Certificates of Sponsorship for Tier 2 Visa Available from June

Close to 2,615 Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) licences are available for allocation to employers in the month of June 2016, as per the latest report released by UK’s Visas and Immigration department. The report was published in May and the department confirmed the figures to be accurate as on 13th May 2016. As a general rule, employers in the UK who wish to employ skilled immigrant workers under the Tier 2 scheme need to hold a Tier 2 sponsorship licence. As per the immigration laws in the UK, unused Tier 2 CoS licences can be reclaimed after a period of three months. As the number of CoS licences are restricted, reclaiming the unused licences helps increase the availability of CoS to other employers. The report was published after the department’s meeting on 11th May 2016, which was held to consolidate the number of CoS licences available. Applications submitted till 5th May 2016 have been successfully processed, provided the employers score 21 or more points on a point-based scale that is used to determine their eligibility. The quota for Tier 2 CoS licences for the month of May was set at 2,000. A total of 483 unused licenses from the month of April were carried forward to the quota in May. Additionally, 8 licences were returned by the employers in the month of April and 9 licences were granted outside the monthly budget for April due to exceptional considerations, thus making the number of CoS licences available as 2,464. Only 1,849 licences were issued in the month of May, thereby increasing the count of available licences to 615. As per the restricted annual quota of 2,000 CoS per month, the total number of restricted CoS licences available for allocation in the month of June 2016, stands at 2,615. The Department of UK Visas and Immigration will meet next on 11th July 2016 to determine the licence allocations for the month of July. Interested in a Tier 2 sponsorship licence? At Y-Axis, our experienced process consultants can help you with documentation and compliance for a Tier 2 CoS license application process.