HR Articles

Byron has recently been in the news following arrests by the Home Office of 35 of its workers from Albania, Nepal, Brazil and Egypt.

Back in May we blogged about upcoming changes in the Immigration Act 2016. As of 12 July, the offences of illegal working and employing illegal workers in the Act are now in force. What does this mean for employers?

Some business truths will never change. The ability to recruit and retain talent will remain as important as ever. Indeed, in a post-Brexit world the ability to appoint trade globally will be permanent.

Immigration is never far from the headlines and never has it been so widely discussed as in the lead-up to the EU referendum.

One of the worst letters which HR can receive has to be a letter from the Home Office headed “Information Request: Illegal Working Civil Penalty” and demanding information about a current or former employee whom the Home Office suspects has been working illegally in the UK.

On 12 May the Immigration Bill received Royal Assent and will now be implemented as the Immigration Act 2016. The Act seeks to address issues around illegal migrants living in the UK.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has released a consultation outlining Government proposals to increase immigration appeal fees with the aim of making the immigration tribunal entirely self-funded by fees.

Employers who hold a Tier 2 sponsor licence can sponsor employees who are from outside of the European Economic Area by assigning a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) to them.

Last year we blogged about the £35,000 earnings threshold for Tier 2 migrants wishing to apply to settle in the UK. This change is due to come into force from 6 April this year and will apply to all non-EEA migrants who came to the UK on a Tier 2 visa after 6 April 2011, unless they have worked in an occupation on the shortage occupation list.

UK Visas and Immigration have confirmed that later this month (or next month in the case of the Isle of Man) there will be a rise in the cost of visa application fees for many migrants wishing to come to the UK.