To work in the UK you will need to hold a valid passport for the full duration of your intended stay, and a current UK working visa or permit of some description.You will also need to apply for Entry Clearance once you have been granted your visa, so contact your local High Commission or Consulate on how to do this.
You must have these documents prior to entering the UK for work.
**Note from UK Immigration:Leave to enter for the purpose of employment is to be refused if a valid United Kingdom entry clearance in this capacity is not produced to the Immigration Officer on arrival, or if the Immigration Officer is not satisfied that the holder of the permit intends to leave the UK on expiry of the visa.
Tribe Associates may be able to offer assistance, in certain circumstances, to people requiring assistance with their HSMP visa, or for consideration for a Sponsorship Work Visa.
If you wish to make enquiries concerning assistance in obtaining either of these visa’s, please ensure you complete the form on the “Submit CV” page, send us your detailed CV in word format, and provide us with as much details and information as you possibly can to facilitate any decisions.
There are a variety of visas and permits that will enable you to legally work in the UK; each has their own set of eligibility requirements and restrictions and are summarised below.
UK Working Holiday Visa
Intended for those wishing to travel throughout Europe and UK as well as work part of the time.Cannot be extended or altered.Does not count towards your total of 5 years residency to qualify for permanent resident status.
Validity: 2 years Eligibility:
Any citizen of a Commonwealth country aged between 17 and 30 years inclusively.South Africa is a Commonwealth country.
Requirements:
·You must be single, or married to someone also eligible for a working holiday visa intending on taking the working holiday with you.
·You must not have dependent children aged five or over during your stay in the UK.
·You must show proof of sufficient funds in your bank account.Although UK Immigration does not specify how much 'sufficient funds' are they seek proof you won't get into financial trouble and rely on public funds, so work on enough to support your initial 3 months in the UK.Approximately the equivalent of £2000 GBP AND a return air ticket.
Restrictions:
Your work cannot exceed a total of 12 months of your 2-year visa period.If you are contracting, we can keep you in work for around 16 or 18 months legally.
You are permitted to work in your profession, but NOT as a Professional sportsperson, and NOT permitted to open your own business.
UK Ancestry Visa
As a Commonwealth citizen with a grandparent born in the United Kingdom and Islands, you can apply for this visa.You must get entry clearance for UK ancestry before you travel to the United Kingdom.
Validity: 5 years, renewable or apply for Indefinite leave to Remain. Eligibility:
Any person with a grandparent born in the United Kingdom and Islands can apply.
Requirements:
·You are 17 years of age or over.
·Prove a grandparent was born in the UK and Islands by ORIGINAL or CERTIFIED birth certificate.
·Prove your decendancy via ORIGINAL parents marriage certificate and your birth certificate.
·Proof you are able to work and intend doing so in the UK – copies of job ads should suffice.
·Proof you can support and accommodate yourself and any dependants travelling with you adequately without help from public funds.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on type or duration of work during the full 5 years.
After five years, eligible to apply for Indefinite leave to remain as long as you have worked for five years continuously in the UK, have not spent more than 90 days per year outside of the UK and can prove viable employment and tax contributions for the full 5 years.
You cannot switch to an Ancestry application or visa if you have entered the UK under any other form of visa.You must leave the country and apply externally.
HSMP - Highly Skilled Migrant Program
Since 2002 the HSMP programme is designed to allow highly skilled people to migrate to the UK to look for work or self-employment opportunities.Full 24 months work ability and ownership of the visa as opposed to Sponsorship.
Validity: 2 years, renewable for a further 3 years.
Eligibility:
A separate assessment for applicants aged 28 and under or for those over 28.In most cases you can also apply from inside the UK if you already there on a different visa.
Requirements:
·A points-based scheme where you need to score 65 points or more to qualify.
·Points are scored in five main areas: educational qualifications; work experience; past earnings; your achievement in your chosen field; and your husband's, wife's, or civil partner’s achievements. It is not mandatory to score in every category.
·Proof you are able to find gainful employment is your profession, income estimation, job offer.
Restrictions:
At first issued for up to 24 months.After 24 months, you can apply for extension of 3 years on proof of sufficient earnings and employment within the UK.After 5 years permitted to apply for Indefinite leave to Remain.
Sponsorship Work Permit
A work permit relates to a specific person and a specific job.The work permit scheme lets UK employers recruit or transfer people from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), while protecting the interests of resident UK workers.Work permits also allow overseas nationals to come to the UK for training or work experience.
Validity:2 years normally, renewable indefinite number of times.
