Labour market test no longer required by the Home Office
Labour market test (job advertising) is no longer required in UK Work visas applications.However, in many instances conducting labour market test mayprove to be useful or advisable for certain applicants,
Why use labour market test (job advertising)
Labour market test is not required anymore for most work visas to the UK. However, there are still situations when conducting labour market test may be required or advisable. Home Office requires sponsors to document how their prospective overseas workers were recruited. That is required to ensure that no suitable settled worker has been overlooked when the vacancy was filled.
Important factor that makes labour market test crucial for many sponsor licence applications is genuiness of the vacant position. Home Office must be persuaded that the job offered to a foreign national is genuinely needed and not simply a plot to grant someone visa to the UK.
For those reasons many applicants should consider conducting market labour test. Even though it is not Home Office formal requirement.
How to conduct labour market test
Someone who applies for a sponsor licence has to retain evidence of any recruitment activity they have undertaken. Sponsor should be able to prove to the Home Office that the job he offers to a migrant is genuinely needed. In order to do so it may be useful to conduct labour market test.
After conducting the test sposor licence applicant should keep a record of the procedure. Those records include detail of the adverising for the job if such adverts were published.
Even when the role was not advertised the applicant for sponsor licence should be able to explain to the Home Office how the worker was recruited.
If the applicant decides to advertise the job, he has to retain following information:
First proof/evidece document
- a screenshot, printout or photocopy of the advert, or a record of the text of the advert; and
- information about where the job was advertised (for example, website address), and for how long
Home Office does not give guidance about the exact types of sites or media where the adverts should be placed. They also do not specify whether the advert should be publish in one or more places/sites.
Second proof/evidence document
A record of the number of people who applied for the job, and the number of people shortlisted for interview or for other stages of the recruitment process also have to be recorded.
Third proof/evicence document
At least one item of evidence that shows how the worker was employed. Those documents/items include:
- a copy or summary of the interview notes for the successful candidate
- a list of common interview questions used for all candidates as part of your selection process
- brief notes on why the successful candidate was selected and why other candidates were rejected
- information about any scoring or grading process you used to identify the successful candidate
- any other relevant information or evidence
There is no need for you to retain application forms, CVs, interview notes or any other personal data relating to unsuccessful candidates.
In case when there was no job advertising
When the applicant did not advertise the position he has to show evidence of how the worker was recruited. That may include:
- the worker identified through a university milk round – you should retain evidence of the milk round as described in Section A, paragraph (h) above
- he was already legally working for you on another immigration route and you established they were suitable for the role through their previous performance
- the worker applied to you outside of a formal advertising campaign (made a ‘speculative’ application) and you were satisfied (for example, by interviewing them and/or checking references or qualifications) they had the necessary skills and experience to do the job
