Once you have gotten over the initial hurdles, contacted the right people and filled out the correct form etc, things start to become much easier and suddenly you don’t feel like you have such a mountain to climb anymore.

OKinUK can provide you with a helpful overview of how things work in the UK but it is important to point out that if you are seeking legal advice on immigration or employment issues then you will need to do your own research and speak to a registered organization that is legally qualified to advise people on such subjects. OKinUK is not qualified to give this advice, but you can look for someone who is by visiting our “Find a…” section.

Work Permits

In July 2010 a temporary immigration cap was introduced and will affect Tier 1 and Tier 2 visa. The highly skilled migrant -Tier 1- will have a cap of 5,400. The sponsored skilled migrant visa -Tier 2- will have a cap of 18,700. A long-term cap will be introduced in April 2011. For further information have a look on the UK Border Agency website.

Applying for a work permit in the UK must be done by your employer; you cannot apply for one yourself. They are only necessary if you come from outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), and your employer must prove that they have been unable to fill the job-vacancy with a person from inside the EEA before a work permit is issued.

Work permits are issued by the British Government through the Home Office, the section of the government responsible for borders and immigration. They have different categories under which they asses applications, below is a summary of the 7 different ones.

Business and Commercial

This is the most common category used for applying for work permits. Employers can apply for a work permit for a non-EEA resident if they have been unable to find a ‘resident worker’ (RS) to do the job. These work permits are issued for a maximum stay of 5 years.

To qualify for a business and commercial work permit you need to prove that you are experienced and qualified to do the job. This means that you will be required to be educated to at least degree level and have experience of the field that you will be working in.

If you are not educated to a sufficient level then you will have to demonstrate that you have at least 3 years experience of using the specialist skills required to do the job.

The Home Office also has something called a shortage occupations list which lists all the professions that are in short supply in the UK. If you see your job on this list then there is an exceptionally good chance that you can gain a work permit. Currently these professions are in the engineering and electronic fields, but needs change throughout the year.

Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES)

An employer can apply for you to come over and take part in a work-experience placement in the UK, but many of the same rules apply as if you were applying for a Business and Commercial permit.

Some of the questions that the Home Office will be asking when looking at your application will be things like: why can this training not be done by an RS? Is your English good enough to understand and benefit from this training?

You will have to do at least 30 hours of training or work experience each week that you are in the UK, in order to qualify, and you have to leave once the training/work experience period is over.

Medical Training Initiative (MTI)

This training scheme is run through the NHS and is aimed at medical professionals who wish to gain experience in their field of expertise by working and training alongside UK health professionals.

It is not designed to lead to permanent employment in the UK and the maximum length of stay is 24 months.

Sports and Entertainment

Under this scheme your agent becomes your employer so it is they who must make the application for you. However, to qualify for a Sports and Entertainment license you have to be an established athlete, actor, musician, cultural artist or a technical support person.

The Home Office scrutinise applications quite carefully so there is no point thinking that you can apply for one of these work permits because you know the opening chords to “Stairway to Heaven” on your guitar – everyone knows the chords to “Stairway to Heaven!” – this really is for accomplished artists and sports-people only.

Student Internships

An employer can apply for one of these, on your behalf, if they are a UK based company and have a good reason for not offering it to an RS. You can only apply for 1Student Internship and it can only be for a maximum of three months.

General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS)

These allow companies to bring employees over for a maximum of three months if the employee has been working for them for at least 1 year and your country of origin is part of the WTO (World Trade Organisation)

Sectors Based Scheme

This is for low-skilled workers in the food manufacturing and hospitality sectors. However it has been closed, since 2007, to everyone except Bulgarians and Romanians wishing to work in the food manufacturing sector. This is still the case in the summer of 2008, and there have been no announcements from the Home Office that they plan to re-open the scheme in the near future.

The UK also operates a Highly Skilled Migrant Workers Programme (HSMP). This offers exceptionally skilled people the chance to enter the UK and look for work without having to apply for a work permit. To qualify you must score over 75% on an assessment that takes account of your age, qualifications, previous earnings and UK experience. You will then have your application considered by the Home Office; if you are successful you can then enter the UK and begin searching for work.

By John Hillman

To be listed here click

USEFUL WORDS

submit an application

acknowledge an application

permission

category

requirements

qualify for a work permit

issue a permit

job vacancy

duties & functions of the post

job description

employment law

employment contract

employer

employee

GRAMMAR SPOT

had better / it’s time

Use had better + infinitive to strongly recommend some action or behaviour (because of the possible consequences of not doing it).  It is idiomatic and can only be used to talk about future events or situations.

Use the contracted form ‘d better, especially after a personal pronoun:

You’d better check the duties and functions of the post before you apply for the job

Use had better not + infinitive to strongly recommend not doing something:

She’d better not forget to organise a work permit before she travels

Use it’s time to + infinitive to say that you think someone should do something now:

It’s time to start applying for jobs

It’s time + subject + past simple is used to talk about the present, even though the verb is in the past:

It’s time you familiarised yourself with British employment law

PRONUNCIATION

‘permit’ can be used as a verb or a noun

to permit = to allow something / make something possible

a permit = an official document that gives somebody the right to do something, especially for a limited period of time

Note the difference in word stress:

to perMIT

a PERmit

Other words which follow a similar pattern are:

to reCORD / aREcord

to perFECT / PERfect (adj)