Information for recruitment agencies

As a UK recruitment agency you are not able to apply for work permits for staff who will be working at your clients' sites. When dealing with non-European staff you have three options.

Options for non-European staff

1. Get your client to make the work permit application. This is the easiest option and need not involve much effort by your client (in most cases workpermit.com can get almost all the data from you and from the candidate, so that your client need only talk to us for 10 minutes and then sign a completed application that we e-mail to them).

2. If your client's requirement can be turned from an internal job into a defined outsourced project comprising of identified responsibilities that are then handled to a recognised solutions provider, then that solutions provider can employ the candidate. If you have an IT company in your corporate group this should not be difficult for you. If you do not, it will come down to finding a third party software house. Should that be required, we can assist you and suggest www.lestersybersolve.com. Not all work is suitable for outsourcing in this way, and workpermit.com is happy to advise on the details in any situation you may wish to bring to our attention.

3. Find another type of work visa that will allow the candidate to come to the UK. While there are many options, few will be of practical use to you (we assume that you will eschew such dubious practices as marriage brokering!). Please visit our section on alternatives to work permits. You should also view our information on the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, which is often a good alternative to the work permit.