Employment Legislation Update

A short recap on the most recent and upcoming legislation that you will need to know about.

Spotlight on changes to migrant workers

Employers planning to recruit skilled workers from outside Europe had to register with the UK Border Agency by 1 October 2008 to ensure that they were licensed in time for the scheme going live at the end of November.

Tiers two and five of the new points based immigration system were introduced on 27 November 2008 (tier one was already open). These tiers cover skilled workers with job offers to fill gaps in the labour market, and youth mobility migrant workers and temporary workers coming to the UK covering non-economic objectives.

Under the new rules:

• Any business must register with the agency as a sponsor before they can bring migrant workers from outside the EEA into the UK to work
• As a condition of keeping their licenses, sponsors would need to alert the UK Border Agency if immigrants do not comply with their immigration conditions – for example if they disappear or do not turn up for their job or course; any sponsor that does not comply with this requirement will risk losing its license.

Further information is available from UK Border Agency at www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk and they also provide a sponsorship and employers helpline which can be reached by calling 0845 010 6677.