Recruitment Challenges – Have you thought about recruiting from overseas?

In a time of recruitment challenges in Hampshire and beyond, it can be hard for companies to secure the talent they need for their business to survive and succeed, writes Jane Biddlecombe, Senior Associate at Paris Smith.

One option for businesses that are struggling to recruit from within the UK is to look to recruiting internationally.

There are some routes which allow overseas nationals to come to work in the UK without a licensed sponsor. However, the main route to come to the UK to work is the Skilled Worker visa, which requires the employer to be a licensed sponsor.

If your business is considering recruiting from overseas, you should take the following steps:

1. Is the job role eligible?

The first step to take is to establish whether the role you’re recruiting for is eligible for a Skilled Worker visa.

The job role that the overseas national is going to be doing in the UK must be within one of the eligible job classification codes, known as “SOC” codes.

This includes many roles such as directors and managers in all sectors, engineers, IT professionals, skilled trades, and those involved in education, healthcare, hospitality, administration, finance, marketing and sales roles.

2. What salary do you need to pay?

Once the correct SOC code for the role has been identified, it’s necessary to establish the minimum salary that needs to be paid for the role.

The minimum salary level for a Skilled Worker visa is £26,200 a year. However, each SOC code has a “going rate” of salary which must be paid if this is higher than £26,200.

There are also ways to reduce the salary payable, for example if the role is on the Shortage Occupation List (when salary can be reduced to 80%) or the applicant is a ‘new entrant’ (for example, if they are under 26 years old or switching from a Student or Graduate visa) in which case the minimum salary is reduced to 70%.

3. Becoming a sponsor

Once you’ve established that the role you’re recruiting for is eligible to be sponsored under a Skilled Worker visa, you will need to apply for a sponsor licence. This normally takes 8 weeks, although you can pay £500 for the priority service and a decision within 10 working days.

The licence application is an online process whereby the employing company has to prove it is a genuine business in the UK by producing relevant supporting documents. The Home Office is very specific about the documents that must be sent and will reject applications if the rules aren’t followed. The application needs to be supported by a covering letter and again the Home Office sets out what this must include, for example, a hierarchy chart for the business and details of the roles you intend to sponsor.

It’s vital to get the sponsor licence application right because if the application is refused, then there is no right to appeal. You will be prohibited from making a further application for a period of 6 months, by which time the candidate you wish to recruit will have probably obtained an alternative role elsewhere.

4. Issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship

Once the business has a sponsor licence you can apply for and assign a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to the potential new employee. The CoS is actually a reference number that the individual puts on their online Skilled Worker visa application to prove they have an eligible job offer from a UK employer.

5. Skilled Worker visa application

The last step is for the potential employee to make their online Skilled Worker visa application and once this has been granted they can start working for you.

Sponsorship can seem like a daunting process but, with the right advice and guidance, your business can secure a sponsor licence to enable you to employ overseas nationals and deal with any recruitment challenges you currently face.

If you are considering employing overseas nationals then you may be interested in an online training session we are running: “Thinking of becoming a Licensed Sponsor?” on Wednesday 11 October 2023 at 10am. If you’d like to find out more about applying for a sponsor licence then please book a place on this training here: https://parissmith.co.uk/event/thinking-of-becoming-a-licenced-sponsor/