The government has announced its plans to change the immigration system post-Brexit. In this article we look at the current systems, what is changing and practical steps that you can take now to get ready.
Until now, workers from the European Economic Area (EEA) have been able to move to the UK without any type of visa.
Those from outside the EEA need to apply for a highly skilled worker visa, called a Tier 2 visa. In order to qualify, they must be sponsored by a UK employer. They must also speak English.
This route is currently used quite widely to recruit optometrists. There are around 60 optical businesses that already have a sponsor licence, including most of the big multiples. This reflects the fact that optometrists can be very hard to find, particularly in certain regions.
Under the current scheme, the employer needs a sponsor licence from the Home Office before they can sponsor an employee. The sponsoring employer is responsible for monitoring their sponsored employees
and reporting to the Home Office.
In most cases the employer must try to recruit a candidate from the settled workforce before they could sponsor someone from outside the EU. This is referred to as the resident labour market test. The job must be advertised for at least 28 days and include very specific information.
Only ‘highly skilled’ jobs could be filled using a Tier 2 visa. A highly skilled role is one that typically requires a graduate level of education or higher. This puts a significant limit on the range of roles that can be filled. Currently, optometrists can be sponsored under Tier 2, but dispensing opticians cannot.
Tier 2 workers also have to be paid above a certain rate. The absolute minimum for an experienced worker is £30,000, but this is misleading. In addition to this absolute minimum, there is also a going rate for each type of job and the worker must be paid whichever is higher. In reality, very few employers could actually pay as little as £30,000.
A Tier 2 visa is granted to allow an employee to carry out a specific job for their specific sponsor. If the employee wants to change employer, they need to apply for a new grant of leave all over again.
In practice, I have obtained Tier 2 visas for a large number of qualified optical staff. A significant proportion of these are people who came to the UK as international students and have completed their undergraduate degree and pre-registration year in the UK.
By contrast, there appear to be very few EU qualified optical staff working in the UK. However, it may be that other business roles are filled by EU nationals, for example retail, managerial or technical roles. As a sector, retail has a high proportion of EU national employees.
What is changing?
Free movement for EU nationals will end on December 31, 2020. Any EEA nationals who are already living in the UK must apply under the EU Settled Status scheme by June 2021. After that date, all workers coming to the UK will need to apply for a visa.
The government has said that it will introduce a ‘new points based system’ for people moving to the UK for work. In reality, this is a re-branding of the current system with some tweaks.
Employers will still need a sponsor licence in order to sponsor workers under the scheme. The resident labour market test will be abolished.
Under the proposals, the skill level and minimum salary are both lowered. Roles that typically require education to A-level are now eligible. The minimum salary is reduced to £25,600.
This brings a whole range of roles into scope that could not be sponsored before. In particular, dispensing opticians and optical technicians will be covered. Retail managers and practice managers could also be sponsored under the proposals.
This in turn could lead to education providers expanding their offering to international students who wish to study in the UK. Such students now have a potential route to a career in the UK, which did not exist previously.
What should I do now?
Any organisation employing EU nationals should check in with those employees to make sure they are aware of the EU Settled Status scheme. Take up of the scheme has been good, however, there are people who do not know that they need to apply.
The Home Office has invited employers to apply for a sponsor licence now if they want to be ready to recruit international candidates in January 2021. We are likely to get an increase in applications and this may cause delay in licenses being approved. The sponsor licence applica-tion process itself can be time consuming.
If you already have a sponsor licence, review it. Make sure all the information is up to date and all reports have been made. The Home Office can come down hard on sponsors who do not stick to their side of the bargain.
Lydia Watkinson is an associate solicitor at Cartwright King Solicitors specialising in business immigration.