Support migrant centric journalism today and donate
Following the latest Tier 2 visa allocation meeting, the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) that went unused from the 2016/2017 annual limit stands at 288, according to UK Visas and Immigration data. The department published its March report citing that its figures were correct as of 29 March, 2017.
An employer with a Tier 2 Sponsorship Licence needs to apply for restricted Certificates of Sponsorship for immigrants they wish to employ on tier 2 visas who are living outside the UK. Under the current UK visa system, unused Tier 2 restricted CoS to employ people who are currently based outside the UK can be reclaimed after three months. This increases the availability of restricted CoS used.
The March Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship allocation meeting took place on 13 March, 2017. All valid applications lodged by 5 March were successful, provided they scored 21 points or more.
Sanwar Ali, Editor of workpermit.com News has the following comments:
Many employers may be scared of applying for a Tier 2 visa. That may be part of the reason why some Tier 2 CoSs go unused. It is an increasingly expensive and difficult process. You need to have a tier 2 sponsorship licence, frequently need to complete the resident labour market test, apply for a certificate of sponsorship and apply for a tier 2 visa. On top of this you have to pay higher and higher Government fees, likely pay the Immigration Skills charge and work hard to make sure that you do not have your tier 2 sponsorship licence revoked due to minor non-compliance issues.
The breakdown of Tier 2 CoS for the month of March looks like this:
Number of Tier 2 Certificates of Sponsorship from annual limit set aside for allocation meeting in March. | 1,000 |
Balance of Certificates of Sponsorship carried over from previous month (February). | 1,169 |
Number of certificates returned during previous month (February). | 10 |
Number of certificates reclaimed as not used within three months. | 244 |
Number of certificates granted by exceptional consideration outside of monthly allocation during previous month (February). | 77 |
Total number of certificates assigned to Croatians in previous month (February). | 15 |
Total number of Certificates of Sponsorship available for allocation in March. | 2,331 |
Minimum point score for successful applications in March | 21 |
Total number of Certificates of Sponsorship granted in March. | 2,043 |
Tier 2 (General – New hires under £155,300). | 2,027 |
Tier 2 (General – Tier 4 dependant switching to Tier 2). | 16 |
Number of certificates of sponsorship unused from the 2016 / 2017 annual limit | 288 |
The next UK Visas and Immigration allocation meeting will take place on 12 April, 2017 and will indicate the number of Tier 2 CoS that will be available for the month of May, 2017.
Workpermit.com can help with Tier 2 Visa Sponsorship Licences and Tier 2 Visas
If you need help with a Tier 2 Sponsorship Licence or would like help with complying with your Tier 2 Sponsorship Licence obligations workpermit.com can help. More and more employers are facing sudden unannounced onsite inspections. Contact us for a copy of our free Tier 2 Sponsorship Licence Compliance guide.
Call 0344 991 9222 or email London@workpermit.com for further details.
