HSMP - question as an employer

I just chaired an interview panel today in which we decided to offer the post to a Chinese national. He told us that he has just been accepted into (as?) HSMP (he's recently completed a Ph.D.) and therefore does not need a work permit. However, he also said something about needing to extend his current visa and that a letter from us would help him do so.

I'm confused. Does anyone here know how these things work for someone who is already in the country.

Yes.  If he has an HSMP then he can work in any capacity as long as it is senior level and reflects his skills, so he will probably be permitted to take your job.  When an HSMP is issued, it is issued for one year, at the end of which it can be extended for a further three years.  I imagine that his first year is nearly up.  In order to get the extension, he needs to show that he is either in employment, in business, or is actively looking for something suitable, and a letter from you would certainly help him to do this.  HSMP extensions are usually fairly straight forward matters if the candidate is in suitable employment, so you have no need to worry about any lack of continuity if you do choose to employ him.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

Regards

Victoria

Victoria, many thanks for your answer.

Unfortunately, I don't think things are so straight-forward. From what I understand, he received the HSMP in the last month or two so this would be his first job under it. However, the post is not very skilled - it's for 10 months at a low salary and does not require a degree. (As it turned out, our applicants all had at least undergraduate degrees and two had PhDs).

Do you think he'll be allowed to work in this post?

Hello,

People with HSMP visa can work at any kind of position, being it a minimum wage pay or something in the range of their experience or education. As a Canadian on HSMP visa here, and having many friends with the same visa that have already passed their first year of stay in the UK and got their ILR, I know that too many Highly Skilled Migrants from that programme started at very low positions due to a fact that the UK employers don't really know what this visa is all about and don't want to give the HSMP visa holders highly paid jobs until they are sure that HSMP visa holder can stay longer than that initial one year that they get. After one year when their visa is prolonged (as somebody above explained it is a pretty straight forward process where HSMP visa holder only need to prove that he/she didn't use public funds and that he/she was economically active or was trying to be by applying for jobs or has opened a business), HSMP visa holders seem to get more "lucky" and are treated as they should be by employers and get proper jobs. It's pitty in my opinion that a PhD has to apply for a low paid job just to survive during that first year. It's also a pitty that UK employers don't know much about HSMP visa which was tailored specifically for them by their own government.

You can read more about that programme and its applicants/receipents at newcomer link: http://www.immigrationboards.com [nonactive]
or at the government's web site newcomer link: http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/working_in_the_uk/en/homepage/schemes_and_programmes/hsmp.html? [nonactive]

HSMP visa holder's spouse can also work in any kind of job.

Rose

PS: I am a Canadian on HSMP visa that arrived here 6 weeks ago, have an MBA and two undergrad degrees, many years of experience in the IT/Business/consulting field, and still am not sure when and if I will get a "proper" job that will fit my level of expertise/education here in the UK. So far, no interviews.... and I have to feed three kids... maybe I should apply for some low paid jobs too...

Some further information about HSMP visa holders and how and under what criteria an FLR (IED) can be obtained for them after their first year in the UK can be found at:

newcomer link: http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/working_in_the_uk/en/documents/all_forms.Maincontent.0104.file.tmp/FLR(IED [nonactive] )[1].doc

I hope this will be helpful

Rose

In order to get the extension, you have to have been working in the field which you said you would be working in when you made the initial application.  If you apply to come to the UK to work as a Doctor, and at the end of that time you can only show that you have been working as a security guard and have made no attempt to find work in your chosen field, the applictaion will be refused.

SFgirl - to work for your company would not be illegal, whatever was said on his initial application.  It is simply the case that he may not get an extension approved if it is not in his stated field.

Victoria

Hi again,

I am sorry to rock your boat, and with all due respect for your professional knowledge about immigration (I found a factual mistake on your web site, by the way after checking it out for only a minute and than didn't bother anymore, sorry), but if you check newcomer link: http://www.immigrationboards.com [nonactive] you'll see that people on the HSMP visa have been working as cashiers at TESCO for a couple of months (for example) during their first 12 months (and nowhere else), got their visa extension after 12 months, and shared information about that at newcomer link: http://www.immigrationboards.com [nonactive] . There are also some other immigration experts advising on that board explaining how salary and job level (and even if HSMP holder worked or not) during first 12 months are not controversial when it comes to extending the visa, as long as a visa holder did not use public funds, was looking for work, or was economically active (in any job/position not just "your field").
Also, I have never said in what particular field I am going to work when I arrived to the UK as an HSMP visa holder. Having two degrees (in different fields and from different countries), an MBA and some other diplomas (one post. grad) in between, I really can work in at least 5 fields to be consistent with my education and experience, which was backed up with my documents in the HSMP application process. So that "in your field clause" you mentioned is very transparent in many people's cases and (what is more important) is not mentioned anywhere in the official Home Office documents related to the HSMP. If it is, please share them here with us.
To go back to the Chinese gentleman with PhD and HSMP visa... After looking for work and not getting it in your field(s), one must feed a family and can end up as a cashier at TESCO for example. Many of the HSMP holders did exactly that but managed to get their HSMP visa extension. Nobody's crazy (like a doctor from your example) to work as a security guard just for fun while being of some respectful profession at the same time. Of course that everybody on HSMP visa is looking for work in their field, but if that doesn't come as planned, the UK government will still issue an extension after 12 months if you prove you've been looking for work "in your field(s)" while working as a cashier at TESCO. Even if you didn't work at all (but maybe had enough savings to live on them during 12 months), but made an effort to find a job, you will still get an extension. Under "made an effort" the government needs to see where did you send resumes, if you had interviews, registered with recruiters etc. So, the Chinese applicant with a PhD and an HSMP visa can work anywhere and for any salary (which was original question posted here), and still get his HSMP visa extended (which is of only that guy's concern and not of his employer's). I doubt though that he is also not looking for work in "his field" at the same time, which is a quite normal thing and would be irrational to think he's not.

The bottom line of all of this - what is the reason that an HSMP can work in any position (or not at all) and still get an extension? The Home Office knows that very often 12 months is not enough for people to get settled in HSMP holders' original "fields" of work (sometimes due to ignorance that UK employers show when stumble upon an HSMP visa holder as they are reluctant to hire those applicants when they see that initial visa is for only 12 months and are not sure if the applicant will still be in the UK after that time), but as long as the HSMP holders did not use public funds (even if they work they are not entitled to them!), their visa extension will be granted as the UK needs highly skilled people for the years to come. So, maybe that HSMP holder couldn't get a job during those 12 months, but he/she will one day... In my personal opinion, the fact that visa is stamped for only 12 months initially is a huge obstacle for most HSMP holders as they need to be lucky to find an employer who will understand that it can be extended after that easily and are willing to give them a job in "their field".

In any case, this situation in the UK is still much better than in Canada where highly skilled professionals trained/educated in other countries and without that infamous "Canadian experience" have minimal chances to work in their fields at all. Canada has too many doctors/engineers/architects/teachers... driving cabs and delivering pizzas or working at factories for minimum wage that it is scary, but that is another story...

I absolutely appreciate your points, and as i have said, the problem with an extension would occur if they applicant had not shown that they have made an attempt to find work in their field.

Victoria

Rose, thanks very much for your help and good luck with the job search.

I too feel sad that this person is applying for such an unskilled post but since we're a university research group there's a good chance that he'll benefit from it.