Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship

A Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is used in the most part for ‘out of country’ applications which are subject to the Immigration Cap. Unrestricted CoS’s are used in the case of ‘In Country’ extension or switching applications which do not have any effect on the Immigration Cap.

To apply for a restricted CoS a Sponsor must submit an application to the UKBA by the 5th of the month and then wait for approval before assigning the CoS to a prospective employee.

In the current financial year the Immigration Cap has been set to 20,700 with the total number of available certificates divided up each month. The Cap may change after the 5th April 2014. Points are awarded based on the following:

Priority is given to those roles detailed on the Shortage Occupation List, THEN
Those who apply to work in a role which requires a PhD and is in the research field, THEN
Those who have carried out a Resident Labour Market Test with higher level salaries attracting more points.

Croatian citizens don’t need a restricted certificate.