New Tier 2 Guidance

The UKBA has today published new

Tier 2 guidance designed to provide a more practical and

workable system for employers issuing Certificates of Sponsorship

under Tier 2.

These changes follow months of lobbying the Government and

working with Home Office contacts to refine the Points Based System

"PBS" to better meet business needs. This is a positive

sign that the UKBA is listening to employer concerns and we will

continue to feed in to the UKBA over the coming months.

The main changes published today:

1. Changes to the Resident Labour Market Test for senior

   employees

   Employer concerns that the JobCentrePlus in not a suitable forum

   for advertising very senior roles have been addressed. From today

   employers will not be required to advertise the role in the

   JobCentrePlus where:

   the prospective earnings for the role in question amounts to

   £130,000 or above AND falls under the SOC

   code 1112 (Directors and Chief Executives) and SOC code 2411 (Legal

   Partners); or

   there may be stock exchange disclosure requirements.

   Employers should note that the role will still need to be

   advertised in accordance with the Codes of Practice.

   Further, SOC code 1112 does not include a requirement that a

   director should be a board director i.e. it can denote a level

   within an organisation rather than the legal office. Related job

   titles are: Chief Executive (major organisation), Company Director

   (major organisation), Director (major organisation), General

   manager (major organisation), Managing Director (major

   organisation).

   Job descriptions should involve elements of the following:

   analyses economic, social, legal and other data and plans,

   formulates and directs the operation of a company or

   organisation

   consults with subordinates to formulate, implement and review

   company policy

   prepares, or arranges for the preparation of reports, budgets,

   forecasts or other information

   plans and controls the allocation of resources and the

   selection of senior staff

   authorises funding for policy implementation programmes and

   institutes reporting, auditing and control systems

   Clearly many roles paying over £130,000 will fall outside

   this category if they are not at a senior level and with the

   management responsibilities detailed. This change is nevertheless

   extremely welcome.

2. Tier 2 (General) migrants will no longer be required

   to be on UK payroll

   This is a particularly useful ruling for those joining a smaller

   office, or coming to the UK for a period of employment as a

   precursor...