The Points-Based System
London Boroughs
Cheryl Pellew – Senior Visiting Officer
Who will the new system affect?
Includes:
 Routes to work, train and
study
Does not include:
Visitors
Student Visitors
Family Reunification
UK Ancestry routes
ECAA business visitors
EEA Nationals
Marriage
POINTS BASED SYSTEM
Overview
The most radical reworking of the immigration system in a generation
Consolidation of 80+ existing routes into a structured 5-tier system
Clear, transparent and impartial decision-making
A streamlined process for those wishing to work in the United Kingdom
Revised, simplified and objective policy criteria
Sponsorship and sponsor obligations
POINTS BASED SYSTEM
The Basics
Applicants will need to pass a points based assessment to enter or remain in
the United Kingdom
The number of points required varies from tier to tier
Any UK organisation wishing to recruit migrants under tiers 2, 4 or 5: will have
to apply to for a sponsor licence
No out-of-country appeal rights — Administrative Review
POINTS BASED SYSTEM
Timetable
Tier
29 Feb 08
Tier 1 (general)
go-live
Feb ‘08
30 June 08
Tier 1 globally
Tier 1 all sub
categories
June ‘08
July ‘08
November 08
Tier 2 and Tier 5
policy
go-live
Aug ‘08
28 July 08
Sponsor
licences for all
tiers
Nov ‘08
March 09
Tier 4 policy golive
Jan ‘09
Apr‘09
November 08
Tier 2 and Tier 5
CoS Issue
go-live
Sponsor
Tier 2 – Skilled workers
At least 70 points are required from this table (including 10 for maintenance and 10 for English)
All jobs must be NVQ3 job at or above the appropriate rate
Section
Certificate of Sponsorship
Offer of job in shortage
occupation
A
(50
points
needed)
Prospective Earnings
(£)
Qualifications
(or NARIC equivalents)
17,000 – 19,999
5
No qualifications
0
20,000 – 21,999
10
NVQ3
5
22,000 – 23,999
15
Bachelors or Masters
10
24,000+
20
PhD
15
50
Offer of job that passes
Resident Labour Market
Test
30
Intra Company Transfer
30
B
Maintenance requirement (10 points needed)
10
C
Competence in English (10 points needed)
10
Certificate of Sponsorship
• When applying for a licence, Sponsors will be required to give an
indication of the numbers of certificates required.
• The certificate will be identified by a unique reference number –
there is no physical “Certificate”.
• Sponsors will issue a Certificate of Sponsorship to migrants they
choose to sponsor.
• Sponsors will be charged a fee when issuing a Certificate of
Sponsorship
Sponsorship
Responsibilities of an Organisation
A sponsor must fulfil certain duties to make sure immigration
controls stay effective. The sponsorship duties are:
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record keeping
reporting
compliance
co-operating with UK Border Agency
tier specific duties
If they fail to comply with any of their sponsorship duties, they may be
down-graded to a B rating or have their licence withdrawn.
Processing payments
•
When registered as an educational institution SMS presents three
payment options – card, cheque or deferred. Selecting deferred
payment will allow the CoS to be assigned and DCSF will cover the £170
cost
•
There are no disadvantages
•
Several LA’s have registered the different parts separately i.e. Social
Services, Education, etc – this is because they operate as separate
entities and therefore wish to select different AO, KC & L1U for each
work area.
Even if the LA chooses to register as a single entity, the license will
cover all the activities that they are involved in. Selecting education as
the section merely allows the IT system to identify/process deferred
payments.
•
Employer Checking Service
• There may not always be a simple yes or no to employment of an
individual. Having checked with the illegal working document if
you are still unsure the above service will give basic information
along the lines in the guidance as to whether an individual can be
employed but will never given specifics about individuals due to
data protection issues.
Email Service
• The sponsor management address is now transferred to the
customer contact centre (I believe they operate a 5 day SLA on
email enquiries).
• Prior to these it was covered by a discreet team on SMU/SLU.
During busy periods there was sometimes a delay in responding
to enquiries however all are eventually dealt and we currently
have nothing over 2 weeks old. Therefore if they are still awaiting
a response they should send the enquiry again as either the
enquiry or our response may have encountered delivery
problems.
Guidance on website
• It is not possible to have a circulation list for those using the
Points Based System neither to we have a version control on the
website
English Language requirement
• One of the requirements of the points based system will be that,
in most cases, migrants coming here to undertake skilled or
highly skilled work must provide evidence to demonstrate that
they have an acceptable standard of English. One way in which
applicants can demonstrate this will be by providing evidence
that they have passed an English language test.
