Recruiting from overseas
Changes to the immigration system mean if you’re recruiting someone from abroad who’s without a UK passport, they’ll need to hold enough qualifying ‘points’ – gained through their qualifications, earnings etc – to gain entry. The new points-based system has five tiers:
- Tier 1: Highly skilled individuals to contribute to growth and productivity
- Tier 2: Medium and high-skilled workers (most of our candidates are in this category)
- Tier 3: Low-skilled migrants
- Tier 4: Students
- Tier 5: Youth mobility and temporary workers
For a candidate to gain Tier 2 status they’ll need a confirmed job offer from a UK-based employer, registered with the Home Office as an approved sponsor.
Within this process, you’ll need to issue an assurance that the migrating person can do the job and intends to.
This also applies to intra-company transfers, where you bring non-EU citizens or other internationals to work in your UK offices. To be considered for such a move, the person must have worked at your company for at least six months.
Please note: we aren’t visa or permit specialists; for full details of the new system, and answers to any questions you may have, we recommend you visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas