Immigration (UK)

UK Work Permits

Employers can apply for work permits under the following circumstances:
(a) Intra-Company Transfers: where an worker from another overseas company within the same Group is transfered to work for a group or related company in the UK; or
(b) Transfers of work permits within the UK from one UK employer to another; or
(c) Subject to the UK resident workers test being satisfied after an advertisement is placed and responses monitored.

Employers can also employ people on Work Permit if they fall directly within the following "Shortage Occupations". This recognition acknowledges that there are acute shortages of suitably qualified and skilled workers within the resident labour market. The resident labour market is defined as countries within the European Economic Area including the United Kingdom.
Work permits are only issued for employment undertaken on a PAYE basis. Identification and classification of a shortage occupation only recognises that there are acute shortages of suitably qualified and skilled workers available to work in a PAYE capacity. Classification as a shortage occupation is not intended to provide any indication of trends or situations relating to recruitment or skills shortages affecting employment undertaken in any other capacity.

ENGINEERING SECTOR
Railway Engineers
Railways Planner or Engineer
Railways Modeller
Railway Track Design or Permanent Way Engineer
Signaling Engineer, Communications Engineer
Power Supply Engineer or Electrification Engineer

Structural / Bridge Engineers
Structural Engineer
Infrastructure Engineer or Buildings Engineer
Bridge Engineer or Highways Structural Engineer

Transportation & Highways Engineer
Traffic Engineer or Transport Planner
Transport Modeller or Transport Economist (The applicant would be expected to have experience in multi-model studies & modelling software such as TRIPS, EMME2, QVIEW, SATURN, PEDROUTE or Microsimulation)
Transport Signal Engineer
Highways Design Engineer or Highways Planning Engineer
Highways Maintenance Engineer

HEALTHCARE SECTOR
Doctors / Consultants
General Practitioners
Accident and Emergency
Additional Dental Specialities
Anaesthetics
Cardiology
Cardiothoracic Surgery
Chemical Pathology
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
Clinical Neurophysiology
Clinical Oncology
Clinical Radiology
Dermatology
Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus
Endodentics
Forensic Psychiatry
Gastroenterology
General Adult Psychiatry
General Internal Medicine
General Surgery
Genito-urinary medicine
Geriatric Medicine
Haematology
Histopathology
Immunology
Infectious Diseases
Intensive Care Medicine
Medical Microbiology & Virology
Medical Oncology
Neurology
Neurosurgery
Nuclear Medicine
Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Occupational Health
Old Age Psychiatry
Opthalmology
Oral & Maxillo-facial Surgery
Orthodontics
Otolaryngology
Paediatric Cardiology
Paediatric Dentistry
Paediatrics
Palliative Medicine
Plastic Surgery
Psychiatry of Learning Disabilities
Psychotherapy
Public Health Medicine
Rehabilitation Medicine
Renal Medicine
Respiratory Medicine
Rheumatology
Surgical Dentistry
Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
Urology

General
Psychologist
Dietician
Occupational Therapist
Pharmacists
Pharmacy Technician
Physiotherapist
Speech and Language Therapist
Social Worker
Biomedical Scientist / Medical Laboratory Scientific Officer (MLSO)
Qualified HPC registered Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiographers

Nurses & Midwives
All Registered Nurses & Midwives. OTHER OCCUPATIONS
Actuaries
CAA Licensed Aircraft Engineers
Teachers - All posts in England covering compulsory schooling
Veterinary Surgeon

UK Business Migration

This visa category is for people wishing to come to the UK to start a business. You may start any type of business, but you must work full time in the management of the business.

Qualification Criteria
If you are a national of a country that is not covered by the EEA association agreement, you will need to show that you will:

• Invest £200,000 in a new UK business.
• Create full time employment for at least 2 EEA citizens
• Work solely in the business
• Have sufficient funds to accommodate and maintain yourself until the business is profitable.
• Have a controlling interest in the business.
• Take a share of the business’s liabilities
• Be implementing a business plan that looks to be thorough and viable
  The money to be invested in the UK should be your own and not from any other source (e.g. bank loans). It can be held in the form of cash and share capital and the investment should give you an equal or controlling interest in the business.
  

