UK Work Permit Information for Employers

A UK Work Permit is approved by Work Permits (UK) for a job where it is difficult to find a suitable person in the UK and the prospective employee will have the required qualifications and or skills and experience. This work permit will relate to a specific person and a specific job. The UK work permit scheme came about to let UK employers recruit or transfer people from outside the EEA and this includes bringing people to the UK for training and work experience.

If you are an employer wishing to sponsor a UK Work Permit, you will need to be able to show Work Permits (UK) that you are a viable business and that you have a genuine need that can be carried out by your prospective employee.

The main types of employer sponsored UK work permit are:

Tier 1 UK Work Permit - issued by Work Permits UK for professions that are on the Skills Shortage Occupation List. Tier 1 work permits will require less evidence to be produced. There are certain circumstances where a potential work permit application is allowed to qualify for a more efficient “fast-track” procedure. These “Tier 1” applications are more straightforward than standard (Tier 2) business and commercial applications.
Tier 2 UK Work Permit - issued by Work Permits (UK) for those professions that do not fall into the Tier 1 Work Permit category.
Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES): issued by Work Permits (UK) The most important thing to remember about the Training/Work Experience scheme (TWES) is that it is designed:
- To allow overseas staff to benefit from gaining skills in the UK.
- To allow international groups of companies to be able to locate training facilities in the UK – so that the non-UK companies in the group can also benefit from training that occurs within the UK. You can find more information on the TWES Work Permit Page.
Intra-Company Transfer: issued by Work Permits (UK), this Work Permit is designed to allow you to bring key members of staff to your UK office.

If you have selected your prospective employee and would like us to represent your work permit application to Work Permits (UK) we have an online UK work permit application process here at Coddan that you will be able to use to instantly request a free assessment of the potential work permit application and engage our UK work permit services.

We are happy to assist you with this application. If you require more information about how to obtain a UK Work Permit for your prospective employee or even extend an existing employer sponsored work permit then please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.

At first you will need to ensure that your prospective employees have the legal right to work – we can process all transfer, work permit and visa applications on your behalf and your prospective employees and represent the work permit application directly to Work Permits (UK) for you. You will be able to track progress of the work permit application in your member area.

Work Permits (UK) state clearly that it is the responsibility of the employer to make sure that potential employers have the right to work in the UK, be it may by way of an Employer Sponsored Work Permit, the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), the Working Holidaymaker Visa, dependent of a work permit holder in the UK or by way of various other ways of acquiring visas that enable employees to work in the UK.

You will also be aware of several Eastern European countries that have come part of the EU. This will mean that work permits per se will not be required, However Worker Registration Applications for nationals of these new countries will be required.

You may be able to take advantage of the SEGS (The Science and Engineering Graduate Scheme).

You can apply for this if you have graduated with a degree level or above qualification with a 2:2 or higher from a UK further or higher education establishment. Previously it only applied to science and engineering graduates, however they have recently opened up this category to people who have started a masters or PhD in any discipline after 1 May 2006.

This could save you a lot of time and energy, however It does need to be evaluated and one has to adhere to the guidelines.

It may also be possible for you to apply under the sectors based Scheme where upon workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to enter the United Kingdom to take short-term or casual jobs.

If you have any doubts on how to employ an individual then please feel free to contact us for further information.