Category Archives: Immigration

SAAX Group Event – “Ja, well, no, fine: Managing the transition to work and life in the UK”

Posted on 26 October 2011 | Leave a comment

GAAPS is sponsoring this evening’s SAAX Group Event for South African actuaries in the UK.

Dr Geraldine Kaye, MD of GAAPS will be introducing Professor Robert Bor who will provide a fascinating and entertaining perspective on managing the transition to work and life in the UK.

A prize will be presented for the best question asked and as always, the talk will be followed by good food, great South African wine and quality networking with fellow Southern Africans.

Full details can be found on the SAAX group website.

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Posted in Actuarial Societies, Actuarial Society of South Africa, Immigration, Networking, news, South Africa, UK

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Actuarial Salaries and the UK Shortage Occupation List

Posted on 25 October 2011 | Leave a comment

Actuaries have recently been added to the UK Shortage Occupation List. It is highly unlikely that there will be any major change in level of salaries as a result. It will still be extremely difficult to sponsor a work permit for someone – this only overcomes the first hurdle.

However there are two great PR advantages;

  1. The Government acknowledges that actuaries are valuable!
  2. HR departments will acknowledge there is a shortage and therefore put up the salaries they are willing to pay.

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Posted in Immigration, Insights, news, UK

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GAAPS Campaign Success: Actuaries on the UK Shortage Occupation List

Posted on 22 October 2011 | Leave a comment

As you may be aware, GAAPS Actuarial has been petitioning for the government to include actuaries on the shortage occupation list since 2006, and it looks like our hard work and those of other organisations involved have finally paid off!

 The new guidelines in the Home Office’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recognised the increasing pressure of the industry’s changing needs and have placed actuaries on its occupation shortage list.

Actuaries are included on the list as “Qualified actuaries working in the life assurance, general insurance and health and care sectors”, explaining the previous information provided by MAC regarding specific sectors. This would appear to exclude actuaries in the pensions and investment sectors. However, we will seek to clarify this information and we will publish a further post once we have a better understanding.

The revised list will come into effect from 14 November 2011. This means that:

  • For applications covered by the annual limit, the new list will apply to all applications by Tier 2 sponsors for restricted certificates of Sponsorship made on or after 14 November 2011.
  • For applications outside the annual limit, the new list will apply to all unrestricted certificates of sponsorship assigned to migrants on or after 14 November 2011.

Employers can only bring someone into the UK under Tier 2 if the job is on the shortage occupation list, or if they pass a resident labour market test (i.e. no suitable resident workers apply after advertising the job in the UK first for 4 weeks).

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Actuaries Back On the Government’s Shortage Occupation List

Posted on 12 September 2011 | Leave a comment

The Government has just published a 243 page document providing a full review of the recommended shortage occupation lists for the UK and Scotland.

Chapter 7 gives The recommended UK shortage occupation list and Page 207 lists:

Qualified actuary working in the life assurance, general insurance, and health and care sectors, etc;

Please be aware that The Professions definition of Qualified Actuaries includes Associates as well as Fellows.

As you can see the listing is ambigous in the use of the word – “etc”.

Updates will be posted to The GAAPS Blog once matters are clarified.

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Posted in Immigration, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Life, news, Pensions, Property and Casualty / Non-Life / General, Risk, Solvency II, Trustees, UK, Wider Fields

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Immigration Update

Posted on 1 July 2011 | Leave a comment

UK immigration changes which took effect in April 2011 have altered the process for employers looking to sponsor migrants on Tier 2 visas. They are now even more complicated.

So far, in April, May and June 2011 the total number of Certificates approved by the UK Border Agency has been less than the monthly quota. So, this route is a viable one, once the employer is prepared to take the extra step. The fact that the number of sponsorships issued is lower than the number available seems to us to demonstrate how convoluted this process is.

The limit of Tier 2 applications is now set on a monthly basis. In order for a UK employer to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for a new position, an application first needs to be made to the UK Border Agency, once the employer has identified the individual they wish to sponsor.

The UK Border Agency has a set quota of applications it can approve each month. Where the total number of applications in a month exceeds the monthly quota, the UK Border Agency ranks them according to a basic points test on salary and qualifications etc.

Once the employer is given permission to sponsor the migrant, then a Certificate of Sponsorship is issued and the migrant applies for a Tier 2 visa in the normal manner.

There are exceptions to the monthly quota – those being sponsored through Intra Company Transfers, migrants already working in the UK etc.

These changes do not affect migrants looking to work in the UK on Ancestry visas nor Youth Mobility Scheme visas which are now only available to citizens of Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand.

The Post Study Work visa still exists but it is earmarked to be abolished by
April 2012.

