Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to employers sponsoring workers on Tier 2 visas on potential changes to their employees' immigration status as a result of 2011 immigration rules changes requiring workers who have been in the UK more than five years to earn more than £35,000 gross per annum; and what steps she is taking to help employers support such employees.

The Home Office’s published guidance for sponsors advises employers that migrant workers may only be sponsored for a maximum of six years under Tier 2.

Employers and employees were notified that changes to settlement rules would apply to Tier 2 migrants who entered the route in April 2011, so have had more than four years to plan accordingly.