eFinancialCareers

Students with non-EU passports who want graduate banking jobs in the UK need to keep an eye on the new immigration rules currently being phased in by the UK government.

The existing highly fragmented immigration rules are being replaced by a five-tier system which hasn’t yet been finalised but is already showing signs of extreme complexity!

Tier 1 encompasses what is currently the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) and the International Graduate Scheme (IGS). The HSMP ends on 30 June and has already closed to applicants in the UK and India. Its replacement is the Tier 1 General category for highly skilled workers. The IGS ends on 29 June and will be replaced by the Tier 1 Post Study Work visa.

Key changes

• Tier 1 applicants will now need to show a bank balance of at least £2.8k, or equivalent, for three months prior to application.

• Obtaining an MBA from a top business school will no longer guarantee automatic immigration status as a highly skilled worker after 30 June.

• The Post Study Work visa will allow non-EU students with a Bachelors degree from a UK university to work for two years after their course finishes, instead of just one. After two years, graduates working in investment banks should be earning enough to switch to a Tier 1 General visa for highly skilled workers, says Shahram Taghavi, immigration specialist with solicitors Simons Muirhead & Burton.

Tier 2 will be introduced in October this year to replace the existing work permit scheme, under which most non-EU graduates are currently hired onto training programmes.

Details of the new system remain unclear, but the effects could be significant. For example, Owen Davies, senior solicitor with immigration specialists Fragomen, says the normal milkround may not quality as a valid Tier 2 recruitment process. He adds that banks are lobbying hard to ensure that it is accepted, and adds, “Students need to keep checking the rules because things are changing very fast.”

Banks are wary of commenting openly on the new system while it is still in flux.

The graduate recruitment manager at one global investment bank says, “We have already noticed that work permit applications are taking longer. We don’t tend to employ people on the IGS and would still not be keen if the period is extended to two years, as we hope to keep our graduates much longer than that.” She adds, however, that her bank expected to be able to hire the graduates they wanted, even if the rules became more stringent.

Click here for more information on the new immigration rules.