Home Department written statement – made at on 15 July 2010.
On
On the same date we laid a Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC 59) to implement the interim limit for the tier 1 (general) category, the category for highly skilled workers who do not require a job offer before coming to the UK.
In the case of tier 2 (general), the category for sponsored skilled workers with a job offer, the interim limit will be applied by limiting the number of certificates of sponsorship which licensed tier 2 (general) sponsors are authorised to issue. We previously considered that this does not require changes to the immigration rules. However, subsequent legal decisions have made the position less clear. For the avoidance of doubt, I am laying changes today which make explicit provision for the Secretary of State to limit both the number of certificates of sponsorship that may be assigned to points based system sponsors overall during any particular period, and the number of certificates of sponsorship that may be assigned to individual sponsors.
As the Home Secretary set out in her statement on
The UK Border Agency's sponsor management team has already contacted sponsors in connection with the implementation of this interim limit, and will be writing to each sponsor individually to advise them of how the interim limit affects their allocation of certificates of sponsorship.