The Aristos Group

UK

How To Apply For A Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence in the UK

How To Apply For A Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence in the UK

United Kingdom

With the introduction of the new Skilled Worker visa, as an employer you now need to secure a Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence. By doing this, you are able to issue Certificates of Sponsorship to potential applicants, allowing them to obtain their visa.

In addition to Skilled Worker Sponsor Licences, you are also able to apply for the following Sponsor Licences:

Some of the above licences can be applied for collectively, such as Intra Company Transfer and Skilled Worker Licences. Others, such as the Religious or Sporting categories, have their own separate application process.

In order to apply for a Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence, you must satisfy certain eligibility and suitability criteria.

Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence Eligibility Criteria

As a sponsor, you must submit evidence demonstrating that you are a genuine employer, with a lawful trading presence in the UK. In order to meet the eligibility criteria, you must provide at least four pieces of evidence as listed in Appendix A, in support of your application.

Appendix A, is split into four tables. Table 1 confirms that a public authority or a company listed on the London Stock Exchange does not have to submit documents other than those specific to the licence they are applying for. Table 2 covers starts-ups (organisations that have been trading for less than 18 months), as well as franchises and charities. Table 3 lists the specific evidence that needs to be sent for a particular tier.

Table 4 then lists all the other possible documents you could provide, one of which must be the latest set of audited accounts if the organisation is legally obliged to submit them.

Specified Evidence Required

In addition to information about the organisation, the proposed job role, and the candidate in mind, you must also tell the Home Office why you are applying for a Skilled Worker Licence.

The Home Office also requires you to nominate certain individuals to take on roles in respect of the Sponsor Licence. Anyone nominated must be primarily in the UK, and the main roles are:

  • Authorising Officer – Usually someone senior within the company or organisation, who is involved with recruitment and/or HR. This person will be ultimately responsible for the licence, and ensuring that Sponsor Licence duties are met;
  • Key Contact – The primary point of contact for the Home Office. A legal representative can undertake this role for you; and
  • Level 1 User – This person will be responsible for all day-to-day management of the Sponsor Licence through an online portal, known as the Sponsorship Management System (SMS). This person must be an employee at the time of application, however once the Sponsor Licence has been assigned, others, including legal representatives can be set up at Level 1 Users, or Level 2 Users who are able to undertake certain limited tasks on the SMS.

When deciding who to nominate for the above roles, it is important to consider whether any one of them have any adverse history – whether that be past criminal convictions, or any adverse involvement with the Home Office. Applications for Sponsor Licences have been refused in the past as a result of one or more persons character or history.

Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence Suitability Criteria

Unlike the eligibility criteria, the suitability criteria requires a much broader assessment. The Home Office will be wanting to see that your organisation is honest, dependable, and reliable, and capable of fulfilling the responsibilities that it expects from Sponsors.

The department will check the following:

  • That the sponsor has the human resource and recruitment systems in place to meet, or continue to meet their sponsor duties — the Home Office will judge this by either visiting the sponsor before or after the licence is granted;
  • That the Home Office are able to visit and conduct checks to ensure that the sponsor duties are being complied with on an immediate,
  • unannounced basis; this includes checks at any physical addresses where the sponsored employees would carry out their employment duties;
  • That the sponsor can offer a genuine vacancy which meets the criteria of the category the sponsor is applying to be licensed for;
  • If any of the key personnel within the business have an unspent criminal conviction for a relevant offence; and
  • Any evidence of previous non-compliance by the sponsor.

You must also be able to demonstrate that you can offer genuine employment that meets the skill and salary requirements under the skilled-worker route.

The Home Office will want to be satisfied that your organisation has the HR or recruitment procedure in place to meet the sponsorship duties. Sponsorship duties include reporting certain information about sponsored workers and using the sponsorship management system. If something needs to be reported, this must be done within 10 days of the event. Events that require reporting are those such as changes to start dates, or change of work location for a skilled worker.

Your sponsorship duties also include keeping records of things such as contracts of employment, salaries, and evidence of genuineness of any vacancies advertised. Appendix D: keeping records for sponsorship sets out further details.

