The Points-Based System (“PBS”) allows employers to register with the Home Office to sponsor skilled workers from overseas.
Some other immigration categories allow people to work in the UK without being sponsored. You should ensure that your business has systems to allow you to check an applicant’s right to work in the UK before they start employment.
Rules and compliance
As a sponsor, an employer undertakes to comply with immigration laws, and to report events such as unauthorised absences or termination of employment to the Home Office. It is the employer’s duty to make sure that they are sticking to the rules when they sponsor an overseas worker, by setting pay at the right level, and keeping the correct documents on the employee’s file.
The rules for sponsors are complex, and the consequences for a failure to comply can be serious. A business that loses its sponsor licence will not be able to sponsor new employees, and a serious breach of the rules could result in a fine.
Sponsorship categories
The main sponsorship categories include the following:
- Skilled Worker: New entrants to the Skilled Worker scheme must be filling a post that meets the minimum skill and pay levels set out on the Home Office website
- Global Business Mobility: International companies can transfer skilled employees to work in their UK office. Transfers may be available in sub-categories including Senior or Specialist Worker; Graduate Trainee; UK Expansion Worker; Service Supplier and Secondment Worker.
- Minister of Religion: Religious institutions can sponsor priests and similar workers for employment in the UK.
- International Sportsperson: Elite sportspeople and coaches can come to the UK with the endorsement of their sport’s governing body.
- Creative Worker: Creative workers can come to the UK to make a contribution to the UK’s cultural life.
Get advice
Contact me to find out more about Sponsorship and Points-Based System.
Kitty Falls
Tel: 07752722292