Employment News Update – Home Office changes for skilled migrant workers
The Home Office has announced changes to the Code of Practice in relation to skilled migrant workers outside the EEA, which came into effect on the 6th April 2013.These affect the timing of applications for restricted certificates of sponsorship in March and April. [read more] The Code of Practice is entitled, “Statement of Intent: Codes of Practice for Skilled Workers” and is in response to the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of the Code of Practice last year. The changes include:-
- Altered salary requirement – minimum appropriate rates for skilled workers in each occupation are simplified and updated to reflect changes in settled workers’ pay and the overall tier 2 salary thresholds will be increased from April in line with wage inflation of 1.4%.
- Changing the resident labour market test which determines whether suitable settled workers are available for a job before it can be offered to a migrant worker. The lists of specific publications and websites for advertised vacancies is replaced with a set of simple criteria for identifying suitable media.
- Updating the lists of skilled occupations to reflect the new standard occupational classification 2010 system.
The final Codes of Practice should be available from the UK Boarder Agency website.
This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.
For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.