Eligibility:
You cannot apply directly for a work permit. The employer in the UK who wants to employ you must do this on your behalf, and they usually take 8-12 weeks to issue.
Requirements:
·Applying company needs to prove advertisement of the job position, and prove that there are no suitable applicants already within the UK suitable for the position.
·Prove you are capable of doing the work referred to in your work permit
If you hold a work permit or TWES you must:
·Be able to do the work referred to in your work permit.
·Not intend to take other employment, except as set out in your work permit.
·May only work for the employer who holds your work permit only.
·Be able to support yourself and any dependants, live without needing any help from public funds.
·Apply yourself for an Entry Clearance from your home country before leaving for the UK.
Restrictions:
You must apply for and obtain Entry clearance once your work permit has been issued.
You are not permitted to work for any other company other than your permit holder.
Cannot apply for the permit to be transferred to another company, must leave the UK during a fresh application made by new company.
As a special condition children over the age of 18 and dependent parents can join you if they are genuinely dependent on you, is and will continue to be part of the family unit and will not remain in the UK after your stay has ended.
Spouses can apply for a spousal visa to accompany their partners.
Holding company can apply for innumerable number of extensions for you to remain in the UK.
Types of Sponsorship visa:
Business and commercial. These allow UK employers to recruit people from outside the EEA who will fill a vacancy that the employer has not been able to fill with a resident worker.
Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES). This allows people from outside the EEA to carry out work-based training for a professional or specialist qualification, or a short period of work experience as an extra member of staff. To qualify for TWES, you must:
·Hold a valid TWES work permit and be able to carry out the training or work it applies to.
·Intend to leave the UK after the training or work experience is completed.
·Be aged between 16 and 65.
·Not intend to take employment except as set out on the permit.
·Be able to support yourself and dependants, and live without needing any help from public funds.
**Note:If you have been in the UK on a TWES permit for more than 12 months, you will not be eligible for another TWES permit until you have spent 24 months outside the UK.If you have been in the UK on a TWES permit for less than 12 months, you will not be eligible for another TWES permit until you have spent 12 months outside the UK.
Spousal Visa
If your spouse is a British Citizen, has an Ancestry Visa, is on a Sponsorship Work Visa or has Right to Abode in the UK, then you are eligible to apply for a UK Spouse Entry Visa. This also entitles you to work in the UK and should be applied for and granted prior to entry into the UK.
Validity:2 years unless spouse is a British national, then indefinite. Eligibility:You must show that:
·You are legally married to each other or are in a civil partnership recognised in the UK.
·Your husband, wife or civil partner is present and settled in the UK, or it travelling to the UK to take up an offer of work under the Sponsorship working visa scheme or HSMP scheme.
·You both intend to live together permanently as husband/wife or civil partners whilst in the UK.
·You have met each other before you apply for this visa.
·Together you can support yourselves and any dependants without any help from public funds.
·Your husband/wife or civil partner is not under 18, and you are not under 18 either.
Restrictions:
Proof that you and your husband/wife or civil partner have been living together outside the UK for four years or more, and they have been a British citizen for four years or more, there will be no time limit on how long you can stay in the UK.Otherwise you will be allowed to stay and work in the UK for two years. Near the end of this time, if you are still married and intend to continue living together, you can apply to stay longer in the UK subject to any restrictions of your spouses Work visa.
Right of Abode
The right to live and work in the United Kingdom without any restrictions or visa of any kind, ability to apply for Indefinite leave to remain once residing in the UK.
Validity: Indefinite Eligibility:You will have the right of abode as a Commonwealth citizen if you have been a citizen of a Commonwealth country up to 1 January 1983 and, immediately before that date:
Requirements:
·You were a Commonwealth citizen with a parent who, at the time of your birth or legal adoption, was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies and had their citizenship by being born in the United Kingdom, or
·You were a Commonwealth citizen and are, or were, the wife of a man with the right of abode in the United Kingdom.
**Note: Pakistan and South Africa were not part of the Commonwealth before 1 January 1983 and their citizens have no right of abode under this provision.
To find out more information about any of the visas listed below, or get the necessary application forms contact your nearest British Consulate or High Commission, or access the official UK sites show below.
Disclaimer:While we do our best, Tribe Associates cannot make any guarantee that the visa and immigration information provided on our website is either accurate, up to date or complete. We have provided the above information to the best of our knowledge and experience; however we strongly recommend you visit the Official UK Immigration and Work Visa information sites available on the Internet for detailed and up to date information.
