Know Certificate of Sponsorship

The sponsorship certificate or (CoS) is the responsibility of your sponsoring employer in the UK. It isn't actually a paper certificate, but a digital certificate from which your employer will provide you with a reference number and other information such as the agreed upon wage.

Your sponsor will need to be registered as a licensed sponsor with the UK Border Agency and apply for a certificate of sponsorship for you. The certificate will act as an assurance that you intend to undertake a particular job. 

Make sure you have made a final decision on intending to work for a potential employer before giving your personal information to them. Only one sponsor can assign a certificate to you, and once a sponsorship certificate is arranged you cannot be sponsored by any other employer for the period noted on the certificate.

If you get a sponsorship certificate, it does not guarantee that you will secure a Tier 2 visa. You must meet all the other requirements as well for this visa.

Tier 2 sponsorship

There are two types of Tier 2 Sponsorship-General & Intra Company Transfer.

Individuals are required to score 50 points on attributes, 10 points on maintenance & 10 points for (General only).

Attribute points are awarded for Certificates of Sponsorship, qualifications and salary.

Maintenance points are awarded for either evidence of funds at required level for a minimum of three months or an A rated sponsors maintenance letter.
For applications made within the UK we can assist with arranging suitable tests with recognised language schools.

Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer qualifying requirements.

This category is suitable for companies wishing to transfer international staff from overseas offices to the UK branch.

In order to meet the criteria of the Tier 2 ICT scheme, an individual must be able to provide 12 months original payslips from the overseas employer, the post must meet the UK Border Agency specified skills and salary criteria in conjunction with advertised codes of practice. Initial approval will be up to 3 years with the ability to extend. This category no longer leads to settlement and migrants would be required to return home or switch into a more appropriate category upon withdrawal of sponsorship.

Tier 2 General qualifying requirements

This category is suitable for companies wishing to fill genuine vacancies where resident labour market employment is not available.

In order to meet this criteria companies must demonstrate their efforts to recruit from the resident labour market and ensure post meets the UK Border Agency specified skills and salary criteria in conjunction with advertised codes of practice.

LIONWAVE  can assist your organisation in all aspects of this process from initial enquiry , suitability, issuance of Certificates of Sponsorship as well as assisting the migrant with either in country leave to remain applications or out of country entry clearance applications.

Before applying for one you must understand what is Tier-2 sponsor Visa

Tier 2 Employer sponsor visa

In simple words, a Tier 2 visa is an employer sponsored visa for individuals who have a job offer which meets certain conditions. 

The Tier 2 visa is now one of the most important entry routes into the United Kingdom for skilled workers who are citizens of countries outside of the European Economic Area. In all cases, if you are applying for entry under this visa scheme you MUST be in possession of a job offer and a Certificate of Sponsorship from a UK employer with a valid Tier 2 sponsorship licence. You must fulfil the requirements of the particular Tier 2 visa for which you are applying.

There are some relaxed conditions specifically for international students who still have a valid Tier 4 student visa.

Tier 2 has four categories:

• General: for people coming to the United Kingdom with a job offer to fill a position that cannot be filled by a settled worker. In 2011, an annual cap on the number of Tier 2 (General) visas was introduced. It currently stands at 20,700. People who earn £150,000 a year or above are excluded from the cap.
• Intra Company Transfers: for employees of multi-national companies who are being transferred by an overseas employer to a skilled job in a UK-based branch of the organisation
• Sports People: for elite sportspeople and coaches whose employment will make a significant contribution to the development of their sport at the highest level
• Ministers of Religion: for those people coming to fill a vacancy as a Minister of Religion, Missionary or Member of a Religious Order *

To qualify for inclusion under the Tier 2 (General) or the Tier 2 (Intra Company Transfer) visa, a job must require a skill level of S/NVQ level 3 or above as indicated in the codes of practice relevant to the sector and to the job.

 

How to apply for UK tier-2 Visa

To apply for a Tier 2 (General) visa, you must be a skilled worker from outside the European Economic Area and have a Certificate of Sponsorship from a UK employer who holds a valid Tier 2 sponsorship licence. There is an annual cap on the number of Tier 2 (General) visas that can be granted. The cap currently stands at 20,700. People earning over £150,000 per year are excluded from the cap.

