Far from pulling up the drawbridge, post-Brexit Britain has surprised many by opening its doors. The hurdles place
d before migrants, and the businesses employing them, are now at their lowest levels since 2008.
EU migrants now have to meet the same criteria as the Rest of the World, but those criteria are increasingly user friendly:
The Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa, which was capped at 2,000 per year, but often saw fewer than 1,000 approvals, has been replaced with the cap-free Global Talent Visa with 700 approvals a quarter (Q3 2021).
The Tier 2 (General) visa, the mainstay of employer-sponsored skilled migration, which was capped at 20,700 new entrants a year, and could involve a 3 month process, has been replaced by the Skilled Worker visa with no cap on numbers, and an ability to get ‘boots on the ground’ within 2-5 weeks.
And Spring 2022 will see a Global Mobility visa https://www.jdunlop.com/global-business-mobility-visa which makes staff relocations simpler.
The liberalisation can best be seen by using Sponsored migration as case study:
Old Rules: Tier 2 (General)
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Minimum Salary £30,000 pa (although, in practice, as there was a quota and applications were prioritised by salary, in some months, to bring a migrant to the UK needed a minimum salary of £60,000 pa)
An Intra Company transferee could only switch employers if going to a job paying at least £153,000 pa
Only for graduate-level roles
Jobs had to be advertised for 28 days to allow local applicants to come forward, and an expat could not be hired if any local applicants met the advertised criteria (even if the expat was a much stringer candidate)
Quota for those entering the UK: 20,700 per year
End to end process could take 3 months, and was seldom less than 2
Route to ILR (Settlement) only for those earning at least £35,800 pa
New Rules: Skilled Worker
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Minimum Salary £25,600
No restriction on Intra Company Transferees switching employers
Open to all roles requiring a high school (to 18 years old) level of education
No need to advertise roles. Thereby making the end to end process much quicker (typically under a month, often possible within 2 weeks)
No annual quota
Route to ILR (Settlement) open to those earning £25,600 pa
If you would like a visa, for yourself, or to employ an expat, please go to our contact form
Or call 07879 480 755. or email James.dunlop@jdunlop.com
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