As per some experts on the UK immigration, the recruiters/firms in the country would do well to chalk-out plans ahead, to circumvent a struggle for qualified employees from abroad, post it came to light that the nation had hit its upper limit on the Tier 2 Visas for the migrants from the non-EU countries, for a second successive month.

Under the British points-based immigration arrangement, recruiter/firms get a sponsorship licence from the UK Visa and Immigration, to draft manpower from the non-EU nations. Afterwards, the Home Office offers visas on a month-by-month basis using a chain of factors – evaluating professional qualifications and present skills scarcities.

Though the yearly quota of 20,700 Tier 2 Visas was in the preceding years divided equally through the year, in the wake of a 2016 amendment made in the law, a new arrangement applied in 2017 meant the figure of the visas was front-loaded at the start of every Fiscal Year (FY), to cater to the increased demand witnessed during the months of summer.

As a result, the figure of the obtainable visas of the kind nose-dived to 1,500 in December from 2,200 in April 2017. It propelled up the minimum wages required to make the grade for a visa to 55,000 Pounds from an average of 30,000 Pounds. The same also left some specific industries, like the NHS, in a skills crisis, with several job-providers/firms reportedly claiming that they had no options except to turn the accessible doctors away as they did not have visas.

Requirement for trained migrants from the non-EU countries is expected to jump further in the next months, with the reason being statistics showed net immigration from inside the EU kept on decreasing post the 2016 referendum on exiting the EU.

The Office for National Statistics witnessed general net immigration head south by nearly 33% to 230,000 from January to June 2017, even as the numbers made available in December showed that a net figure of a paltry 9,000 migrants from the EU landed in the second quarter of the year gone by.

Allegedly, it is the first time one has found the cap hit in two successive months, even as it is having an effect on every segment. The drop in the number of the EU employees has boosted the requirement for the non-EU employees, so a pressure is piling up, and valued roles across areas are regrettably not obtaining the required labor force.

As per one expert on the subject, against this backdrop, the recruiters/firms, keen to manage talent drains in the longer term as insecurity over the EU immigration’s future continues, would do well to submit an application for the Tier 2 sponsor licences as soon as possible.