Q: I am a UK employer and interested in employing a non-EU worker at my firm on a Tier 2 permit. Can you please tell me how the monthly allocation of the Certificates of Sponsorship for Tier 2 works?
A: In November 2010 the UK Government announced that it was introducing an annual limit on the number of Certificates of Sponsorship that could be issued for Tier 2 workers.
This came into effect on 6 April 2011 and only 20,700 certificates were made available under the annual limit for the first year.
The annual limit of 20,700 certificates of sponsorship (CoS) were divided in 12 monthly allocations. In April 2011, 4,200 certificate of sponsorship were made available and thereafter a monthly allocation of 1,500.
The UK Border Agency operates the limit by not allowing any sponsor to issue a restrictedCoSunless they first get permission using the monthly process. If the monthly allocation is over subscribed, the applications for certificates of sponsorship are ranked using a points system designed to favour jobs on the shortage occupation list, scientific researchers and higher salaries.
All applications for restricted CoS must score a minimum of 32 points but applications are collated and prioritised, using theCoSallocation points table.
Due to this roll-over system, there are 11,817 Tier 2 Certificates of Sponsorship available for allocation in February 2012!
For more information, please contact our offices.
Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants
JP Breytenbach
Director of Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants
www.bic-immigration.com
info@bic-immigration.com
[ Source: Australian Times ]