Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the different kinds of permit for?
- The Business and Commercial Work Permit allows employers in this country to recruit people from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who are going to be filling a vacancy that may otherwise be filled by a ‘resident worker’.
- The Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES) enables people from outside the EEA to undertake work-based training for a professional or specialist qualification, or a period of work experience.
- The Sports and Entertainments arrangements allow employers in this country to employ established sportspeople, entertainers, cultural artists and some technical/support people from outside the EEA. Multiple Entry Work Permits and changes of employment are also available if required.
- The Student Internship arrangements allow students from outside the EEA studying first or higher degree courses overseas to undertake an internship with an employer in this country.
- The General Agreement on Trade in Services arrangements allow employees of companies that are based outside the European Union to work in the UK on a service contract awarded to their employer by a UK-based organisation. This is a special and exceptional arrangement within the normal work permit rules made under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The company abroad that is contracted to provide the service needs to apply using the application form GATS-A.
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2. How much do work permit applications cost?
There is a Home Office fee of £190 for the consideration of a work permit. An application for Further Leave to Remain on an FLR(IED) form incurs a Home Office fee of £750.
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3. What nationalities are exempt from paying for Work Permits?
In accordance with international obligations under the 1961 Council of Europe Charter or the 1996 European Social Charter (revised), prospective employers of nationals of countries who have signed and ratified the Charter are exempted from a charge. Therefore, employers making work permit, SBS, Student Internship, Sponsored Researchers or GATS applications to employ nationals of Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Turkey will be exempt.
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4. I am a work permit holder; can my spouse work in the UK?
The spouse, unmarried partner and children of a work permit holder may be admitted to the United Kingdom as the dependants of a work permit holder. The spouse/unmarried partner will be given conditions of stay, which do not place any restrictions, other than those that would apply to a resident worker, on their taking employment or engaging in business.
Therefore, a dependant of a work permit holder is free to work in the UK as long as the endorsement in their passport places no restriction on their employment here.
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5. What if the person leaves the employment prematurely?
You should inform us by completing the “Notification of Premature End of Employment” (NPEE) form. The completed form is to be sent to the Business Team who dealt with your original application. If possible, you should also return the work permit.
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6. Should I apply for a Business and Commercial (B&C) Work Permit or a Training and Work Experience (TWES) Work Permit?
If the person is to be additional to your normal staffing levels you should apply for a TWES permit. If you are to fill an actual vacancy within the organisation you should apply for a B&C work permit.
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7.What are the minimum skill criteria for a Business and Commercial work permit?
Work Permits are normally only issued for full time posts requiring specific qualifications or skills. This could be either: - a UK degree level qualification, a Higher National Diploma (HND) level occupational qualification, or a general HND level qualification plus one year’s relevant work experience; or a minimum of three years’ experience using specialist skills at National/Scottish Vocational Qualification (N/SVQ) level 3 or above.
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8. What is the maximum length of a Business and Commercial work permit?
A Business and Commercial work permit can be issued for up to 5 years.
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9. What about Post Graduate Doctors and Dentists?
Work permits for postgraduate doctors and dentists, use form PD1 for a first application or where a doctor/dentist is changing Deanery or starting work/training at a new training programme level. Alternatively, where the individual is sponsored by a Medical Royal College or similar organisation use the form MTI1 under the TWES arrangements.
This category is for postgraduate doctors and dentists to undertake further/continuing training in the UK in the NHS and is part of the Tier 2 category of the work permit arrangements. It only covers Foundation Programme, Senior House Officer. General Practice Registrar and Specialist Registrar level posts.
As with all other Tier 2 applications, you are expected to have conducted a recruitment search before making a work permit.
You should supply full details of all the posts the doctor or dentist will occupy during their training. If there are subsequently changes to the address where the postgraduate doctor or dentist will be employed within your deanery, at any time during the validity of the work permit, or you want to inform us of posts they will occupy that you were unaware of a the time of your initial application, you should notify the Borders & immigration agency.
If you want to employ a postgraduate doctor or dentist who already has a work permit in respect of a job/training with another deanery, a change of employment application will be required.
