Sourcing talent from overseas can be a great way to diversify your workforce and breathe new life into a business. However, if you want to bring in talent from abroad, there are various things you need to consider. Indeed, with changes to the UK’s immigration system happening in 2024, it’s important to understand your obligations before you search for new staff members. Like all things in business, an effective recruitment strategy should be a combination of knowledge and delegation of tasks to experts.
The Basics Aren’t Enough
Most people know the basics insofar as you need the relevant visas to employ people from overseas. How you get said authorisation is a matter for the experts. That’s why any business wanting to employ foreign workers should seek the advice of qualified immigration lawyers. Companies of all sizes – right up to Samsung and TM Lewin – use immigration lawyers like Reiss Edwards to ensure the recruitment process runs as efficiently as possible.
Experienced lawyers not only know how the UK’s immigration system works from a practical perspective, but they’re also on top of the latest changes. This allows them to offer personalised advice, help businesses obtain the relevant permissions to recruit from overseas and deal with any unforeseen issues. Trying to navigate the immigration system alone is time-consuming and fraught with risk as one mistake could jeopardise an application. Therefore, if you’re a business owner who wants to hire people from overseas, working with a reputable immigration law firm should be seen as a necessary business expense.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should go into a situation blind. The basics aren’t everything, but you should understand the fundamental requirements first and foremost to know if hiring foreign workers is suitable or not. Therefore, it pays to familiarise yourself with the basics before you enlist the services of an immigration lawyer. This will give you an overview of how sponsor licences and skilled worker visas work and the fact that you can’t simply recruit anyone.
You Can’t Be on Top of Everything
You need to have the resources to meet this requirement if you want to employ overseas workers. However, more importantly, you need to understand that the system has changed three times over the last few years. You could easily miss these changes because, unsurprisingly, you’re focused on your own business. This, again, is the reason for retaining the services of an immigration lawyer. Indeed, the minimum salary is just one requirement you and overseas workers need to comply with. Staying on top of everything is, at best, tricky.
Immigration laws are as important as data protection laws and UK tax laws if you want to expand your workforce by hiring people from overseas. You can and should do the groundwork before you enlist the services of an expert. However, don’t think you can stop there and get a handle on the immigration system overnight. Not only is the system packed with requirements, it’s constantly evolving. That’s where immigration lawyers come into their own. They can keep you ahead of the curve and ensure your desire to employ people from overseas is fulfilled efficiently and, importantly, in compliance with the latest laws.
