UK Tier 2 Limit and Implications for UK Sponsors

As discussed recently the UKBA has introduced an interim limit on the number of applications under Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the UK's Point Based System.

The UKBA has released guidance that sets out the implications of this limit for already existing UK Sponsors and New Sponsors:

The UKBA has reserved a small amount of Certificates of Sponsorship available for cases that are deemed exceptional. As a sponsor you may request a Certificate of Sponsorship from this reserved amount if you are:

A new Sponsor licensed during the interim limit or an existing sponsor that requires more Certificates of Sponsorship in special circumstances during the period of the temporary cap.

Existing Sponsors will all receive a letter informing them of their Certificate Allocation for the period of the Temporary Cap.

The method that the UKBA calculated the limit with was to assess each Sponsor's Usage of the Certificate of Sponsorship system from 19 July 2009 until 31 March 2010. The UKBA then applied a reduction to each sponsor who used 2 or more Certificates during this period. This calculation then leaves a number of unallocated Certificates for New Sponsors and those existing sponsors who may have special requirements.

This means that some sponsors will not be given any number of Certificates for this period, the sponsor remains licensed by the UKBA and are able to continue sponsoring any existing migrants that have a valid leave BUT they will not be able to assign any new Certificates to Migrants or to existing employees that may need an extension.

Any Sponsor that has a zero allocation allowance can apply for exceptional circumstances BUT the number of exceptional Cases will be limited and there is no guarantee that a request for any extra certificates will be approved.

Any existing sponsor that has been downgraded to a B-Rating will automatically receive a zero number of certificates until they make the necessary arrangements to improve their rating. These sponsors will still be licensed and continue employing migrants BUT will not be able to allocate any new Certificates or apply for any extensions.

I will be posting the changes for NEW SPONSORS Shortly.