Nilay Shastry, a business immigration lawyer with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, assesses the likely impact of the recent changes to immigration laws.
A little under two weeks ago, the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) and the International Graduates Scheme (IGS) were swept away in new immigration legislation.
They have been replaced respectively by the Highly Skilled Workers (HSW) and Post-Study Work (PSW) schemes, both within the Tier 1 Category of the new point-based system of visas.
This may sound like gobbledegook, but please bear with me as these potentially represent good news for businesses in Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond. Indeed, the most likely beneficiary of the Post-Study Work scheme is the business sector.
The scheme allows recent graduates to remain in the UK for up to two years, compared to just one year under the IGS. This means that organisations will be able to invest time and money in training the best qualified candidate secure in the knowledge that they will have two years’ work from the employee.
Graduates often found it hard to secure employment under the original system, because employers were often reluctant to invest resource training a new recruit only to find that after twelve months the employee was required to leave the country and the recruitment process - advertising, interviewing etc - would have to begin again.
The PSW is non-renewable and for two years only. While it does not count towards a settlement visa, the two year visa is also good news for landlords, as foreign nationals will be able to enter into longer term leases, which enables property owners to plan portfolio availability long term.
The new schemes may appear at face value to be very similar to those they replaced, but the processes are in fact markedly different.
Under the original International Graduates Scheme (IGS), applicants needed to demonstrate that they could satisfy what was, in effect, a tick-box criterion, ie tick items one to three. However, under Tier 1 they must score a number of points relative to each item.
Values are awarded on sliding scale against benchmarks including a degree qualification, whether studied in the UK and if applied for the permit from within or outside of the UK.
A score of 75 points or more will result in the applicant being awarded a permit.
Furthermore, the new visas require applicants to be able to demonstrate that they have held a minimum amount of money in their bank account for three consecutive months prior to making the application.
Those that apply from outside of the UK – for example an overseas student who went back home and now wishes to return – must show a balance of £2,800, while those within the UK need only demonstrate £800.
The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that the applicant is able to support him or herself until the first salary payment and not be a drain on the resources of the state.
Employers should be in no doubt that the legislation is designed to root out illegal working and not simply create red tape for its own sake. This is evidenced by the fact that companies are allowed to appoint representatives, eg a solicitor, to handle compliance issues, including advising of changes and putting in place necessary measures.
