On August 7, 2009, the U.K. Border Agency ("UKBA") announced the following changes to the points-based system regarding migrants (any foreign national requiring U.K. work authorization):
Tier 2 (General):
1. Migrants will no longer be required to be on U.K. payroll.
2. Temporary reduction in a migrant's salary and/or working hours in order to avoid redundancies will not require full change of employment action if:
a. the migrant is continuing to work in the same job with reduced working hours;
b. the reduction is part of a company-wide policy to avoid redundancies due to the current economic climate;
c. the migrant's pay or working hours are not reduced by more than 30%; and
d. the arrangement will be in place for no longer than a year.
3. The obligation of advertising the migrant's role to the resident U.K. labor force does not apply in the circumstances below:
a. The job is in the role of director, chief executive or legal partner and the salary package for the job is at least £130,000 or there are stock exchange disclosure requirements.
b. The migrant has been recruited as part of a milk round (a system referring to the rounds that prospective employers make to universities to recruit students a year before graduation) and the sponsor assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship to the migrant on or before August 31, 2009.
c. The migrant will be employed at a higher education institution as a research fellow.
Tier 2 Intracompany Transfer (ICT):
1. A migrant employed under Tier 2 (ICT) must not be directly replacing a settled worker.
2. For short-term transfers where the ICT's salary will be paid outside of the United Kingdom, the UKBA will take into account allowances for the purposes of awarding points and assessing whether the salary passes the appropriate rate test. In acknowledgement of the higher costs of short-term accommodation, the UKBA will take into account accommodation allowances up to 40% of the gross salary for short-term transfers, but only when the migrant is applying from outside the United Kingdom and the Certificate of Sponsorship is for twelve months or less.
3. The qualifying period where the migrant must have worked for the sponsor organization before being allowed to enter the United Kingdom under Tier 2 (ICT) will be extended when the migrant has had a period of maternity, paternity or adoption leave. In such cases, the applicant must have worked with the organization for at least six of the last eighteen months.
Tiers 2 and 5 (All categories):
1. When a migrant is promoted, the sponsor must conduct a fresh resident labor market test, and a new Certificate of Sponsorship must be obtained before the migrant begins work in the new role. A promotion is understood as a change in the migrant's core duties and/or responsibilities, or a change in his/her position within the hierarchy of the sponsoring organization.
2. A change of salary from the level stated on the migrant's Certificate of Sponsorship should be reported to the UKBA, unless it relates to annual increases, bonuses or natural career progressions within the same job, provided this progression is within the same level and is not a promotion.
3. Further guidance has been provided on contract work undertaken by a sponsored migrant who works for a third party on behalf of his/her sponsor. The migrant can only be contracted to provide a time-bound service or deliver a time-bound project. He/she may not undertake a routine role for the third party which is not related to the delivery of the time-bound service on behalf of the sponsor.
Future Developments
Over the coming months, the UKBA will explore the following options to ensure a workable system:
Creating a new employer-led route to allow U.K. businesses to recruit the interns they need; and
Revising milk-round recruitment requirements to achieve a more accurate test of the resident labor market and at the same time better meet business needs.
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