UK Immigration Work Permit and Visa Services
UK Work Permit Information for Employers
A UK Work Permit is granted by Work Permits (UK) for a job where you cannot easily find a suitable person in the UK and the prospective employee has the required qualifications and or skills and experience. The work permit will relate to a specific person and a specific job. The UK work permit scheme is designed to let UK employers recruit or transfer people from outside the EEA and this includes bringing people to the UK for training and work experience.As an employer wishing to sponsor a UK Work Permit, you will need to show Work Permits (UK) that you are a viable business and that you have a genuine requirement that can be fulfilled by your prospective employee.
The main types of employer sponsored UK work permit are:
- Tier 1 UK Work Permit, issued by Work Permits UK for professions that are on the Skills Shortage List. Tier 1 work permits require less evidence to be produced to prove that you could not find a person in the UK as Work Permits (UK) have already recognised that there are a shortage of people in the UK with those skills.
- Tier 2 UK Work Permit, issued by Work Permits (UK) for those professions that do not fall into the Tier 2 Work Permit category.
- Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES): issued by Work Permits (UK) for the purposes of training an individual. This is a shorter term work permit and further information can be found on our TWES Work Permit Page.
- Intra-Company Transfer: issued by Work Permits (UK), this Work Permit is designed to allow you to bring key members of staff to your UK office.
If you would like more information about how to gain a UK Work Permit for your prospective employee or extend an existing employer sponsored work permit then please contact us for further information.
You need to ensure your prospective employees have the legal right to work - we process all transfer, work permit and visa applications for you and your prospective employees and represent the work permit application directly to Work Permits (UK) on your behalf.
You can track progress of the work permit application in your member area.
Work Permits (UK) state that it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that whoever they employ has the right to work in the UK, whether this is by way of an Employer Sponsored Work Permit, the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), the Working Holidaymaker Visa, dependent of a work permit holder in the UK or by way of a variety of other visas that give the right to work in the UK.
You will also be aware of several Eastern European countries now becoming part of the EU.
This means that work permits per se are not required but Worker Registration Applications for nationals of these new countries is required.
It is also possible that you could take advantage of the IGS (The International Graduates Scheme).
The scheme allows non-EEA nationals who have graduated from UK higher or further education establishments to remain in the UK for 12 months after their studies in order to pursue a career.
This could save you a fair amount of time. It needs to be evaluated and applied for very carefully considering tight guidelines.
You may also be able to apply under the Sectors Based Scheme whereby workers from Bulgaria and Romania can enter the United Kingdom to take short-term or casual jobs.
If you are uncertain of your right to employ an individual then please feel free to contact us for further information.
