All non-UK resident individuals who wish to live and work in the UK require a visa to do so. The Skilled Worker Visa allows employers to recruit non-UK resident workers for certain eligible skilled roles – this includes all Health Care Workers. Skilled workers can bring their family members to the UK and can apply to settle in the UK after 5 years continuous lawful residence.
By becoming a skilled worker visa sponsor, practices are able to support overseas GPs, nurses and other professionals who require a skilled worker (tier 2) visa.
This process will not only support healthcare professionals to gain employment within the local area, but will also support practices experiencing difficulties in recruitment and retention of staff within the Black Country region.
The Training Hub offers funding to practices to reimburse the costs of becoming a tier 2 visa sponsor.
- Investment for long term planning of your workforce
- Sponsor license lasts for 4 years
- Avoid costly locum and finder fees
- With around 80% of ST3s due to complete their CCT in the next 12 months being non-UK residents, having a sponsorship licence is now vital in order to recruit from this pool.
- Practice which sponsor visas are directly supporting the retention of these individuals and their skills in the local area.
To become a sponsor a practice will need to:
- Complete an online application which usually takes 8 weeks to process (preparation is key so invest time reading the guidance to prepare beforehand)
- Pay a fee (£536 for small organisations or £1,476 for medium/large organisations)
- Receive a certificate of sponsorship allocation
- You must assign a certificate of sponsorship to each non-UK resident worker you employ and pay an immigration skills charge (£199 per worker)
- Confirm your allocation to the Home Office – free to be updated annually
- Practices can apply for reimbursement of sponsor application costs.
- The funding will cover the costs of the application fee, immigration skills charges and the certificate of sponsorship, which costs up to a maximum of £3,500 per practice.
- Practices which have become sponsors since March 2021 are invited to apply for reimbursement.
- Funding will be released after the application process is complete.
To make a claim, please submit the claim form and sent to primarycare.
