The processing times for Tier 2 work permit applications has been increased due to a high volume of requests for renewals.
According to the UK Border Agency (UKBA), a large number of sponsors have applied to renew their allocation of certificates of sponsorship for the 2012/13 year.
This has pushed up the processing times for requests and applicants are being warned of a short delay in proceedings. Work is being done to clear the backlog and the UKBA aims to have the majority of allocation requests submitted before April 6th completed by May 4th this year.
The delay is the latest in a line of immigration issues that the Home Office has had to deal with and will be unwelcome news to those who need to organise their allocation of certificates of sponsorship urgently for sponsored workers who need to extend their leave to remain in the UK, especially given the government crackdown on allocations in the first place.
Some prevision has been made for urgent cases, however, and sponsors whose overseas worker's leave to remain expires on or before May 4th 2012 are invited to contact the UKBA directly with their specific case details. All other requests for certificates of sponsorship will be dealt with in date order.