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Recruiting from abroad

With limited exceptions, anyone you want to recruit to work in the UK, who is not a British or Irish national, is likely to need visa permission.

This is a significant consideration for organisations seeking to access the critical skills they need to support their businesses. The visa process is complex and the costs of bringing workers into the UK can be high. Many more employers now need to obtain a sponsor licence and comply with associated record-keeping and reporting duties.

Where sponsorship and/or immigration permission is required, employers also need to factor the processing time to obtain a visa into their recruitment plans to ensure their workers can meet their start dates.

For more information on our immigration services, click here.

Further reading

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Sponsor licence options for international businesses

19 July 2022

Since the UK Government launched the Global Business Mobility (GBM) routes on 11 April this year, there are more sponsorship options for international businesses to consider. In this article we provide an overview of these and outline some considerations for choosing which licences to apply for.

Applying for a sponsor licence under the UK Expansion Worker route

08 June 2022

The sponsor licence requirements for businesses seeking to set up in the UK under this route differ in some significant respects from those applicable to other sponsor licence applicants. In this article we highlight these and provide an overview of how the process works.

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An insight to what's happening in immigration law 2022

28 April 2022

Immigration law changes continue at a pace during 2022 and employers need to be aware of key recent and upcoming developments.

The new Global Business Mobility Routes

24 March 2022

New Immigration Rules have recently been laid in Parliament, setting out the details of the Global Business Mobility routes. These replace the existing Intra-Company Transfer routes, the Representative of an Overseas Business provisions for sole representatives and the contractual service provider element of the International Agreement route. New provisions are also introduced for secondees whose employer has a high value contract or investment in the UK.

Employment

Further right to work check changes and how to avoid some pitfalls

16 September 2021

On 31 August 2021 the right to work guidance for employers was updated to confirm that individuals with a late EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) application made on or after 1 July 2021 can start a new job while their application is pending. In this article we look at this development, as well as highlighting certain aspects of the current guidance that may cause confusion for employers when conducting right to work checks.

Business

Policy clarifications and outstanding issues for right to work checks

03 August 2021

The current Home Office guidance for employers on carrying out right to work checks contains some important clarifications of the Home Office’s policy. These will not affect the vast majority of checks. They will however be relevant in certain circumstances, especially for checks relating to EEA nationals and family members of EEA nationals from 1 July 2021. Employers should also now prepare to return to fully compliant right to work checks from 1 September 2021.

Immigration Passports

New Home Office guidance published on right to work checks from 1 July 2021

23 June 2021

On 18 June 2021 the Home Office released new guidance for employers on carrying out right to work checks. This has been published ahead of significant changes to right to work checks affecting EEA/Swiss (EEA) nationals and their family members from 1 July 2021.

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