UK Employer Sponsored Work Visas and Permits

A UK Work Permit is granted by Work Permits UK for a job where the employer cannot easily find a suitable person working in the UK and the prospective employee has the required qualifications and or skills and experience.

The employer wishing to sponsor a UK Work Permit will need to show Work Permits UK that they are a viable business and that they have a genuine requirement that can be fulfilled by the prospective employee.

The work permit will be issued by Work Permits UK for a specific person and a specific job. The UK work permit scheme is designed to let UK employers recruit or transfer people from outside the EEA and this includes bringing people to the UK for training and work experience.

• Tier 1 UK Work Permit: issued by Work Permits UK for professions that are on the Skills Shortage Occupation List. Tier 1 work permits in the UK require less evidence to be produced to prove that a person could not easily be found, as Work Permits UK have already recognised that there are a shortage of people in the UK with those skills.
• Tier 2 UK Work Permit: issued by Work Permits UK for those professions that do not fall into the Tier 2 Work Permit category.
• Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES): issued by Work Permits (UK) for the purposes of training an individual. This is a shorter term working permit and further information can be found on our TWES Work Permit Page.
• Intra-Company Transfer: issued by Work Permits (UK), this Working Permit is designed to allow overseas employers to bring key members of staff to their UK office.

If you are the employer, have selected your prospective employee and would like us to assist with your work permit application to Work Permits (UK) then we have an online UK work permit application process that you can use to instantly request a free assessment of the potential work permit application and engage our application services.

If you would like more information about how to gain a UK Work Permit for your prospective employee or extend an existing employer sponsored work permit then please contact us for further information.


You need to ensure your prospective employees have the legal right to work - we process all transfer, work permit and visa applications for you and your prospective employees and represent the work permit application directly to Work Permits (UK) on your behalf.

Work Permits (UK) state that it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that whoever they employ has the right to work in the UK, whether this is by way of an Employer Sponsored Work Permit, the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), the Working Holidaymaker Visa, dependent of a work permit holder in the UK or by way of a variety of other visas that give the right to work in the UK.

You will also be aware of several Eastern European countries now becoming part of the EU.

This means that work permits per se are not required but Worker Registration Applications for nationals of these new countries is required.

It is also possible that you could take advantage of the IGS (The International Graduates Scheme).

The scheme allows non-EEA nationals who have graduated from UK higher or further education establishments to remain in the UK for 12 months after their studies in order to pursue a career.

This could save you a fair amount of time. It needs to be evaluated and applied for very carefully considering tight guidelines.

You may also be able to apply under the Sectors Based Scheme whereby workers from Bulgaria and Romania can enter the United Kingdom to take short-term or casual jobs.