Business Immigration and Managed Migration in the UK
The UK is a commercial and business hub and often seeks fresh talent to stay competitive, but gaining the right to work in the UK has become increasingly difficult following stricter immigration policies. The government has set rules in motion to encourage the employment of UK residents before migrants, which risks stifling business growth in the current economic climate. Failure to adhere to these rules will result in serious sanctions and civil penalties. For this reason, it’s crucial that a business properly manages and monitors migrant employees, prior to their employment and thereafter.
What happens if a business does not comply with Immigration Law in the UK as an employer?
The business could be liable to a civil penalty of up to £20,000 per illegal employee. Your organisation’s details could be published by Immigration Enforcement to serve as an example to other businesses. More severely, a case of knowingly employing someone of the incorrect immigration status could be escalated to the Crown Court and result in an unlimited fine or up to 2 years’ imprisonment. Illegal workers range from anything to students with expired visas and students working more hours than permitted, to people who work on a visitor’s visa. There are numerous other examples of circumstances which could render a business liable.
To avoid such repercussions, it’s important to ensure those job applicants or incumbent employees are vetted for compliant immigration status and that the business has obtained the correct sponsorship licence. To date under the current immigration law, official statistics reveal that approximately 1270 employers across the UK have been subject to civil penalties for retaining illegal migrant workers, with their total value amounting to £10,843,750.
Our Business Immigration and Managed Migration Services at Milestone Solicitors
We provide clear and concise advice on all aspects of business immigration law in the UK, specialising in small to medium business. The results will allow you to:
- Employ and maintain the right of skilled workers for your organisation
- Avoid any negative publicity and damage to your organisation’s reputation
- Make visa application and/or applications for extension of stay and settlement
- Under audits in the workplace to combat illegal working and any subsequent disciplinary issues
- Avoid any criminal and civil sanctions that may be enforced upon you
Milestone Solicitors can explain the intricate immigration issues to your organisation. Our Business Immigration service includes keeping you abreast with changes and updates to immigration law which may affect your business. Our team will provide you with and advise you on the necessary and relevant materials, and be more than willing to host in-house training seminars to inform management of what is required of them.
We’re confident we can accommodate your business with a bespoke service that adheres to your budget. The advice available includes:
Obtaining a Sponsorship Licence The registration to enable businesses to sponsor specialists or temporary employees to work, or Academic institutions to sponsor overseas students in the UK under the Tier 2, Tier 4 or Tier 5 category.
High-value migrants (Tier 1) The routes available to exceptionally talented and highly skilled workers, investors and entrepreneurs seeking to work in the UK.
Sponsored skilled workers (Tier 2) The form of application available to employees who have, or are able to obtain, a certificate of sponsorship under the points-based system.
Sports Immigration The legal course for professionals of various sports, such as footballers, who wish to arrive in the UK.
Temporary workers (Tier 5) Options for individuals who wish to work in the UK on a temporary basis for a licensed sponsor.
We can also help with:
- Applications for investors and entrepreneurs
- Applications for work visas, short stay visas, study visas
- Applications for domestic workers
- Applications for intra-company transfers from abroad
- Applications for visitor visas for sole representatives of overseas companies
- Applications for representatives of overseas newspapers
- Applications for news agencies and broadcasting organisations
- Applications for indefinite leave to remain
- Applications for business migrants wishing to settle permanently in the UK
- Applications for British citizenship
- Applications for becoming a British national
- Applications for switching – Facilitating long-term immigration objectives by helping migrants ascertain they are in the right category at the right time
- Applications for reconsideration of undesirable decisions, and handling workplace raids by Immigration Enforcement, as well as the associated PR issues and strategies
- Services for landlords concerning tenant immigration checks
- Appeals for business immigration
- Applications for investment immigration
- Applications for multinational companies
Why choose Milestone Solicitors for your Business Immigration needs?
- We’re comprehensive, ensuring you get everything you require in one place
- We’re experienced, with a confident track record of success
- We’re versatile, covering organisations from small businesses and educational institutions to major corporations
- We’re flexible, and tailor our service to meet your requirements
- We’re renowned, having catered to high net worth individuals and celebrities within their respective fields
- We’re cost-effective, working within your budget
- We’re timeous, offering fast and effective results
- We’re global, having facilitated immigration from Asia, America, and the rest of the world
Contact us for an obligation-free consultation, where we can assess and discuss the current status and structure of your organisation in relation to the current immigration law.
Our unique Business Immigration service can be broken down into the following components:
We offer a comprehensive document and compliance checking service that ensures all employee records are up-to-date and meet the requirements of current immigration law. This service includes the provision of a single check of employee records with a personalised report of the current status of employees, as well as further advice of all actions that are expected to be actioned. We will also help to monitor any immigration conditions your employees may have, such as working entitlement, visa expiry, and other issues.
Benefits:
- Reports on the immigration status of employees
- Report on employer’s record keeping
- Up-to-date analysis with administration and audit of all immigration concerns
Our Compliance Check-in Service will provide you with a published report of employee records for your organisation’s HR records. We can also conduct relevant check-in services with the Home Office on your behalf, to ensure your organisation is operating within its legal boundaries. Additionally, we will help you review all mechanisms and practices put in place by your organisation to ensure you are correctly abiding by the law.
Benefits:
- Monitoring the immigration status of employees with alerts on visa expiry dates
- Excellent training and legal updates for HR Departments
- Advice on meeting deficiencies recorded in employees’ immigration status report and employer’s record keeping report
We conduct a personalised service report that will help you monitor employee HR records in relation to their immigration status. We can ensure that your organisation receives regular recruitment checks for new employees within 24 hours, eliminating any delays or losses. Our Compliance Check Retainer further consists of us undertaking a monthly on-site check of all HR records of your employees.
Benefits:
- Certifying ID and other documents kept in employees’ file
- Advice on meeting deficiencies recorded in employees’ immigration status report and employer’s record keeping report
- Dedicated 24/7 advice over telephone for employers