You should be aware that the Home Office can visit you as part of the Sponsor Licence application process, to check that your systems are sufficient. This will usually occur if the organisation is newly formed, or, if the application is high risk. Not only can the Home Office inspect your organisation during the application process, they can also visit at any time whilst you are a Sponsor Licence holder. During the visit(s), the Home Office will check your HR systems, and speak to the appointed Authorising Officer. They may also ask to interview sponsored employees.

If the Home Office finds that you are not meeting your duties and obligations, they can revoke or suspend your licence, resulting in curtailment of any sponsored workers visas.

How to Submit an Application for a Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence

Your application will be made using an online application form, where you can choose the categories that you would like the Sponsor Licence to cover. You will also have to give information about the key personnel you are appointing, as well as what documents and evidence you are providing to meet the eligibility criteria set out above.

A legal representative can help you complete the form, but the guidance clearly states that it must be submitted by the Sponsor themselves.

The fee for submitting varies depending on the size of your organisation. A small company or charity will be charged £536.00, and a medium or large sized company will be charged £1,476.00.

Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence Processing Times

You might be waiting for a decision on your application for up to 8 weeks. There is a priority service which costs £500.00, and will return a decision within 10 working days.

If your application is granted, you will be issued with a Sponsor Licence valid for 4 years from the date of decision. If, however, your application is refused, there is no right of appeal and there is a six-month cooling off period.

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this:

The Migration Advisory Committee’s latest report on Brexit

The Migration Advisory Committee's latest report on Brexit

The Migration Advisory Committee (“MAC”) recently published their much awaited report on the Australian-style Points-based system as a model for the UK’s future immigration system. To many immigration lawyers, the report came as a surprise as it suggests no significant changes to the existing Points-based system that has been in place since 2008.

 

This 2020 MAC report builds on their 2018 report dealing with EU migration. In the 2018 report the MAC made radical recommendations to relax the overall requirements for a work visa under the Tier 2 (General) route, for example: abolishing the annual cap on work visas, eliminating the resident labour market test and reducing the job skills threshold. The 2020 MAC report makes it even easier for employers to sponsor highly-skilled and medium-skilled migrants by proposing to reduce the minimum salary threshold from £30,000 per year to £25,600 per year.

 

Having said the above, there are many important issues still to be addressed before the end of this year:

 

1) Employers contemplating hiring EU nationals from outside the UK from 1 January 2021 (after the end of the Brexit transition period) will require a sponsor licence, unless the Home Office introduces a new system which is streamlined and user friendly. This is likely to create a surge in demand for licences, which will create more delays due to capacity issues within the Home Office.

2) Employers seeking to recruit new workers from the EU from 1 January 2021 will face significant cost pressures as a typical Tier 2 (General) work visa valid for three years for a large company will cost approximately £5,000 in Government fees alone.

 

3) There is very little discussion surrounding low-skilled workers. The December 2018 White Paper published under Theresa May’s government describes a separate visa category to allow low-skilled workers from low risk countries with strict conditions (e.g. 12 months maximum duration with a cooling-off period of 12 months). The 2020 MAC report unfortunately does not shed any more light on what this route will look like and whether there will be any special requirements to qualify.

 

4) The proposed £25,600 minimum salary threshold is still too high for some sectors, such as the retail and consumer industry. Many franchise restaurants, for example, may not be able to pay this level of salary for their chefs. Whilst the 2020 MAC report does not suggest a variation in the minimum salary threshold across different sectors in the UK economy, the Government may need to consider this in order to address the acute shortage of workers in some sectors.

 

5) Businesses only have 11 months to prepare for the new Immigration Rules to take effect. As with the previous introduction of new rules, we foresee confusion and inconsistencies in the decision-making process by the Home Office. This is likely to cause more delays and frustration on the part of businesses and workers.

 

Whilst the new 2020 MAC report provides important information, there remains a substantial number of issues to be resolved in order to create a better immigration system that benefits employers and protects our resources (e.g. medical care, roads and social services) from being overwhelmed.

 

Given that this 2020 MAC report may not go far enough in the eyes of the Government, it is certainly possible for Mr Johnson to go beyond their recommendation. However, the administrative machinery of the Home Office may not be able to incorporate such drastic changes by the end of this year. We await the discussion of the 2020 MAC report amongst Cabinet ministers next month and it is expected that a new White Paper on the future of business immigration policy will be published shortly thereafter.

