Tier 2 – General is for people coming to the United Kingdom with a job offer to fill a gap that cannot be filled by a settled worker.
Employer Requirements
If an organisation wishes to offer employment to a person from outside the EEA/ EU, under the terms of Tier 2 then must first have applied to register with the UK Border Agency and obtain a Sponsorship License.
A Sponsor is a UK based organisation that wishes to employ an overseas national in the UK. For the purposes of the Points Based System, an overseas national is one from a country outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
In order to sponsor applicants, an employer will need to have registered with the UK Border Agency as a Licensed Sponsor. For this registration to be accepted, the employer will need to meet certain requirements for the particular category of Tier 2 and accept certain responsibilities to help with immigration control.
If the license application is approved the Sponsor will then need to assign a Certificate of Sponsorship before an applicant can apply for leave to enter the UK or remain in the UK under Tier 2. The Certificate of Sponsorship will act as an assurance that the applicant is able to undertake a particular job and intends to do so.
The sponsoring company is then required to advertise the vacant role in accordance with the terms of the Resident Labour Market Test
To fulfil the terms of the Resident Labour Market test, the position must be advertised as follows:
- The role must be advertised in the UK so as to make settled workers aware of the vacancy
- The role must be advertised in accordance with the code of practice specific to the sector and job
- If there is no code of practice for the sector or job at the time of advertising, the job must be advertised using Jobcentre plus
- If the salary for the job is £40,000 or under then it must be advertised for a minimum period of two weeks
- If the salary for the job is over £40,000 then it must be advertised for a minimum period of one week
- The job must be advertised at an appropriate market rate of pay (per the relevant codes of practice)
- The period of advertising starts from the date the advertisement first appears
- The advert must include:
- the job title
- the job description including the main duties and responsibilities
- the location of the job
- an indication of the salary package or range, and the terms on offer
- the skills, qualifications and experience needed
- the closing date for applications, unless it is part of the organisation's rolling recruitment programme
If no suitable resident worker applies for and is recruited for the vacant position, the sponsoring company will issue a Certificate of Sponsorship to the overseas national they wish to employ.
The Certificate of Sponsorship is not an actual certificate or paper document but a virtual certificate in the form of a database record. Each Certificate of Sponsorship has a unique reference number and contains information about the job for which it has been issued and the applicant's personal details.
It is the Sponsors responsibility to provide the applicant with:
- The Certificate of Sponsorship reference number
- Information associated with that reference number
Live Certificate of Sponsorship
A Certificate of Sponsorship becomes live at the point where a reference number has been allocated to it by the Sponsorship Management System of the UK Border Agency
The Certificate remains live until such time as the applicant uses its reference number to make an application for leave to enter or remain in the UK under Tier 2
The maximum period for which the certificate can remain live is 3 months This means that any entry clearance or leave to remain application must be lodged within 3 months of the certificate becoming live.
Only 1 live Certificate of Sponsorship can be allocated to an individual at a time
If an Applicant with a live Certificate of Sponsorship changes his or her mind
If an applicant who has secured a job offer and a live Certificate of Sponsorship decides that he or she no longer wishes to join the UK based company, he or she is required to advise the sponsoring company in writing to allow them to cancel the live certificate of sponsorship
If the applicant wishes to take up alternative employment in the UK under the provisions of Tier 2 then the procedure is:
- The applicant must ask the Sponsor to withdraw the live Certificate of Sponsorship either in writing or by email
- The Sponsor for the applicants preferred role is only able to obtain a new live Certificate of Sponsorship when the old one has been cancelled
- The original sponsor must cancel the live Certificate of Sponsorship within 5 days of receipt of the request to do so
- After a second request and a further 5 days, the applicant can ask the Sponsor Licensing Unit of the UK Border Agency to cancel the live Certificate of Sponsorship.
- Once cancelled the applicant can be issued with a new live Certificate of Sponsorship by his preferred sponsor
Applicant Requirements
In order to gain entry into the UK under the terms Tier 2 (General), an applicant must:
- Have an offer of employment from a Licensed Sponsor and a valid Certificate of Sponsorship from that employer
- Satisfy the Maintenance Requirement for his or herself and each dependent
- Satisfy the English Language Requirement
- Gain 70 points or more in the required Points Test which reflects the above and other factors such as academic qualifications and prospective earnings
The Points Test
To meet the requirements for entry to the UK as a skilled worker under the terms of Tier 2 (general category) it is necessary to score a minimum total of 70 points as detailed below:
- You must meet the Maintenance Requirements for which you are awarded 10 points
- You must also meet the English Language Requirement for which you also get 10 points
- The remaining points are awarded for various 'Attributes' (sponsorship, academic qualifications and prospective earnings) You need to score a minimum of a further 50 points
Maintenance Requirements
To obtain the required entry clearance visa to allow entry to the UK under all categories of Tier 2 it is necessary to fulfil the Maintenance Requirement .This allows an applicant to demonstrate his or her ability to maintain themselves during the first month of residency in the UK.
