Immigration Update – April 2017
25 April 2017
April 2017 sees another set of changes to the Immigration Rules including the long-debated Immigration Skills Charge and change to the minimum salary thresholds, making it ever more expensive for employers to recruit from outside the EU.
We have covered many of these topics in previous updates, but for the sake of clarity and with definitive policy in place, we take a brief look at what this will mean for employers.
1. Immigration Skills Charge (ISC)
The ISC has been introduced to incentivise employers to train UK workers to fill skilled vacancies rather than recruit from abroad. The Charge will therefore impose a fee of £364 for small sponsors or charities and £1000 for large employers payable at the point of assigning the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) applicable for each year of the visa. Therefore a large employer assigning a CoS for three years will have a total fee of £3000 plus the cost of the CoS (£199). The following will be exempt from the charge:
- A Tier 2 migrant that was sponsored before 6 April 2017 and is applying from inside the UK to extend their visa
- Tier 2 stay with the same or different sponsor
- Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Graduate Trainees
- a Tier 2 migrant to do a specified PhD level occupation
- a Tier 4 student visa holder in the UK switching to a Tier 2 (General) visa
- Tier 2 family members (‘dependants’).
The ISC is in addition to any other costs, such as the visa application fees and Immigration Health Surcharge. To provide an indication of costs – a new hire from outside the UK applying for a three year Tier 2 General visa with a large employer:
Certificate of Sponsorship – £199
Immigration Skills Charge – £3,000
Application fee £587 (per person)
Immigration Health Surcharge – £600 (per person)
Total – £4,386, plus £1,187 for each dependant
2. Minimum Salary Thresholds
The minimum salary threshold for Tier 2 General sponsored workers over the age of 26 has increased to £30,000 per year (from £25,100).
Applicants initially granted leave to enter or remain with a certificate of sponsor assigned before 24 November 2016 will continue to be subject to the £20,800 threshold.
For those initially granted leave with a certificate of sponsorship assigned between 24 November 2016 and 6 April 2017, there will be no transitional arrangement. They will be subject to the £30,000 threshold if they apply for extensions using CoS assigned from 6 April 2017 and none of the other exemptions apply.
The minimum salary for new entrants, including graduates and those under 26 years old, remains at £20,800.
Salary thresholds to achieve permanent residence remain in place.
3. Intra Company Transfers (ICT)
Meanwhile the salary threshold for senior employees coming to the UK under the ICT route who are able to extend their stay to a maximum of 9 years (rather than the usual 5 years) is being reduced from £255,300 to £120,000 a year.
The requirement for ICT workers to have been employed for 12 months abroad before being eligible for Tier 2 (ICT) is being removed for those individuals paid at least £73,900 a year.
4. Resident Labour Market Test
A central strand of Tier 2 is for the employer to demonstrate that they have tried to fill the vacancy from within the UK before the job is offered to a foreign worker. The process for completing this is the Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT).
The RLMT is not required for workers earning very high incomes. This was previously set at £155,300 per year, but has now increased to £159,600 per year.
Finally, where a role supports the relocation of high value business to the UK with capital expenditure of £27 million or through the creation of at least 21 new UK jobs, employers will not have to conduct a RLMT before hiring a Tier 2 Migrant.
5. Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS)
Intra-Company Transferees under Tier 2 were previously exempt from the IHS, but from this April will now face this cost – £200 per year of the visa. This applies to first entrants and those applying to extend their stay in the UK.
6. Fee Increase
While looking at costs, it is worth noting that fees for immigration and nationality applications have increased from 6 April 2017. The changes include an increase of 18% in settlement (ILR) applications to £2,297. Meanwhile, naturalisation fees have been held at a 4% increase to £1,202. There have also been modest increases for Tier 2 applications and no increases to sponsor licence applications or the cost of Certificates of Sponsorship.
New Priority Services for Tier 2 Sponsors
The Home Office priority change of circumstances service offers Tier 2 and Tier 5 A-rated sponsors the opportunity to pay for faster processing when submitting a change of circumstances application,. This has recently been expanded to include additional services.
For a fee of £200, sponsors may now have their request to add a representative considered on a priority basis, making the complete list of options offered by this expedited service as follows:
- apply to change their authorisation officer
- add a new Level 1 User
- add to, or renew an allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) request
- add a representative.
When using this service to add a representative, however, Tier 2 sponsors should note that if they also wish to add that representative as a new Level 1 user on the sponsor management system at the same time, this will count as two requests and the sponsor will be charged twice.
The system has also received a boost to the numbers of requests it is allowed to accept, from 20 per day to 50, making the service more available to sponsors in need of a quick turnaround.
Brexit
No update would be complete without some mention of Brexit! With Article 50 now triggered, we will have less than 2 years before the UK leaves the EU. With the Government remaining reluctant to provide assurances to EU workers currently living and working in the UK, the uncertainty appears to be affecting both EU nationals and their employers with reports of labour shortages across several sectors including hospitality and health. We are able to advise employers and individuals on the options for EU workers to document their right to reside in the UK should this be required.
For further information on any of the issues raised in this update please contact a member of our Immigration Team.
The content of this article is for general information only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. If you require any further information in relation to this article please contact the author in the first instance. Law covered as at April 2017.