Migra&Co

Previously, those companies wishing to sponsor a foreign worker under the Tier 2/ Work Permit category had to conduct 2 weeks resident labour market test, or one week for jobs where the salary exceeds £40,000 before a vacancy is filled by an overseas worker.

As of 14 December 2009 all jobs, regardless of the salary has to be advertised for 28 calendar days.

Those employers who advertised prior to that date will be exempt from fulfilling this new requirement.

However, the advertising campaign does not have to run continuously for 4 weeks period. UK employers can advertise initially for 2 weeks and if there are suitable resident workers available they can be recruited as quickly as possible. When no suitable resident worker is found to fill in the position, the resident labour market must be tested for a further two weeks (4 weeks in total) before UK employers can appoint a migrant worker.