Following a court judgment in December, the UK Government has announced the temporary limit of Employer Sponsorship Licences that will be in effect until 5 April 2011.
The number of certificates of sponsorship that are available to Employer Sponsorship Licence holders under Tier 2 (General) is now set at 10,832.
The Divisional Court judgement of 17 December 2010 in the cases brought by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and the English Community Care Association found that in order for the Government’s interim UK immigration limit policy to have legal effect the level of the limit should be specified in the Immigration Rules, as opposed to UK Border Agency guidance.
The Statement of Changes, specifying the level of the Tier 2 (General) interim limit in the Immigration Rules and also close the Tier 1 (General) category of the Immigration Rules to persons applying from outside the United Kingdom., remedies the matter.
Immigration Minister Damian Green said: “This ruling is about process, not policy - the policy of having a limit has not been found to be unlawful. The court's ruling rests on a technicality, which we have set right today to ensure that from now on the interim limit is back up and running.
“This judgment does not affect the annual cap in any way. The interim limit was a temporary measure introduced specifically to tackle a rush of applications ahead of the introduction of the annual limit,” Mr Green said.