Visa Extension
You will initially get a visa valid for a period of 12 months. During this time you must usually make the full investment and create the required 2 jobs. At the end of this first year, the visa can be extended by applying to the Home Office. The extension application will need to be accompanied by documentation showing the progress that your business has made; as long as the business looks viable, the investment has been made, and the jobs have been created, then the Home Office will normally grant a three-year extension to your visa. After a total of 4 years in the UK you may apply for indefinite leave to remain (Permanent Residence). A year after being granted indefinite leave to remain you may apply for naturalisation as a British citizen.

 UK Highly Skilled Migration

The UK government operates a programme to allow individuals to seek entry to work in the United Kingdom without having a prior offer of employment.

The HSMP aims to provide an individual route for highly skilled persons who have the skills and experience required by the United Kingdom to compete in the global economy.

For a successful application you will need to provide evidence that you score 75 points or more in the categories set out below and demonstrate that you will be able to continue your career in the United Kingdom. Please note that you do not have to score points in all categories to qualify under the programme, as long as you score at total of at least 75 points. You will need to show that you can support yourself and your family in the UK without using public funds during your stay. Please note that this is a requirement for both entry and extension of stay under HSMP.

Points Criteria
Qualification
PhD - 30 points
Masters Degree (eg MA, MSc or MBA) or Professional Level Qualification (eg Chartered Accountant) - 25 points
A Bachelors Degree (eg BA, BSc) - 15 points

Relevant Work Experience
5 years work experience in a ‘graduate level’ job - you don’t have to have been a graduate at the time, but the job must be one that would usually require a graduate - 25 points
PhD and three years of graduate level work experience - 25 points.

5 years work experience in a graduate level job including senior or specialist level work experience for two years - This is likely to mean a high level management position in a small or large company or a specialist position requiring a very high level of technical or artistic - 35 points
10 years work experience in a graduate level job including senior or specialist level work experience for 5 years - 50 points

Income in last 12 months
Please convert your income to UK Pounds. The points are based on Primary Country of residence over last 12 months.

UK Working Holiday Visas

If you are a Commonwealth Citizen between ages of 17 and 30, you can do any type of work in UK!

Requirements / Conditions

• You can come to the UK for an extended holiday for up to two years and can take up any form of work.
• You will be expected to be on holiday for at least part of your time in the UK over two years.
• You should have planned your employment so that it is an integral part of your working holiday. For example,
• you may have decided that you wish to spend some time in London and so also wish to find work in London.
• You should be single, or are married to someone who also qualifies as a working holidaymaker and wish to both be working holidaymakers.
• You do not have any dependent children who are aged five years or over, or who will be five before the end of the two years as working holidaymaker.
• You should have enough funds to support yourself until you find work without requiring public funds. You should probably have enough money to support yourself for the first month.
• You are able to pay for a return ticket or have at least enough money to go onto another destination.
• You intend to leave the UK at the end of your working holidaymaker status.

If you decide to stay longer while you are in UK, you can take up employment on a Work Permit if you are eligible under the immigration rules at that point in time.

 

UK Permanent Residence

Citizenship and Naturalisation
Once a person has had indefinite leave to remain for a year they may apply for naturalisation as a British citizen.
Once a candidate has been physically resident in the UK for a year as a permanent resident, they may apply to become a naturalised British citizen. Unfortunately, naturalisation applications are likely to take one to one and half years to be processed. Those who seek naturalisation other than by marriage to an UK Citizen must meet the requirements outlined below:
General Requirements:

• They must be aged 18 or over and are not of unsound mind.
• They must be of good character.
• They should have a sufficient knowledge of the English language (or Welsh or Scottish Gaelic). There are exemptions to this requirement, for example if one is old or mentally handicapped.
• They should intend to live in the UK or in Crown Service abroad (working directly for an UK Government organisation), or be employed by an international organisation of which the UK is a member, or be employed by a company or association established in the United Kingdom.

In addition the candidate should have fulfilled the five year requirement as detailed below. The five year period is measured from the five years the date the application reaches the home office.

• The candidate must have been in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 5 year period; and
  
• In the 5 year period the candidate must not have been outside the United Kingdom for more than 450 days; and
  
• In the last 12 months of the five year period the candidate must not have been outside the UK for more than 90 days; and
  
• In the last 12 months of the five year period the candidate's stay in the United Kingdom must have been not subject to any time limit under the immigration laws; and
  
• The candidate must not have been in the United Kingdom in breach of the immigration laws at any time in the 5-year period.