Recruitment and Retention – Tier 2 Visa Sponsorship

Has your practice considered becoming a Tier 2 sponsorship license holder? This licence will allow you to employ non-EEA workers, which can help support clinical recruitment and retention as follows:

• Many practices have been carrying vacancies for a considerable length of time and this provides an additional source of candidates
• It is a way of keeping good GP Trainees locally. ST3s qualify at two points in each year (Feb & Aug). A proportion of doctors training to be GPs locally require a Tier 2 visa to be able to continue to live and work in the UK (in June 2018, there were over 400 non-EEA GP Registrars nationally)
• There are other GPs already working in the UK on a Tier 2 visa who may wish to change employers and will need a sponsor
• Australian and New Zealand GPs who are now applying to the International GP Recruitment Programme will need a Tier 2 visa to live and work in the UK (this will expand to USA and Canada). Interest from these countries has already been high
• Other roles in general practice may require sponsorship in future
• Due to Brexit, we are unsure what will happen from an immigration point of view and securing a license may help to future-proof your practice
• Your 4-year licence means you are ready to go if you already know you are going to have a further vacancy in the near future e.g. from planned retirement – and means you can already widen your applicant pool

The application process can seem daunting/complex, so the national NHS England team are offering both administrative and financial support to organisations (costs relating to sponsorship are reimbursed).

Please click on the links below to view guidance documentation regarding the application process for Tier 2 sponsors:

Tier 2 FAQs & Guidance

Visa Reimbursement Form V1.0

Tier 2 DoH Guide

Tier 2 Visa Application Guide

For further information and advice, please contact Gemma Bradshaw or Kerry Porter (Primary Care Workforce Programme Managers for GM):

Gemma Bradshaw – gemma.bradshaw1@nhs.net – 07771 339160

Kerry Porter – kerryporter1@nhs.net – 07702 411263