Summary of Applicant Requirements

In order to qualify you must:

• Have a job offer from a licenced UK employer and a valid Certificate of Employment from that employer.
• Meet the UKBA maintenance requirements
• Meet the UKBA English requirements
• Score 70 points or more in the Tier 2 points test.

In order to gain entry into the UK, under the terms of the Tier 2 visa, an applicant must score 70 points under the Tier 2 points-based system.

Job offer and sponsorship

You will receive 30 points if you have a valid Tier 2 (General) certificate of sponsorship from your employer. You are eligible for a Tier 2 (General) certificate of sponsorship if one of the following applies to you:

• The job is on the shortage occupation list *
• Your sponsor has completed a resident labour market test
• You will be paid £150,000 or more per year (very few people earn this much)

N.B. If you have been working in the UK under a Tier 2 (General) visa and your job is on the shortage occupation list, but that job has now been removed from the shortage occupation list, you may continue to work in the UK. You may also apply for an extension to your visa if you intend to stay in your job working for the same employer. If you intend to continue doing the same job but for a different employer, that employer must complete a labour market test first.

You will score 20 points if you will be earning the 'appropriate salary and allowances'.

In most cases this means that you must earn £20,000 a year, inclusive of allowances, before tax. If this applies to you, you will earn 20 points. If you do not you will not score any points unless one of the following applies to you:

• You came to the UK as a Tier 2 (General) migrant under the rules in force before 6^th April 2011.
• You are a Jewish agency employee
• You are a member of the ground staff for a foreign airline
• You are a minister of religion, a member of a religious order or a missionary
• You work for an overseas newspaper, news agency or broadcaster
• You are the holder of a UK work permit

English Language Ability

You must score 10 points for your English language ability or you will not be ^th April 2012, applicants for many visas have been obliged to take an English language test. To qualify for 10 points under the Tier 2 (General) points-based test you must prove that your English is at least at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). However, you will not have to do so if one of the following applies to you:

eligible for a Tier 2 (General) visa extension. Since 6

• You were last given leave to remain in the UK under the Tier 1 (General) or the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa tiers or as a businessperson, a work permit holder, a representative of an overseas newspaper, news agency or broadcaster, a member of the ground staff of an overseas airline or a Jewish agency employee
• You come from a majority English-speaking country
• You have a degree which was taught in English)

Maintenance

You must score ten points in this category to qualify for a Tier 2 (General) visa.

You will automatically score ten points if you are currently in the UK in any of the following immigration categories:

• Any Tier 2 visa category
• Work permit holder
• Jewish agency employee
• Member of ground-staff for an overseas-owned airline
• Minister of religion, missionary, or member of a religious order
• Representative of an overseas newspaper, news agency or broadcasting organisation.

Alternatively, you can score ten points if you can show that one of the following applies to you

• You have at least £900 in savings which must have been in your bank account for 90 consecutive days before you make your application:
• Your sponsor has an A rating and has confirmed that it will maintain and accommodate you until the end of your first month in the UK.

Cap

For 2012/13 and 2013/14 there is a cap of 20,700 on the number of Tier 2 ^th April. Workers earning more than £150,000 a year are excluded from the cap. There is no limit on the number of workers earning more than £150,000 a year who can work in the UK.

(General) visas that can be issued. The annual limit begins each year on 6

General Rules for all applicants wanting to travel to the UK under Tier 2

Skilled migrant workers who come to the UK with a Tier 2 visa after April 2012 (and so will not be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain until after 6^th April 2016), will need to earn more than £35,000 per annum or their applications will not be successful. Immigrants doing shortage occupation jobs, and scientists and researchers in PhD-level roles, will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold requirement for permanent residence. Other Tier 2 visa holders will only be allowed to remain in the UK for 6 years.

Transitional arrangements are available only for migrants currently in the following categories who wish to extend their leave under the points based system:

• work permit holders (business, commercial, sports, entertainment)
• airport-based operational ground staff of an overseas-owned airline
• ministers of religion, missionaries, and members of a religious order.

Summary of Employer Requirements

If an organisation wishes to offer employment to people from outside the EEA/ EU under the terms of Tier 2 then it must first:

• Register with the UK Border Agency and obtain a Sponsorship License
• Advertise the job in the UK in accordance with the terms of the Resident Labour Market Test
• Issue a job offer and a Certificate of Sponsorship to an applicant it wishes to employ