Although there is no longer a formal requirement to conduct a resident labour market test (‘RLMT’) and to advertise roles externally in a prescribed format, there are still elements of record keeping duties that remain in place.
In particular, employers must retain evidence of any recruitment activity that has been undertaken for a role that has been sponsored. Upon request, an employer will need to show that that there is a genuine vacancy and that the individual has the required skills in order to be able to fulfil the duties of the role. The Home Office will want to be satisfied that the role is genuine.
The evidence that will need to be kept will depend on the specific circumstances of the applicant and the route in which the employer has sponsored the worker.
If an advertisement was placed, there is no longer a specified minimum number of adverts, or a prescribed method but it is recommended that evidence of these advertisements are retained, along with details of the process i.e. number of people who applied, number shortlisted/interviewed and any other stages of the recruitment process. This will apply to both internal and external advertisements.
If an advertisement was not placed, sufficient evidence will still need to be retained to illustrate how the worker was identified.
Other categories may be individuals that are switching roles from a different visa category, changing roles whilst remaining with the same employer or those that were identified through a university Milkround. This list is non exhaustive and there are a large number of recruitment methods.
We help employers understand the record keeping requirements that would be applicable to them, ensuring compliance and maintaining integrity of sponsors to allow them to comply with their obligations and ensure that they retain the required documents, should they be requested by Home Office officials.
This requirement applies to all Worker (including Tier 2/Skilled Worker) and Temporary Worker routes (including Tier 5).
