Are The Tier 4 Students You Employ Classed As Migrant Workers?
Monthly Newsletter- July 2017
Yes! Did you know that students, even with permission to work a limited number of hours a week in the UK, can still be classed as migrant workers? The UK Visa and Immigration treat students the same as any other migrant workers.
So what does that mean for those of you who regularly employ students on a casual basis, even under zero hours contracts? Well it means you should have in place the correct human resources and recruitment systems to meet and maintain your responsibilities as an employer of migrant workers.
To be on the safe side, what you should do is in fact have the same systems in place as for a permanent employer, before obtaining an A rating sponsor licence. These include the following:
Monitoring immigration status
You must have a robust system in place for monitoring a migrant workers’ immigration status. This means you should make and keep copies of all migrant workers’ immigration status papers. You should ideally have in place a system where you can safely store electronic copies of their status papers and receive some form of alert, notifying you when a migrant worker’s status in the UK is due to expire. You should also consider setting a 12-month alert to remind you to check any current status of any migrant worker you employ who holds status in the UK for more than 12 months. This may be helpful in two ways. Firstly, it will serve as an annual reminder that you still have a legal obligation to maintain the correct human resources and recruitment systems. Secondly, if you have any genuine concerns about a person’s ongoing immigration status, for example, they may no longer be a family member of an EU citizen, then you can carry out further checks at that time. You can even request a positive verification notice from the Home Office Employer Checking Service. We provide this service under our employer retainer business package click here for details.
Maintaining migrant contact details
You must have access to a robust system for storing and maintaining all the migrant worker’s contact details. The system you do have in place must store at least the following information:
1 Full Name 2 Current full address 3 National Insurance Number 4 Mobile and landline telephone numbers 5 Email address
Record keeping and recruitment
You must have in place a robust system for monitoring and updating employee personal records. You must have at least the following:
1 Job offer details
2 Job description
3 Comprehensive Contract of employment
4 Copy of Immigration Status document
5 Copy of passport
Migrant tracking and monitoring
Part of your responsibilities of being an employer of migrant workers is to have in place a robust system for monitoring and tracking your migrant workers absences. This means you should have in place a daily register and some form of alert system notifying human resources and/or manager about the migrant’s absence from work so immediate action can be taken to identify the migrant’s whereabouts.
The above procedures are in line with UK Visa and Immigration eligibility and suitability criteria for applications by employers seeking a sponsor’s licence. So if you already have these measures in place, the chances are that any future application you make for a sponsor licence will be approved.
