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UK Visas for IT Workers
There are three main ways for companies to bring IT staff to the UK, Intra-company Transfer, Shortage Occupations and Tier 2. These visa schemes are operated via the government body WPUK which oversees all immigration into the UK.
Contents
Intra-company Transfer
The Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) route was originally designed for employers wishing to transfer ‘established employees’ with ‘company specific knowledge and experience' to a skilled position in a UK branch of their organisation. The ICT visa route has been the most widely used and abused visa program with the majority of IT workers now coming to the UK via this visa.
Shortage Occupations
The Shortage Occupation route aims to enable employers’ rapid access to skills that are acknowledged and listed as being in short supply in the UK. In September 2002, all IT-related skills and occupations were cleared from the list.
Tier 2 "Advertised Jobs"
The Tier 2 requires an employer to demonstrate that they have tested the labour market for their desired skills, qualifications and experience.
Total Numbers of Visas Granted
Between 2000 and 2004 over 110,000 IT workers have entered the UK on employee backed schemes. The graph below shows the relative number per each visa type.
Number of Visas issued by type
Which Companies benefit from this ICT Visa program
The majority of companies which benefit from the ICT visa program are Indian or US firms, so the UK exchequer does not even benefit from the increased profits these firms make from their availability to offshore wage rates in the UK. The profit margins of these companies are up to 30% compared to 10% for UK based IT firms not using the ICT visa program.
| TCS India | 10,683 |
| Wipro Ltd UK branch India | 4,962 |
| Mahindra-British Telecom Ltd | 3,679 |
| Mastek (UK) Ltd | 2,980 |
| Infosys Technologies Ltd | 2,614 |
| Xansa UK Ltd | 1,891 |
| Accenture UK Ltd | 1,754 |
| Satyam Computer Services Ltd | 1,553 |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions Ltd | 11,553 |
| Redbrigade Corporation | 737 |
See also
| This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the GNU FDL article UK Visas for IT Workers on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article | WP |
