If a UK company or a British institution wishes to employ an overseas migrant\/worker, apart from holding a Tier 2 sponsorship licence, they also need to assign a \u2018Certificate of Sponsorship\u2019 to that individual. This article intends to clarify the different categories of Certificate or Sponsorship.<\/p>\n
The Home Office issues an annual limit of 20,700 CoS to sponsors, with a proportion released each month. The Certificates of Sponsorship can be divided into two main categories based on whether they are subject to the annual limit or not: \u201cUnrestricted\u201d Certificate of Sponsorship and \u201cRestricted\u201d Certificate of Sponsorship.<\/p>\n
Unrestricted Certificate of Sponsorship<\/strong><\/p>\n An overseas migrant who meets one of the requirements listed below is not going to be subject to the annual limit:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Employers can apply, at any time in a year, for a Certificate of Sponsorship to the Home Office before employing the prospective migrant. The Home Office will make a decision within 4-8 weeks. However, there is an option to expedite this process with additional fees. Once the Unrestricted CoS application is approved, the certificate can be assigned to the employee by making a correct and valid application. Please note that in certain circumstances, the application requires a Residence Labor Market Test.<\/p>\n Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship<\/strong><\/p>\n All other migrants are subject to restricted Certificate of Sponsorship.<\/p>\n UK employers need to submit applications for restricted Certificate of Sponsorship before or on 5th<\/sup>\u00a0of each month. Additional documents might be required if the employee\u2019s annual salary is less than \u00a375,000, for example, evidence that the \u00a0Residence Labour Market Test has been carried out for 28 days, or personal details of the migrant, etc. Normally, all applications will be considered on or around the 11th<\/sup>\u00a0of the same month. If the Home Office does not have sufficient time to review all the applications before the 11th<\/sup>, the results will be postponed to around 15th<\/sup>\u00a0of the same month.<\/p>\n A successful restricted CoS application not only depends on the genuine nature of the vacancy but also on how many points the job can scores. Points are calculated based on the salary and type of jobs. For example, a job with a gross annual salary of \u00a336,000 and passed the Residence Labor Market Test can score 36 points; however, a job can score at least 130 points even if the gross annual salary is lower than \u00a336,000 if it is in the list of shortage occupation.<\/p>\n\n