UK Visa and Immigration fee increases: the dilemma for employers
Published on 27th Oct 2023
A decision not to hire an overseas worker due to the costs of the visa process is potential discrimination
Despite the rhetoric around "taking control of our borders" during the Brexit debate, the eligibility thresholds for roles that qualify for sponsorship ("work permits") has fallen dramatically since Brexit. Therefore, more junior and lower paid roles can be sponsored.
Questions of cost
The UK government has recently announced they are increasing visa application fees. This has caused many companies to question the costs of employing overseas workers, especially the more junior and lower skilled.
The increase is causing employers to have some difficulties in budgeting and naturally asking if they have to sponsor a junior employee when the costs of the visa process can potentially be in excess of 20-40% of the annual salary (a family of four, for example, coming to the UK under a five-year visa can pay in excess of £23,000 in government fees – and add another £2,000 to that for priority processing). And this is before the anticipated increase in the immigration health surcharge fee.
Potential discrimination
A decision by an employer not to hire an overseas worker due to the costs of the visa process is potential discrimination. Employers are under a duty not to discriminate unlawfully against any member of staff – and this duty also covers prospective job applicants. There are some circumstances in which there may be a good enough reason for treating someone less favourably or causing a group of people a disadvantage. This potential defence is known as "objective justification".
There are extremely limited circumstances, however, where there can be a form of justification and it needs to be evidenced as “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. The economic and operational requirements of the business are examples of what could constitute a legitimate aim.
Osborne Clarke comment
We will be looking at potential discrimination, "objective justification" and the circumstances in which it can used in some detail and arranging a presentation in the near future. If you would like to register an interest, please do so here.
