the eligibility criteria for work visas in their Skilled Worker visa category the likelihood is that more UK businesses will require a Sponsor Licence or to give it its new title, a ‘Skilled Worker Licence’

• If your business is intending to sponsor overseas based workers and currently doesn’t have a Sponsor Licence you need to make your application now to avoid the anticipated backlogs and delays in getting your sponsor licence application processed if you wait until January 2021 to apply

• If your business has an existing Sponsor Licence in place then the Immigration Rules say that the Sponsor Licence will automatically be converted to a Skilled Worker Licence but the original expiry date will apply. In other words your sponsor licence will be automatically re-labelled but the expiry date won't be extended

• From a recruiters point of view the good news is that the Immigration cap of 20,700 visas per year for Tier 2 (General) visa holders will be suspended

• After the introduction of the new points based Immigration system, employers will no longer have to conduct the Resident Labour Market Test when seeking to recruit from overseas thus simplifying the Immigration process and speeding it up. It will also mean that there is less risk of employers being found at fault of not complying with sponsor licence management recording duties by, for example, not properly taking a screen shot of the Resident Labour Market Test advert

• To meet the eligibility criteria for a skilled work visa a job applicant will need to have a job offer at RQ3 skill level. This is roughly A level standard education or equivalent. The qualification criteria has been reduced from graduate level RQ6. The visa applicant will also have to be paid the minimum salary threshold for the job (£25,600 in most scenarios) or the going rate for the job. In addition there is a visa requirement to be able to speak English to an acceptable standard and to meet the maintenance requirement

• Eligibility criteria for a work visa under the new points based Immigration system is assessed using points and seventy points is the threshold for a visa. Some points are tradeable , so for example, if the salary on offer is only £20,480 but the job applicant has a PhD (that is relevant to the job they are applying for) and the job is in a shortage occupation the applicant could still reach the minimum seventy points required to secure their work visa

• For those working or recruiting within the health sector the new health and care visa may be of assistance. In reality the health and care visa is actually part of the skilled worker visa (the re-labelled Tier 2 (General) visa) but for health and care visa applicants there are reduced Home Office Immigration application fees payable, fast track processing and the Immigration health surcharge will not be payable

• For employers who use the Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer visa route for employees there aren’t any major changes as visa applicants still have to be employed by the business for twelve months prior to the date of transfer and the job role in the UK role must be RQF6 standard (degree level). In addition, the minimum salary requirement will be £41,500 per year or the going rate for the job. One change is that those on Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer visas will be able to apply to switch to skilled work visas.

UK Immigration and employment law solicitors

OTS Solicitors specialise in business immigration and employment law and are recommended in the two leading law directories, The Legal 500 and Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession.

The specialist immigration and employment law solicitors provide specialist employment law and immigration advice for HR staff and recruiters looking to understand how Brexit could affect how their business operates and recruits after the end of free movement.

For expert immigration and employment law advice that you can trust, call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us here. Appointments are available through video conferencing, Skype or by telephone appointment.