Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship: the points have finally dropped

Ahead of September 2018 allocation of restricted Certificates of Sponsorship (“CoS”), we would like to share the data regarding August 2018 allocation.

As a brief background, UK businesses seeking to hire non-EU workers from outside of the UK are required to apply for restricted CoS certificates via Sponsorship Management System (“SMS”) system before the 5th day of the month for an allocation on the 11th day of the same month. The annual limit is 20,700 certificates, which are divided into 12 monthly allocations.

Jobs that are on the Shortage Occupation List receive most points, followed by PhD level jobs and graduate roles recruited through a “milkround”.

According to the Home Office Policy Guidance, the application must score a minimum of 21 points to be valid. This was the case in November 2017; however, as of December 2017 for 8 consecutive months, the limit was oversubscribed, whereby the minimum points for restricted CoS allocated hovered around 50.

On 15 June 2018 the Home Office published a new Statement of Changes in which they confirmed that the changes were made to exempt doctors and nurses (who were accounted for 40% of all available places) from the Tier 2 General limit.

This welcomed change has resulted in the minimum points falling as low as to 21 in August 2018. At last, UK based companies have a fair chance of recruiting the brightest and the best talents from outside the UK.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.