The Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) is a test to show the Home Office that an employer has satisfactorily tried to advertise and recruit workers within the UK and EEA countries. Passing the Resident Labour Market Test then permits the employer to hire a non-EEA worker under the Tier 2 General visa route.

Who should complete a Resident Labour Market Test?

Any employer who has tried to recruit a settled worker, British Citizen or EEA national without success and wants to hire a non-EEA national from overseas. To employ a non-EEA national an employer must be registered with the Home Office to Sponsor foreign workers under the Tier 2 General Sponsored Visa route.

Why do I need to complete a Resident Labour Market Test?

The Home Office require employers to show that they have tried to recruit from within the EEA countries and that they could not find any suitable employees. If your business or organisation doesn’t carry our a Resident Labour Market Test then it will not be able to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS), which is a virtual document given to the prospective non-EEA employee to apply for their Tier 2 General Visa. Without a Certificate of Sponsorship the foreign workers application for a Tier 2 Visa will be refused.

How do I complete the Resident Labour Market Test?

There are certain requirements to be met to complete the RLMT. It is important to know that certain jobs may have specific requirements attached to them for advertising. The general requirements to meet the Residence Labour Market Test is as follows:

• Advertise the job for 28 days to settled workers, British citizens and EEA Nationals
• The 28 day period starts from the first day your advertisement appears
• You can advertise in blocks (minimum block is 7 days) so if you advertise initially for 2 weeks (14 days) and are unsuccessful then Advertise another 2 weeks (14 days) and are yet still unsuccessful in recruiting a suitable worker, then you can now recruit a non-EEA national and apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship for them.
• You must make 2 advertisements for the job with one of them through Job Centre Plus. Other advertising outlets can be online or a national newspaper. Larger companies and more skilled jobs may have additional requirements such as advertising in a particular professional journal i.e. An Engineering job advertised in an Engineering journal.

What do the Advertisements have to contain?

• Job title
• Job description – main duties, role and responsibilities of the position
• Job Location
• Salary or package on offer
• List of Skills, Certificates, Education, qualifications and type of experience required
• Closing date for applicants to apply for the job

Are all jobs required to be advertised in the Job Centre Plus?

Jobs that are not required to advertise in Jobcentre Plus:

• Named Researcher jobs
• Creative sector jobs if the code of practice states that advertising is not required. This is because the foreign worker will be making additional contributions to the labour market
• Employment where there is stock exchange disclosure requirements
• ‘milkround’ graduate recruitment runs

Is anyone exempt from the Resident Labour Market Test?

There are quite a few applicants who may be exempt from the Resident Labour Market Test Requirement. Before you consider trying to satisfy the RLMT requirements one should check if a prospective applicant requires the test or not. Here are some examples of non-EEA nationals who you will not be required to complete a Resident Labour Market Test for and will be able to issue them a Certificate of Sponsorship without meeting the advertising requirements set out by the Home Office for the RLMT.

• If the foreign worker will do a job that is on the Shortage Occupation List
• The gross annual salary for the job is above £150,000
• They are a Tier 4 Migrant (on a student visa) and have completed their studies and their results have been confirmed that they have passed. It is normal for a student to only have a transcript or university letter stating they have passed without their degree certificate as these are normally presented several months after graduating. It is acceptable to apply for an unrestricted CoS if the student doesn’t have the degree certificate, but has other official documentation showing they have passed
• They have just completed their Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at a UK University
• Have completed at least 12 months towards a PhD in the UK or have completed a PhD in the UK
• Migrants already with leave to remain with a Tier 2 General visa do not require a RLMT

If you need assistance with applying for a sponsor licence or preparing for a Resident Labour Market Test then Contact Us for further advice