 

Employers are advised to remain vigilant for further updates.

Will the UK have a points-based system for entry?

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this:

Australian-style UK Visa Points-Based System By End Of 2020

Full details of the new system have yet to be announced

During his time as London Mayor, and upon becoming Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has called for an immigration system similar to Australia’s, in the UK. Now UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, is pushing for Britain’s Australian-style, points-based UK visa and immigration system to be in place by the end of 2020, two years earlier than originally planned. Now it seems Johnson’s Home Secretary is keen to implement an Australian-style system to coincide with the UK’s transition period with the European Union (EU).

 

The push for a points-based UK visa and immigration system has been a matter of confusion because the UK’s highly skilled, Tier 2 visa category already operates under a points-based system, with applicants currently needing a minimum of 40 points to be eligible for a UK visa.

 

At this stage, it’s unclear what an Australian-style, points-based immigration system in the UK will look like, leaving many businesses worried about how they will hire foreign staff, when Britain leaves the EU. The government has been very vague about the plans, but has made it clear that low-skilled immigration will be heavily restricted.

 

The news of Priti Patel’s push for an Australian-style immigration system in the UK by the end of 2020 comes amid comments made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the UK-Africa investment summit on 20 January.  Johnson said: “The UK should be the investment partner of choice for Africa and my government will put people before passports. Change is coming and our system is becoming fairer and more equal between all our global friends and partners, treating people the same, wherever they come from.”  “By putting people before passports, we will be able to attract the best talent from around the world, wherever they may be,” Johnson added.

 

Patel’s push for the new immigration system to be introduced by the end of 2020 has been met with heavy criticism.  Under existing UK visa and immigration plans, outlined by former Prime Minister Theresa May, there is a temporary extension of EU rules in place following Brexit, which comes to an end on 31 December, 2020.  A Confederation of British Industry (CBI) statement said: “Priti Patel’s plans could seriously impact British businesses. Companies will need at least two years to adapt to any new immigration system.”

 

The UK’s shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, said: “This is an ill-informed and reactionary policy that will damage us all, damaging to everything from the NHS to other public services and some of our key private sector industries.”  “Ministers talk about ending uncontrolled migration when they have been in office for 10 years. In reality this is just a new twist in the long Tory campaign against migrants, scapegoating them for the terrible effects of Tory policies,” Abbott added.

 

Meanwhile Christine Jardine, Home Affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, described Patel’s plans as a ‘national embarrassment’, saying that such a decision makes it very obvious that the Conservative government has no intention of ending its hostile environment policy.  Jardine said: “For business and our economy, such draconian changes to immigration rules is utterly unworkable. To think the Home Office could implement the changes in the time given is a joke.”

 

Explaining how the points-based immigration system in Australia works, Dr Alan Gamlen of Monash University in Melbourne said: “It’s a general skilled migration programme, where immigrants applying for a visa are typically selected based on ‘economically relevant characteristics’ like education, language skills and work experience.”  Dr Gamlen outlined that the exact way points are allocated is dependent on immigration policy and the state of the labour market, but generally an applicant will select a skilled occupation from a set list and must score a minimum number of points.

 

In the run up to the UK general election, Boris Johnson said that an Australian-style, points-based system in the UK would limit the number of lower-skilled immigrants allowed into the country. Johnson said that lower-skilled immigrants would only be eligible for UK entry if there was a specific skills shortage.

UK: Britain to introduce points-based immigration system - Home Secretary

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this:

U.K. Opens Door To Scientists But Warns About Low-Skilled Migrants

The U.K. will relax visa rules for top scientists this month, while pledging to clamp down on low-skilled migration

The U.K. government has promised to end free movement by EU citizens. Immigration was a key issue during the Brexit referendum and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is proposing a points-based system that prioritizes higher-skilled workers.  In a bid to ease concern that Brexit will close off Britain to top talent, Downing Street unveiled an immigration route for global talent. The so-called Global Talent route will fast-track applications for scientists, mathematicians and researchers from Feb. 20. The government said it would also invest as much as £300 million into advanced mathematics over the next five years.

 

The news was welcomed by the Royal Society, one of the four scientific bodies on the global talent route. “The Government has listened to the research community and this is an important first step in creating the visa system that we need for attracting global scientific talent,” said its president, Venki Ramakrishnan.

