The start of a new term has many exciting aspects – new members to the teaching staff, is just one of many.
We have already begun the application process for the new 2015 new hires our clients within the education sector, for the 2015 – 2016 academic term.
Unfortunately, much of the recruitment that our clients within this sector undertakes, takes place around Christmas. From February onwards when the Resident Labour Markets Tests have completed, interviews have taken place and offers have been made and accepted, this is when we can we take over the process for our clients.
Our part of the process actually started last month, with us submitting many Certificates of Sponsorship requests before the March allocation deadline, so we could assign the issued certificates in March or the beginning of April before the Home Office increased the fee on 6th April. Granted, the increase is not that great per Certificate (they have increased from £184 to £199), but if you have a hefty volume of new migrant staff starting with you, this increase, in addition to the increase with visa application fees and the new NHS surcharge, is a cost saving that our clients obviously seems to be grateful if we can arrange it.
We find that the HR and visa departments of our clients within the education sector prefer for us to engage with their prospective employees from the outset. It just means that the progress for their new teachers or academic lecturers’ visa applications are made much more efficiently and keeps everyone happy. The new employee also feels like they are being offered a top TLC service, before they have even got to the UK.
We are used to dealing with the multitude of time zones for our educations sector based applicants and the considerations that should be identified early – have you booked a TB test, do you intend to travel over the summer before the start of term that may mean we need to process your visa before you go walk-about? If you are not from an English majority speaking country but were taught a degree level course in English at an university approved by UKVI, do you have your original qualification certificate or if it is mounted on your parents’ wall, can they courier it to you in time for you to submit with your application as evidence of meeting the English Language test. Many of our esteemed academic applicants have decided to sit an English language test at an approved centre to avoid the hassle of providing their original degree certificate – who knows where that certificate that was awarded in 1979 is now.
The teachers and lectures that we advise, seem to enjoy a pretty cosmopolitan globe-trotting adventure, spending a few years perhaps in India, followed by the Far East to establish a global reputation with their chosen field and making them even an more exclusive and attractive addition to the universities, international schools and higher education institute’s roll.
A UK Education is now a global prospect, what with the increase of international partnerships and exchanges that universities are building. We understand that this international branding will increase the number of Tier 2 ICT applications for institutions, so teaching and lecturing staff between the affiliate partnerships can share knowledge and experience. The Tier2 ICT category is an area that not many of our clients in the education sector have much experience of dealing with, but is one we advise the sector to get to grips with early so you get used the changes as quickly as they happen.
Author
Founder and Managing Director Anne Morris is a fully qualified solicitor and trusted adviser to large corporates through to SMEs, providing strategic immigration and global mobility advice to support employers with UK operations to meet their workforce needs through corporate immigration.
She is a recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers as a legal expert and delivers Board-level advice on business migration and compliance risk management as well as overseeing the firm’s development of new client propositions and delivery of cost and time efficient processing of applications.
Anne is an active public speaker, immigration commentator, and immigration policy contributor and regularly hosts training sessions for employers and HR professionals