Samar Shams writes for People Management on the impact of the recent changes to the government’s Immigration Rules
Skilled worker processes were already under strain by January of this year. When UK businesses awoke from lockdowns and the Omicron variant wave to a post-Brexit landscape of labour shortages, many employers realised they needed a sponsor licence, fast. Unfortunately, the process to obtain one consequently became slow. The Home Office was overwhelmed with applications. The Home Office started emailing sponsor licence applicants to highlight an eight-week processing timeline. The elusive priority processing service stretched from five to 10 business days.
Samar Shams, Immigration and Global Mobility Partner at Spencer West, discusses the impact for HR professionals in her article in CIPD’s People Management Magazine.
Samar states: “The new rules have little impact in and of themselves. A review of the 11 April 2022 changes reveals that each new global business mobility route is either a redressing of an existing visa route with little change or a new visa route of little utility.”
Samar discusses the changes in further detail, including alternative Visa options available to businesses and future challenges.