 

The Home Secretary Priti Patel has also warned U.K. businesses they would have to change their approach to recruitment after Brexit. “They have been far too reliant on low skills and, quite frankly, cheap labor from the EU and we want to end that.”  She said she would accept the findings of a report by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), due to be published this week. The MAC is reviewing a proposed £30,000 minimum salary threshold for migrant workers that has alarmed businesses.

 

On Friday, a coalition of companies asked Patel for a say in shaping the post-Brexit immigration system. Having been used to decades of unfettered movement of staff between the U.K. and the continent, they are concerned by an increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric since the Brexit vote in 2016. Industries such as construction, hospitality and the National Health Service are especially at risk from a lack of skilled foreign workers.

 

There are going to be great opportunities in the UK so Contact us for a confidential discussion and refer family, friends and colleagues and be rewarded.

UK opens door to scientists but warns businesses on Brexit

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this:

Boris is likely to end £30,000 immigration threshold post-Brexit

Post-Brexit immigration regime likely to mean an end to the controversial £30,000 salary floor

Boris Johnson’s new post-Brexit immigration regime is likely to mean an end to the controversial £30,000 salary floor for skilled workers, government sources have confirmed.  The independent migration advisory committee (MAC) is expected to report shortly on whether the threshold should be retained.  Downing Street will then spell out more details of an “Australian-style points-based system” – of which salary is expected to form just one element.  Government sources said it would be more “nuanced” than an across-the-board salary floor.

The £30,000 limit is currently applied to those seeking tier 2 visas – the main entry-route to the UK’s labour market for skilled workers from non-EU countries. A lower limit of £20,800 is applied to younger workers.  “The £30,000 minimum salary threshold for tier 2 visas was unnecessarily and arbitrarily high. It would have strangled the pipeline of talented younger people at the start of their careers, especially in key economic sectors such as the NHS and the creative industries.  Family visas only require a minimum salary threshold of £18,600 to be able to bring some family members to the UK.

The Conservative manifesto omitted the promise to cap net migration below 100,000 a year – a pledge that had shaped the party’s policy since it was adopted by David Cameron in 2010.  Responding to news that the £30,000 limit was likely to be dropped, the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, said it showed that the UK economy needed a broad range of workers.  “We always said their plans were unworkable, as many employers in the private and public sector need what the government insists on calling ‘low-skilled workers’. But all workers need decent pay, reasonable conditions, a right to a family life and trade union rights, wherever they are from. We will continue to fight for them,” she said.

The MAC was asked by the government last June to examine the question of salary thresholds and how a points-based system might work. In 2018, it recommended the retention of salary thresholds.  The threshold is already waived in some sectors, including in the NHS.

Contact us for a confidential discussion and refer family, friends and colleagues and be rewarded.

UK: Boris Johnson promises stricter immigration changes

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this:

UK points-based immigration system ‘to be brought in by end of 2020

Points-based immigration system could be in place two years earlier than originally planned

A points-based immigration system could be in place two years earlier than originally planned, according to reports.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is reportedly set to tell her cabinet colleagues that Britain should implement an Australian-style system before the end of the year – to coincide with the end of Britain’s transition period with the EU.  “We need to deliver change and businesses need to be prepared for uncontrolled migration of low-skilled workers to end this year.  “There is a clear drive for talented and skilled workers from around the world to come to the UK, but we also need to see a reduction in the number of unskilled workers entering the UK and that’s why this will be coming to an end.”

The reports come as Boris Johnson called for the UK to be the “investment partner of choice” for Africa and said his government would put “people before passports”.  He said: “Change is coming and our system is becoming fairer and more equal between all our global friends and partners, treating people the same, wherever they come from.  “By putting people before passports, we will be able to attract the best talent from around the world, wherever they may be.”

The prime minister announced an end to UK support in thermal coal mining and coal power plants overseas during a speech at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in Greenwich.  Far fewer of the continent’s 54 leaders are in attendance in London than went to the Russia-Africa event last year, or China’s recent investment summits.  Mr Johnson said the UK conference was “long overdue” and added: “We have no divine right to that business.  “This is a competitive world. You have many suitors.”