Please note: In the Immigration Rules, there is still provision of a permit free route into the UK through the postgraduate doctors and dentists category to undertake their Foundation Programme as long as the doctors and dentists have completed their medical/dental studies in the UK
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10. What is the application procedure to employ, on a Business and Commercial Work Permit, an overseas national who is outside of the UK?
- The employer submits a work permit application on the appropriate form. For the Business and Commercial Work Permit and there is a £190 Home Office administration fee.
- Once approval against the work permit has been given the individual (and any dependants) will be required to apply for entry clearance at a British Diplomatic Post before travelling to the UK.
Work permit holders who have a permit for 6 months or less are not required to obtain this entry clearance unless they are a visa national. However we advise all work permit holders to obtain entry clearance.
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11. Only overseas nationals in the following categories will be allowed to switch on to a Business and Commercial work permit from within the UK:
- A student who has obtained a degree level qualification on a UK recognised degree level course; or
- A post graduate doctor or dentist or trainee general practitioner who holds a valid work permit approval for employment as a doctor or dentist; or
- An overseas national here to undertake the PLAB test, a clinical attachment or a dental observation post who holds a valid work permit approval for employment as a doctor or dentist; or
- A student nurse, overseas qualified nurse and midwife who holds a valid work permit approval for employment as a nurse; or
- A Working Holiday Maker who has been in the UK for more than twelve months who holds a valid work permit approval for an occupation listed on the Work Permits (UK) shortage occupation list, at the time of issue; or
- An overseas national on the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme; or
- An Innovator; or
- An overseas national on a Science and Engineering Graduate Scheme; or
- A participant of the Fresh Talent Working in Scotland scheme who holds a valid work permit approval for employment in Scotland
Where the person is in the UK in an Immigration category other than work permit employment and they do not qualify for Further Leave to Remain under the Immigration Rules on switching the employer may wish to ask for a work permit to be issued rather than a letter of permission for the person to use to apply for entry clearance when the they return overseas.
The person refused further leave to remain must return overseas and use the work permit to apply for entry clearance to re-enter the UK. They cannot work in the UK on the basis of the work permit alone. If they do not return overseas to gain entry clearance and begin/continue to work for the employer in the UK then they would be in breach of their immigration status and could be subject to removal from the UK.
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12. Can a Working Holidaymaker get a Business and Commercial Work Permit in the UK?
Working Holidaymakers are only allowed to switch into a Work Permit while remaining in the UK if they have been in the UK for at least 12 months and the job is a shortage occupation, this includes some jobs in the engineering, medical, and teaching professions.
If they obtain a letter of permission to work in a shortage occupation they should then apply for Further Leave to Remain. While waiting for the FLR decision, they should only work if they are allowed to on the basis of their existing permission as a Working Holidaymaker.
If the job is not a shortage occupation, the employer can apply for a Work Permit while they are in the UK, and should include a letter asking that a Work Permit be issued allowing the person to return to their home country and obtain Entry Clearance at the British Diplomatic post there.
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13. Can a Dependant get a Business and Commercial Work Permit in the UK?
Dependants are not allowed to switch to Work Permits within the UK by applying for Further Leave to Remain, however the employer can apply for a Work Permit while they are in the UK, and should include a letter asking that a Work Permit be issued allowing the person to return to their home country and obtain Entry Clearance at the British Diplomatic post there.
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14. What if the person previously held a Business and Commercial Work Permit?
If you want to employ a person who already has a work permit in respect of a job with another employer or if you want the person to change jobs within your organisation you should apply to Work Permits (UK) for permission.
You do not need to provide evidence of a recruitment search if they will be doing the same type of job, and if we receive your application either before they leave their current employment or within 28 days of the persons last day of work with their previous employer.
You must wait for our permission before the person can start working in their new role.
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15. Can the overseas national work while the application is being processed if they are already living in the UK?
Normally if you have been issued with a new work permit you can not start working under the conditions of that permit until you have been granted Further Leave to Remain (FLR) to do so. However, you may work while the FLR(IED) form is being processed if you have valid leave to remain in an immigration category that allows you to do so.