Please note that the general information contained in this post s provided free and for information purposes only. Whilst we believe that the contents of the e-mail are accurate GAAPS doesn’t accept any responsibility for loss arising from reliance upon it.  GAAPS does not provide advice on immigration matters. For advice about specific cases you should seek advice from your immigration adviser.
The above information was provided to us by Tim McMahon (the director of Common Wealth Immigration).

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Posted in Immigration, Insights, International, news, UK

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Interim Immigration: Panel Meets Today

Posted on 4 March 2011 | Leave a comment

The monthly panel meeting to consider applications for certificates of sponsorship (CoS) under the Tier 2 General interim limit will take place today.

Valid applications that were received on or before the 1 March 2011 will be considered  and all sponsors who have made such an application will be notified of the outcome by 11 March 2011.

You can continue to use the existing CoS (AR) form after 1 March 2011 to apply for certificates of sponsorship for extensions of Tier 2 (General) or work permit leave where the leave expires before the proposed introduction of the permanent limit on 6 April 2011 but applications made using this form after 1 March for new jobs or for switching into Tier 2 (General) will not be accepted.

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Posted in Immigration, Interim Management, news, UK

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Tier 2 Codes of Practice

Posted on 2 March 2011 | Leave a comment

The annual update to the codes of practice for sponsored skilled workers have been published by the UK border agency.

This should be used by an employer who wants to sponsor a potential employee under TIer 2 of the points-based system. These codes of practice should be used to check the skill level and appropriate pay for that job and to find out where the job must be advertised in the UK before it can be offered to a migrant worker.

Additionally, fee increases to immigration and nationality applications have been proposed.

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Posted in Immigration, International, UK

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Actuaries Eligible to Apply for Tier 2 Work Permits

Posted on 23 February 2011 | 1 Comment

The statement of intent regarding transitional measures for Tier 2 of the points based visa system confirms that Actuaries, Finance Analysts and all graduate level occupations are eligible to be sponsored for a Tier 2 work permit.

The Youth Mobility Scheme visa (new name for Working Holiday visa) will allow citizens of Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to work in the UK for 2 years. Applicants need to be between 18 and 30.

We thank Commonwealth Immigration for providing this information.

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Posted in Australia, Canada, Immigration, International, Japan, New Zealand, UK

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Australia: State Migration Plans Open

Posted on 21 February 2011 | Leave a comment

All states / territories in Australia are now looking to attract migrants through their State Migration Plans.

This allows states to select migrants according to state specific occupation lists – i.e. what occupations are in acute shortage in that state. State sponsored migrants are processed as priority applicants, so this is a preferred option for many migrants.

States such as Western Australia and South Australia have long lists of occupations that they will consider for sponsorship. Other states such as Queensland and New South Wales are more specific – often targeting specific industry sectors that they want to develop.

It is important for migrants to remember that your occupation is not the sole factor in obtaining approval under a State Migration Plan. English language ability, available financial resources and employment research are additional factors that many states see as vital.

Furthermore, some occupations are subject to a quota. For instance, the state of Victoria has recently stopped accepting applications for ICT occupations, having received the limit of places under the annual quota for such occupations.

State Migration Plans are an increasingly important part of migration to Australia. The criteria varies from state to state and is often subjective – how can the applicant show he / she will settle successfully in that state.

Applicants intending to apply for residency through State sponsorship need specialist advice in making an application and demonstrating their suitability to that State.-

We thank Commonwealth Immigration for providing this information.

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Posted in Australia, Immigration, International

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Revised Tier 2 Visa Guidelines

Posted on 16 February 2011 | 1 Comment

The UK Government has issued a statement of intent for the revised Tier 2 Guidelines that apply to work visas applied for by a sponsoring company.

The changes, subject to Parliamentary scrutiny, will come into effect from 6 April 2011.

In addition to a limit on migrant numbers, changes will be made to the eligibility criteria.

The threshold skill level will be increased from National Qualification Framework level 3 to graduate degree level. Consequently, many occupations will no longer be eligible for the Tier 2 (General) visa. This doesn’t affect normal graduate level recruitment (or skilled occupations requiring a higher degree or extensive experience).

For those migrants subject to the limit the employer will need to apply for a Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS), these will be allocated once every month.

The employer will need to make a number of checks before applying for the Restricted CoS, for example, to establish whether the occupation is on the Shortage Occupation List and that the job meets minimum applicable salary requirements.

If the number of eligible application exceeds the limit for a given month, applications will be prioritised using a ranking system such as that detailed in the statement of intent.

When the CoS is issued to a migrant he/she will have to also apply for an entry clearance visa provided he/she has sufficient points, appropriate salary for the job, maintenance provision (as now) and appropriate level of English.

This information is not intended to be exhaustive and should not be exclusively relied upon. The full statement can be found on the UK Border Agency’s website:

www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk

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Posted in Immigration, International, news, UK

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