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Enhanced accessibility
The 2021 system will significantly change the UK’s immigration landscape for FS employers. While large scale change takes time and will be costly to implement, there is some good news of note. [...]
Costs to rise dramatically for UK FS businesses under the new ‘single global system’
The new unified system means that EU nationals arriving to work in the UK from 2021 will generally have to qualify under the Skilled Worker route. Given there is currently no immigration cost or additional process when hiring an EU national, the new financial and administrative impact will be significant. For EU nationals entering the UK workforce from 2021, the cost to UK firms rises from zero to around £8,400 for a five-year sponsored visa (for the main applicant only) or £9,500 if proposed increases to the Immigration Health Surcharge take effect.
There is no mention in the proposals so far of any intention to remove or reduce these charges – on the contrary the intention is to ‘levy the charge as now’. To understand the scale of that impact on operational costs, EU nationals make up 16% of the 28% non-UK workforce in financial services, and 28% of the 42% non-UK workforce in FinTech.
The Government intends to open new visa routes from Autumn 2020, so that applicants can start to apply ahead of January 2021. Many employers that previously didn’t need to hold a sponsor licence will now need to apply for one if they are to continue employing EU arrivals and non-EU nationals from 2021. [...]