UK: Tier 2 Sponsorship Quota Update

August 21, 2015

Following on from last month”s story, the minimum restricted Certificate of Sponsorship application points threshold for August 2015 has been reduced from those seen in June and July. This surprising news appears to contradict estimations that the points threshold would in fact rise this month after the unprecedented previous oversubscription.

However, this dip in points is more an anomaly than an indication that the over- subscription of the montly quota has returned to normal. The lower 36 points threshold for this month  seems instead to be a result of around 650 previously granted Certificates of Sponsorship not being used, resulting in the quota for August 2015 being raised to about 2350  allocations rather than the anticipated 1750. The likely explanation is that surprisingly a large amount of the granted Certificates in May 2015 were not actually used.

On a closer look at the data from the Home Office, a more worrying trend has emerged. Overall, from June to August 2015, there has still been an oversubscription of the quota by the hundreds despite the August 2015 round of allocations increasing by 40%. With September”s allocation looking to be reduced to around 1,500, it is more than likely that the points threshold will once again rocket next month to around 45 to 50 points.

Should employers have any questions about how these quotas may affect them, please feel free to contact us.