• Only tests that have been assessed as meeting the Border and
Immigration Agency's requirements will be accepted as evidence
that the applicant meets this requirement. We will publish a list of
these tests, so migrants will know whether the test they propose
to take will be acceptable to us.
English Speaking Countries
• These are listed on our website at the following address
• http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/tier2/minister
sofreligion/eligibility/pointsassessment/englishlanguage/
Certificates of Sponsorship
• The System will not allow a Sponsor to issue a Certificate of
Sponsorship if there is a live one in existence. This is done by
the system providing a warning message ‘There is already a
Certificate of Sponsorship issued for this person’
• Certificate numbers can be sent by email or even given over the
phone it is your responsibility to ensure your transmission of the
unique number is secure for your purpose
Sponsor Management System
• The Agency felt that the User Guide was a better use of resources
rather than building a system that people could play with.
• I have included the links to this on my handout.
Transitional arrangements
• Many existing immigration categories are due to close when tiers
2 and 5 of the points-based system are introduced. After this
date, anyone with permission to stay in United Kingdom who
wants to extend their stay will need to apply under the pointsbased system.
• Please refer to the link below for further information
• http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/tran
sitionalarrangements2and5
Payments
• There are no plans to introduce BACS payment presently but
concerns that have been raised with different sectors.
Authorising Officer
• Please refer to section 66 of the Guidance for Sponsor
applications – Tier 2, Tier 4 and Tier 5.
• You may appoint an Authorising Officer as an additional Level 1
User.
Transitional Arrangements Tier 2
Please refer to the link below for further information
• http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/transitionalar
rangements/
Deferred Payments
The Department for Children Schools and Families pays for the
certificates of sponsorship on behalf of local authorities and state
maintained schools under a deferred payment arrangement similar
to that operated under the work permitted system. When a local
authority completes its application for a sponsor licence, in order to
activate the deferred payment option, they should complete the
following fields as indicated below:
•Organisation Type: University or Educational Institution
•Educational Institution Type: Either LA (Local Authority) – England
• Or State Maintained School – England
Deferred Payments continued
If the fields were not completed as above, the online system will not allow
the payment to be deferred, and the fee of £170 per certificate of
sponsorship will be charged. If this is the case, your Level 1 user should
use the Sponsor Management System (SMS) to request a change of
circumstances as indicated below:
In order to be able to select the 'deferred payment' option for Certificate of
Sponsorship payment, could you amend the licence details as followsType of Organisation- University or Educational Establishment
Educational Category- LA (local Authority)
Publicly Funded- Yes
Inspected/audited- OFSTED
Accreditation Body- OFSTED
Maintenance Tier 2 General
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The balance must show that you have had at least £800 in your account
at all times over the three-month period.
The documents must be original, on the official letter-headed paper or
stationery
Evidence must be in the form of cash funds. Other accounts or financial
instruments for example, shares, bonds and pension funds, regardless
of notice are not acceptable.
If you wish to rely on a joint account as evidence of available funds, you
must be named on the account along with one or more other named
individuals.
Letter from your sponsor If your A-rated sponsor says they will maintain
and accommodate you (and your dependants) until the end of the first
month of the your employment in the United Kingdom, you must send a
letter from them which confirms this.
Information at this address
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/tier2/general/support
ingevidence/maintenance/#header2
How to avoid racial discrimination when preventing illegal
working
• The Government has issued a Code of practice to help employers
comply with the law and undertake the checks without
discriminating against individuals on the basis of race. You can
download a copy from the Border Agency website:
www.bia.homeoffice.gov.ul/employingmigrants
• Information on the Resident Labour Market Test can be found as
follows:
http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigr
ants/employingmigrants/residentlabourmarkettest/#header1
Summary guidance for Employers regarding Illegal working
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The link to our page on the external website that can be given to
employers. Everything they need to know is included on this part of our
website. Once they enter the page they need to go to SEE ALSO on the
top right hand side of the page and click on Guidance booklets for
Employers. When they go into that link the first 2 documents are the
relevant ones for them as we discussed:
‘The Comprehensive Guidance for Employers on Preventing Illegal
Working’ and ‘the Summary Guidance for Employers on Preventing
Illegal Working.’
http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/preventingillegalworking/
Links
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Guidance for Sponsors and Employers
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/employersandsponsors/p
bsguidance/
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How we assess HR systems and compliance
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/HRandco
mpliance/
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Record Keeping
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/sponsorsh
ipduties/recordkeeping/
Links
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What is the Sponsor Management System
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/sms/whati
ssms/
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Employer Checking Service
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/employersupport/ecs/
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Contact us
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/contact/contactspage/contactcentres/