For example –
If you are residing in the UK on a Working Holiday Maker Visa or a Permit-Free Training Visa, you can continue to work in the UK until a decision is made on your FLR as long as the work permit application and the associated application for Further Leave to Remain on the FLR(IED) form is received before the expiry date of your visa.
However, an interim arrangement is currently in place whereby existing work permit holders can start a new job on the strength of the work permit permission letter, providing their existing leave to remain covers all or part of the period of the new employment;
In these cases individuals will then have to submit a further leave to remain application before their existing leave expires, or within 6 months, whichever is the sooner.
As the work permit will have been approved and the individual will still have to submit a further leave to remain application, this does not undermine immigration controls in any way.
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16. How can a Business and Commercial Work Permit holder change their employer?
Since work permits are issued for a named person to do a particular job for a specific employer, the new employer will need to get approval from us by applying for a new work permit before the Overseas National can start work.
For most changes of employment applications we will already have details of the person, so you do not need to send evidence of their qualifications and experience.
Once approval against the work permit criteria has been given or before the expiry date of the applicant’s current Leave to Remain the individual must apply to vary their leave to remain. This must be done using form FLR (IED), enclosing the appropriate fee of £750 and documents relevant to the application. The individuals passport and those of any dependants must be sent with the FLR (IED) to be stamped.
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17. Can a Business and Commercial Work Permit holder do supplementary work?
Supplementary employment arrangements apply to overseas nationals who already have a work permit but who want to take on additional work to that which their permit was issued for. Under these circumstances, they may do so without further permission from Work Permits (UK) provided that the work:
- is outside of their normal working hours;
- is no more than 20 hours per week;
- is in the same profession and at the same professional level for which the holder’s work permit was issued; and
- is not employed by a recruitment agency, employment agency or similar business, which provides personnel to a client.
For example, a nurse who has a work permit to work for an NHS Trust and wishes to take up supplementary employment with a nursing recruitment agency would not be allowed to do so as we do not approve work permits for such agencies.
Any supplementary employment undertaken must be in a post that would meet our work permit issuing criteria; i.e. if an overseas national takes up supplementary employment in a post for which we would not normally approve a work permit, then they are in breach of their immigration conditions.
The work permit holder is not allowed to enter self-employment, set up a business or join another business as a director or partner. If a work permit holder wishes to be self-employed or set up a business they will need to apply to the Home Office (Immigration and Nationality Directorate) for the appropriate permission to do so. Please note however that if this permission is granted this will invalidate any current work permit.
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18. Should I apply for a Business and Commercial (B&C) Work Permit or a Training and Work Experience (TWES) Work Permit?
If the person is to be additional to your normal staffing levels you should apply for a TWES permit. If you are to fill an actual vacancy within the organisation you should apply for a B&C work permit.
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19. What is the maximum length of a TWES work permit?
For Training the Border 7 immigration Agency will normally issue the permit for the average time expected to complete the training up to a period of five years. If a permit is required for over five years, you will need to apply for an extension and we will expect the individual to have taken any exams at the earliest possible sitting.
In general, they expect most work experience programmes not to exceed 12 months. If the work experience is likely to take longer than 12 months to complete you should explain this in your initial application. They approve an extension to a work experience permit only where there are exceptional circumstances and a longer period, up to an overall maximum of 24 months, can be justified.
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20. What is the application procedure to employ, on a Training and Work Experience Work Permit, an overseas national who is outside of the UK?
- The employer submits a work permit application on the appropriate form and there is a £190 administration fee.
- Once approval against the work permit has been given the individual (and any dependants) will be required to apply for entry clearance at a British Diplomatic Post before travelling to the UK.
Work permit holders who have a permit for 6 months or less are not required to obtain this entry clearance unless they are a visa national. However we encourages all work permit holders to obtain entry clearance.
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21. Can Training and Work Experience permit holders do supplementary work?
No, TWES work permit holders cannot undertake supplementary employment.
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