To qualify at this stage, a migrant must fulfil one of the following 2 conditions:
- He or she must be able to show personal savings equivalent to £800 at the time the application is made**
- He or she must have written confirmation from their sponsor that the sponsor will maintain and accommodate them until the end of the first month of their work in the United Kingdom.
If the applicant intends to bring his or her dependent family members with them to the UK then there are additional requirements: For each dependant one of the following two conditions must also be satisfied:
- The dependent or the applicant must be able to show personal savings equivalent to £533 at the time the application is made **
- The applicant must have written confirmation from his or her sponsor that the sponsor will, if necessary, maintain and accommodate his or her dependents during their first month in the United Kingdom.
** From the end of March 2009 evidence will need to be supplied to show that these funds have been available for three months prior to submission of the application
Evidence of personal savings
The following forms of evidence are allowable:
- Personal Bank or Building Society statements
- Building Society pass book
- A letter from a bank, building society or other financial institution which is officially regulated in either the UK or the applicants home country
In all cases the evidence should be original, should clearly relate to the applicant and should bear the issuing institution's name and logo. Statements generated electronically should bear the stamp of the relevant institution on each page.
English Language Requirements
To gain entry into the UK under the Tier 2 (General) category it is necessary to fulfil the English Language Requirement.
Applicants must be able to speak English at a level that shows familiarity with everyday expressions and basic phrases. An applicant can demonstrate the necessary competence in English in one of three ways:
- By being a national of a majority English-speaking country
- By successfully completing a degree equivalent to a UK Bachelors degree taught in English
- By passing an acceptable English language test
By being a national of a majority English-speaking country
Nationals of the majority English-speaking countries listed below automatically meet the English Language Requirement:
| Antigua & Barbuda |
The Bahamas |
Australia |
Barbados |
Belize |
| Canada |
Dominica |
Grenada |
Guyana |
Jamaica |
| New Zealand |
St Kitts & Nevis |
St Lucia |
St Vincent & the Grenadines |
| Trinidad & Tobago |
The USA |
|
|
|
Documentary evidence of nationality can be in the form of a current valid original passport or travel document, current national identity card or an original letter from the applicantš home government or embassy
By successfully completing a degree equivalent to a UK Bachelors degree taught in English
An applicant may provide evidence that he or she holds a degree which:
- is equivalent to a UK Bachelor's level or higher (as recognised by the Recognition Information Centre for the UK (UK NARIC).
- has been taught or researched in English (If the degree was taken in one of the majority English-speaking countries listed above, with the exception of Canada, then it will be assumed that it was taught in English otherwise it must be proved)
By passing an acceptable English language test
The test certificate must have been issued by an organisation approved by the UK Border Agency.
For Example:
- International English Language testing System (IELTS) - Level B1 - score 4.0
Attributes
Sponsorship
If the job you are being offered is on the Shortage Occupation List (Ambler Collins can advise whether this is the case) then you get 50 points – meaning that as long as you meet the Maintenance Requirement and English Language Requirement then you have the required points score.
If the job you are being offered is not on the Shortage Occupation List then you will score 30 points and need to obtain 20 more from the remaining 2 categories detailed below
Academic Qualifications
You are able to score up to 15 points for your highest qualification:
- 15 points: PhD
- 10 points: Bachelors or Masters degree
- 5 points: GCE A level or equivalent
Prospective Earnings
You can score a maximum of 20 points for the earnings specified in your Certificate of Sponsorship (this is based on an annual earning figure):
- 20 points: GBP 24,000 +
- 15 points: GBP 22,000 to 23,999
- 10 points: GBP 20,000 to 21,999
- 5 points: GBP 17,000 to 19,999
Contact Ambler Collins for a free assessment of your eligibility to apply. Contact us at info@amblercollins.com or phone +44 (0)20 7371 0213.
>Back to UK Immigration Page
