UK Immigration Skills Change in April this year 2017. Hurry up!!

Clients (and certain people who wish to immigrate to UK), are advised to apply for their visa, or extension of visa, for the UK before the Immigration Skills Charge is levied and the yearly increase in the UK Home Office fees takes effect.

So what does the Immigration Skills Charge exactly entail?

6th April 2017 onwards, companies who sponsor Tier 2 migrants, would be imposed with an ‘Immigration Skills Charge’. This Skills Charge will pertain to employers/firms/companies that sponsor Tier 2 employees, who are allocated a sponsorship certificate in the ‘Intra-Company Transfer’ and ‘General’ streams. The charge would be imposed whether they apply from outside of UK, inside UK to switch from another route to the Tier 2 route, or from inside the United Kingdom to extend their prevailing visa.

Cost of the Immigration Skills Charge

The Immigration Skills Charge of £1,000 for every Tier 2 employee per annum would be levied beforehand, for the total time period covered by the certificate of sponsorship. Hence, sponsoring employers are expected to pay the charge at the time of assigning the certificate of sponsorship to a non-EU national. However, this skills charge would not be imposed on the Tier 2 worker’s family members (or ‘dependants’).

Small businesses, non-profit organizations, as well as charity sponsors will find relief by way of a diminished rate, of £364 per annum. The Home Office considers a sponsor as a small business only if their yearly turnover is £10.2 million or less, and if the sponsoring firm has around 50 or lesser employees As per the UK Home Office, the money gathered will be utilized by the UK Department of Education, to tackle skill gaps in UK’s workforce.

Exemptions on the Immigration Skills Charge

Thankfully, there are few exemptions to the Immigration Skills Charge that include;

Non-EEA-nationals who were sponsored on Tier 2 prior to April 2017, and are applying from inside UK, in order to extend their Tier 2 Visa with the same or different sponsor;

Tier 2 Intra-Company Transfer Graduate Trainees;

Foreign nationals in specific Ph.D. level occupations; and

Applicants who are changing their status from a Tier 4 Student to a Tier 2 General Visa. Please bear in mind that there could still be further changes to the suggested UK Immigration Skills Charge. The government of UK makes alterations to the immigration rules, requirements and regulations on a frequent basis. It is highly recommended that clients remain in contact with their visa consultants, so they can remain updated with all the latest changes and how it can impact their situation.