BUSINESS DAY
The revelation that fraudsters posing as United Kingdom (UK) skilled worker visa agents are preying on unsuspecting foreign nationals including Nigerians, offering them fake job opportunities requires that applicants become more circumspect.
An investigation by Sky News uncovered how victims are losing substantial amounts of money as they fall prey to these fraudulent job offers under the UK Skilled Worker visa system. This validates the need for a guide to understanding the process as well as red flags to avoid.
Skilled Worker Visa System
The UK skilled worker visa system allows applicants to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with an approved employer. It replaced the Tier 2 (General) work visa and also allows work in UK waters.
Long-term sponsored work visas granted to main applicants increased more than two and a half times (+161%) in 2022, from 63,757 in 2019 to 166,408 according to UK Home Office data.
Who is eligible
The visa is open to individuals who attain 70 points by meeting specific eligibility requirements such as skill and salary level, English language ability and having a qualifying job offer from a UK employer with a valid sponsorship licence.
The Skilled Worker visa makes provision for spouses, ‘durable’ partners, and dependent children to apply to join the main visa applicant in the UK as Skilled Worker dependants.
A skilled Worker visa is granted for up to five years, after which the worker can become eligible to apply for UK Indefinite Leave to Remain.
While the UK skilled worker visa system has become popular among applicants, an investigation by UK-based Sky News found that the skilled worker visa system is being abused, with middlemen allegedly being paid huge sums of money to arrange jobs in the UK as carers who do not exist.
How to Avoid Scams
Understand the rules. The seeming complexity of the visa system has led many to seek the aid of agents or middlemen. Usually, immigration lawyers play a role, but an applicant needs to understand how the process works.
It starts with attaining 70 points to be eligible. The applicable 70 points threshold for a Skilled Worker visa is made up of 50 points for mandatory or ‘non-tradeable’ criteria (i.e.; the job offer, speaking English, and the requisite skill level for the job on offer), and 20 points for what is classed as ‘tradeable’ criteria.
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