Immigration & UK Digital Strategy: The Missing Link?
In its newly published ‘UK Digital Strategy’, the Government has laid out its vision to digitally transform Britain through a long term plan of investment, training, education, and collaboration with the private sector. Amidst the optimism however, there are concerns that the strategy overlooks fundamental issues impacting the UK digital sector – crucially, immigration. The […]
Immigration Skills Charge & Rising Costs of Hiring Skilled Migrant Workers
The latest planned changes to UK immigration rules take effect in April 2017. They bring with them considerable financial implications for employers of skilled workers from outside the EEA, namely those hiring under the Tier 2 route. New Immigration Skills Charge From 6 April 2017 organisations who sponsor Tier 2 migrant workers will have to pay […]
Planned changes to UK Immigration Rules April 2017
As a reminder, the following changes affecting business immigration take effect on 6 April 2017: Tier 2 salary threshold increases The second stage of minimum annual salary increases announced last year will be implemented from 6 April, raising the threshold from £25,100 to £30,000 for experienced workers. Applicants initially granted leave to enter or remain […]
Global Mobility & Business Immigration Trends 2017
What are the trends UK employers and HR teams can expect in global mobility and business immigration in 2017? HR compliance The Home Office is taking an increasingly tough stance with employers for failing to comply with their immigration duties. Civil and criminal penalties are being issued to larger, household-name employers for non-compliance and failure to […]
Overseas Criminal Record Certificates Extended to Tier 2
From 6 April 2017, Tier 2 skilled worker applicants within education and healthcare required to provide overseas Criminal Record Certificate New duty placed on education and healthcare sector employers to inform applicants of requirement Rules for Overseas Criminal Record Certificates Currently, individuals applying for entry clearance under the following routes are required to provide an overseas criminal record certificate: […]
Fluency Duty & Foreign Workers: A New HR Compliance Risk
The Government has published a Code of Practice aimed at helping public sector employers comply with their ‘fluency duty’ under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016. Under the Act, public sector workers in customer-facing roles must be able to speak fluent English, and in Wales, English and Welsh. ‘Customer-facing’ applies to roles where speaking […]
Tech Start-Ups – Hiring from Overseas
If you are a tech start-up, finding the right talent is critical to the future success of your venture. However, according to a recent parliamentary report, ‘Digital Skills Crisis‘, the current domestic market is in short supply of skilled digital workers. This is leading tech businesses to look overseas for personnel with the right skills and experience to fulfil their […]
UK Registered Traveller Service expanded to 16 new countries
The Home Office has announced the expansion of its Registered Traveller Service to include 16 additional countries. Membership will now be open to passengers from: Argentina Belize Brazil Brunei Chile Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Israel Malaysia Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Uruguay The changes take effect Monday 21 November 2016. According to Home Secretary […]
Changes to UK Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) Visa
The Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) Visa system will soon be amended, making it more difficult for multinational companies to transfer foreign employees into the UK. The changes to the UK Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) Visa were announced in March and are scheduled for initial implementation this Autumn. The amendments were enacted in response to allegations of […]
UK Expats in the EU: Brexit Impact
This article was first published in August 2016, pre-dating changes to post-Brexit immigration rules. British citizens living and working elsewhere in the EU, and the organisations that employ them, have even greater cause for concern than their UK-based counterparts about the impact of Brexit. While much of the Brexit discourse has centred on the rights of […]