The UK’s existing immigration plan drawn up under Theresa May would have provided a temporary extension of EU rules after the Brexit implementation period, which comes to an end on 31 December 2020.  A change like this could impact businesses, as groups like the Confederation of British Industry previously said companies need “at least two years to adapt to any new immigration system”.

Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary, said: “This is an ill-informed and reactionary policy that will damage us all, damaging to everything from the NHS to other public services and some of our key private sector industries.  “Ministers talk about ending uncontrolled migration when they have been in office for 10 years. In reality this is just a new twist in the long Tory campaign against migrants, scape goating them for the terrible effects of Tory policies.”

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Christine Jardine said: “Decisions like this make it loud and clear that this Conservative Government has no intention of ending the hostile environment. It’s a national embarrassment.  “For business and our economy, such draconian changes to immigration rules is utterly unworkable. To think the Home Office could implement the changes in the time given is a joke.”

Dr Alan Gamlen of Monash University in Melbourne said the Australian system is a “general skilled migration programme, where immigrants applying for a visa are typically selected based on ‘economically relevant characteristics’ like education, language skills and work experience”.  He said: “The exact way points are allocated changes depending on policy and the labour market but typically an applicant picks a ‘skilled occupation’ from a list and needs to score a minimum number of points.”

During the December election, Mr Johnson said the system would mean lower-skilled workers would come to the UK when there was a specific shortage.

Contact us for a confidential discussion and refer family, friends and colleagues and be rewarded.

Points-based immigration system 'to be brought in by end of 2020'

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this:

Britain is almost out of the EU—but what next?

Boris Johnson looks like a strong prime minister, but his position with Brussels is weak

The impact of Boris Johnson’s election win was clear on January 7th when Parliament resumed consideration of the eu withdrawal bill. A huge Tory majority made the debate and votes perfunctory. The Lords may be less controllable than the Commons, but the bill will become law largely unamended so Brexit can happen on January 31st. Mr Johnson hopes then to drop the very word Brexit, arguing that trade talks will be technical stuff more suited to business than front pages.

In fact Brexit will still not be done on January 31st. Britain will move into an 11-month transition period when it must obey all the eu’s rules and keep paying into its budget. And the future talks will cover not just trade but standards, security, data exchange, fisheries, financial services, research and much else. Moreover, as Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, made clear at her meeting with Mr Johnson at Downing Street on January 8th, they will be even more difficult than the withdrawal negotiations.

Changes to the withdrawal bill will not help. It now bans by law any extension of the transition period beyond 2020. Promises to safeguard workers’ rights post-Brexit have gone, in line with Mr Johnson’s plan to escape eu regulations. And the bill dumps provisions giving mps a big role in scrutinising and voting on future deals with the eu. The aim is to avoid the misery that beset Mr Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, as she repeatedly failed to win parliamentary approval for her Brexit deal.

All this fits with a much-loved Brexit trope that the way to win a good deal in Brussels is just to hang tough. The notion is that setting firm conditions and deadlines will force the eu to make concessions, that the 27 member countries are likely to prove disunited under pressure, that the Europeans need the British more than the other way round and that sticking with Brussels’s rules is wrong in principle and also unnecessary to preserve close trade links.

On her visit to London, Mrs von der Leyen spoke eloquently of her deep friendship and admiration for Britain. Yet she was steely when talking of future relations. The end-year deadline made a comprehensive deal impossible. As a third country, Britain would have less privileged trade access. Without free movement of people, it could not have free movement of capital, goods and services. Although the eu wants a trade deal with zero tariffs and zero quotas, she added a third condition of “zero dumping”. This is code for a level playing-field under which Britain is required to observe eu rules in such fields as labour, taxes, the environment and state aid. The more Britain diverges from such rules, the greater the barriers to its exports.

The truth is that Mr Johnson, like Mrs May before him, is in a weak bargaining position. The withdrawal agreement deals with money owed after Brexit, the rights of eu citizens in Britain and, via customs checks in the Irish Sea, the guarantee of an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. The eu 27 have learnt the value of unity from previous talks, and unlike Britain they have experienced trade negotiators. And size matters: the eu accounts for almost half of Britain’s exports, while Britain takes barely a tenth of the eu’s.

