Recently, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) has made certain changes to the UK immigration rules relating to Tier 2 Visas, effective from 14 December 2009. As per the amendments, employers must require to advertise jobs in Jobcentre Plus for four weeks, whereas earlier employers were needed to advertise for one week or a maximum period of two weeks.

The change to the UK immigration rules is a part of the UK Government’s strategy to protect the British jobs for British workers. A period of four weeks is enough for an employer to find a local candidate who can fill the vacancy. During that time if the employer cannot find a British candidate, it has still the option to employ overseas workers on the Tier 2 Visa.

The British Borders and Immigration Minister, Phil Woolas said that the British Government has extended the amount of time that employers must advertise jobs in interest of the UK and workers from the resident labor market. According to the Minister, the change to the rules will bring better opportunities to the UK workers, as well as more time to apply for skilled vacancies. However, this does not mean that businesses cannot recruit skilled overseas workers. The new rule ensures that businesses can employ foreign workers, but not at the expense of British workers.

Here are a few highlights of the advertising requirements:

• Employers who have already run advertisements are not required to re-advertise to meet the new requirements.
• It is not necessary for the employers to advertise jobs for the full four weeks continuously. In case, if an employer cannot find anyone from the resident labor market, then it must advertise for further two weeks.
• Even after running advertisements for four weeks if an employer cannot find anyone to fill the vacancy from the resident labor market, the employer can apply for Tier 2 Visa in order to recruit a foreign worker.

The Migration Advisory Committee recommended the change to the immigration rules relating to Tier 2 Visas in August. It was on September 7, 2009 that the British Government decided to accept the committee’s recommendations.