Conditions of employment
Tier 2 visa holders must observe certain conditions of employment. A Tier 2 visa holder is only permitted to work in the specific job for which his/her visa was issued, and may also take supplementary work, subject to any necessary departmental or college approval, providing that all of the following conditions are observed:
- the supplementary work is in the same profession as the job specified on the Certificate of Sponsorship* e.g. a University Lecturer may take up supplementary teaching or research for another department or organisation, or the supplementary work is in a job which is on the UKBA's 'shortage occupation list';
- the supplementary work is at the same professional level as the job specified on the Certificate of Sponsorship, e.g. it is paid at the same level;
- the supplementary work is for no more than 20 hours per week; and
- the supplementary work is outside the working hours covered by the Certificate of Sponsorship.
*Note that the UK Border Agency does not consider University research and University teaching as the same profession. Therefore, a University researcher would not normally be permitted to undertake additional teaching work as 'supplementary employment'.
If, however, a University researcher has some teaching responsibilities as part of the role for which their Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship was issued, and the teaching responsibilities were noted on the Certificate of Sponsorship, then the migrant may take additional teaching work as 'supplementary employment', providing this also complies with the above rules for supplementary employment.
Migrants do not require permission from the UK Border Agency to take supplementary employment that meets the above conditions.
In addition, Tier 2 visa holders must also observe the following conditions:
- they will have no access to state benefits;
- they will register with the police within the required timeframe and report any changes to the police, as required (it should be clear on the migrant's visa whether they are required to register with the police, but for further information please see Police Registration);
- they will not start up or run a business;
- all payments (including salary) made to migrants sponsored under Tier 2 must be made into the migrant's own bank account. Sponsored migrants must not be paid in cash. This applies to both new migrants who are sponsored after 6 April 2011, and to any existing sponsored migrants. In the case of new migrants, the UK Border Agency will allow a period of three months from the date they start work in the UK for the migrant to open an account and for payments to start being made into that account.