The agreed political declaration also sets awkward staging posts on the way to a deal. By July 1st it envisages agreements on fish and on future regimes for financial services and data exchange. Mrs von der Leyen suggested these might rely on a system of regulatory equivalence, but she made clear this would be unilateral and could be withdrawn at any time. Even Mr Johnson’s big majority may be a weakness, suggests Maddy Thimont Jack of the Institute for Government, a think-tank. eu leaders often win arguments by claiming their parliaments cannot agree, but they know Mr Johnson is not so constrained.

The end-year deadline causes another problem. Comprehensive trade deals of the sort Mr Johnson wants are invariably “mixed” agreements that need ratification by national and regional parliaments, which typically takes years, not months. If a deal is to be ratified by next January, it must be a simple one not subject to this procedure. That points to goods trade only, with nothing on services, security and so on. And Mr Johnson’s insistence that Britain must have freedom to diverge from European regulations makes it harder to meet the timetable. David Henig, a trade expert, wonders if Britain could go for divergence in principle but not in practice. After all, most companies prefer eu rules they understand to an entirely new regime.

Some ministers suggest putting more pressure on Brussels by opening trade talks with other countries, notably America. But although Donald Trump is beguiling, trade aficionados say the Americans are even tougher than the eu. They would insist on acceptance of their food, which would stymie any deal with Europe since the eu bars much of it on health grounds. Any third country would also want to see how Britain will trade with the eu before doing bilateral deals. Besides, British negotiators will have their work cut out merely trying to roll over the 60-odd free-trade deals that the eu now has with third countries like Japan, Mexico and South Korea.

The conclusion is that, if Mr Johnson refuses to move on the transition deadline or on regulatory divergence, he will get only a bare-bones deal eliminating tariffs, but not regulatory barriers, for goods. This might be expanded in future negotiations, but only after a break in today’s close relationship. The alternative would be to leave on December 31st with no trade deal at all, but that would imply not just regulatory barriers but tariffs and quotas as well.

The industries that will suffer most from new regulatory barriers to frictionless trade are those like aerospace, cars, chemicals, food and drink, and pharmaceuticals that rely on uninterrupted supply chains across Europe. They are concentrated in the midlands and north—exactly where Mr Johnson won his new Tory majority. If his weakness in the negotiations causes him to lose favour in those areas, his new domestic strength will be at risk.

European Commission President wants 'unprecedented' Brexit trade deal by end of 2020 | ITV News

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this:

Brexit: Australian trade minister ‘can’t imagine’ visa-free travel deal with UK

‘Unfettered movement’ not likely to feature in post-Brexit talks, says Simon Birmingham

Australia has ruled out a post-Brexit trade deal involving visa-free travel and work arrangements with the UK.  The country’s trade minister, Simon Birmingham, said he “can’t imagine full and unfettered free movement” would be on the table during negotiations.

“We’re not into full negotiating mode and we will have to see what the UK aspires to, but noting that work rights and movement of people in the UK has been a big part of the European Union debate, I would be surprised if complete liberalisation around migration and labour rights was on their agenda,” Birmingham said during an interview in London with the Sydney Morning Herald.

His remarks follow suggestions by the UK international trade secretary, Liz Truss, during a visit to Australia in September of a deal to allow British citizens to live and work in the country visa-free.  Australia already has a free-movement deal with New Zealand.  About 120,000 Australians live in the UK, while 636,000 UK nationals were granted tourist, business or temporary visas in Australia in the last financial year.

Australians can visit the UK for less than six months without a visa but British tourists need one to enter Australia.

Senator Birmingham said he expected possible tweaks to existing immigration rules to allow “more flexibility”, but stressed his priority was trade.

“Negotiations for an FTA [free-trade agreement] between Australia and the UK will prioritise enhancing trade with a market that is already our eighth-largest trading partner.

“Work and visa settings may also form part of discussions but it is important to appreciate that there is a huge spectrum of grey between the black and white of no movement or unfettered movement.

“Once talks are launched with the UK we will work through all of these issues in the usual way,” he said

The UK is Australia’s eighth-largest trading partner, with two-way trade valued at A$26.9bn (£14bn) in 2018. Britain is also the second-largest source of total foreign investment in Australia.

We are keeping abreast with all things Brexit so feel free Contact us for a confidential discussion.

Brexit will 'lower trade barriers with the UK'

Facebook Linkedin Youtube
Share this: