For straightforward applications, the Home Office will issue Work Permits within a few weeks of the application being submitted.
If the job requires advertising to accompany the Work Permit application to demonstate that nobody from the resident labour market can fill the role, and you have yet to meet the advertising requirements for the applicaiton, it will take longer to obtain a Work Permit.
If the job is in a shortage occupation, advertising the vacancy will not be required. The advertising requirement may be waived for senior positions. If the candidate has not been working for a related overseas entity, the position will usually need to be advertised before making an application to fill the job with an overseas national.
If your company is not already established in the UK, consider the HSMP or a Tier 1 Visa instead.
If your company is established in the UK, we can obtain a work permit on your behalf if you have been unable to a worker from the resident labour market, or if you have no realistic prospect of finding someone. The candidate will need to be suitably experienced, and you need to be deemed to be the ultimate employer.
Applications that do not require Advertising
Advertising is not necessary for a number of scenarios. A position at board level that attracts a salary over £50,000 per annum does not require advertising. Similarly, a high-level executive position connected to inward investment of at least £250,000 in the UK does not require advertising either.
A position requiring an intra-company transfer, that is, an employee transfer within a corporate group, for example from an overseas company to a UK subsidiary, does not require advertising before a Work Permit can be requested. The employee must have spent at least six months with the group and an explanation must be given for needing their skills and experience in the UK.
The last type of job that does not require advertising is a position on the official Shortage List.
Applications that can be made without advertising still need to meet the regular qualifications/experience requirements for the job.
Applications that require Advertising
Advertising is necessary in cases that are not covered above. Advertising is the first step in showing that you have taken reasonable measures to try to recruit a candidate from the resident labour market, before resorting to offering a foreign national the job.
Advertising is usually carried out in the national press, in a trade journal, or on the internet.
Once the advertising has been placed, applicants from the resident labour market should be given four weeks to respond before proceding with a Work Permit application for a foreign national.
Advertisements that accompany the application need to be less than six months old.
