Bringing a non-EU Foregin Worker to UK for Interview

[silkblooms]

We have a very niche business with a very niche set of skill requirements. Finding skilled workers is one of the most difficult things for us and it is preventing our growth.

We have found someone who would be perfect but they are in Singapore and I want to bring them here for an interview (practical skills test). However, I need some advise when it comes to hiring non-EU residents.

The guy is coming here from Singapore, basically for an interview on a travel visa but if the interview goes well then we will definitely want to hire him. I’ve read and understood everything I need to know about the sponsorship fees and criteria, so I understand what’s involved but have not yet applied as we haven't interviewed him yet.

Question, would he have to travel back to Singapore again if we wanted to employ him?

 

[Scalloway]

I am by no means an expert but there seem to have been a few cases I have read about recently where someone who was in the UK and had the wrong visa had to leave the country and reapply. In the present climate I would say it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Newchodge]

It's a perfectly valid question. Why not ask the Home Office?

 

[obscure]

It's a perfectly valid question. Why not ask the Home Office?

^^ This ^^

 

[silkblooms]

ok, I have sent the same question to the email address on the home office website. I'll let you know what they say but I don't expect a quick reply from any .gov website.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I doubt they would look at it as a skill the country needs, They have already stopped Chefs from India and Pakistan suggesting training your own staff
Could you not just import the final goods

If traveling as a tourist then apply for a work visa they may give a black mark for lying about the purpose of the tourist visa

 

[silkblooms]

Chris, no it's not something we can import as our products are all handmade by professionals, here in the UK. Everything we sell is bespoke and made to specific and precise specifications and nothing is mass-produced.

Trust me, we have tried to employ staff from UK and EU residents and we have gone through at least fifty in the last year and none of them can actually do the job proficiently. We only have two top employees who have mastered this craft. One is from the EU and one is from the UK. We can't keep employing people from the UK as literally none of them are capable of doing this job and it's not for the want of trying. It's costing us a fortune in staff turnover, training supposedly qualified people, wasting materials and risking bad feedback from customers from shoddy workmanship.

This is why we're looking further afield.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

That sounds a lot of trying on your part but is it your training or your selection of trainees that's at fault, many apprentices take 3 or 4 years to pass out and become fully competent at their job, are you trying the impossible and expecting them to build up the skills in a relatively short time and spending good materials. without knowing your training, but half a dozen in a classroom with a top person just learning a bit at a time and moving on when they can produce that small bit to the right standard before moving to the next step. Keep them out of production until they are ready

The import of labour will just get harder as time goes by, so far better to sort out staff and training whilst you can or your company will outgrow its staff

Millions used to learn and do lace making, but took years to do it well

 

[silkblooms]

I would argue that some craftsmen can only be 'trained' to a certain level. Like an artist, you either have it or you don't. Most of the employees we bring on have 10 - 20 years experience in the field but they simply don't have the eye for it and it can't be learned. Was Rembrandt trained to the level he achieved or was he just a natural master of art? Some things cannot be taught as we are seeking the exceptional.

We do bring on trainees but they are trained in-house because there are no training providers in this craft where we are. So, it's all well and good bringing in a trainee but when we have demand and large orders to fulfil, we don't have the luxury of years. Our clients need their orders right away and we need the right staff ASAP.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

From your web site you have florists or flower arrangers, who must be good at their skills but it looks like you need people to make silk flowers a totally different set of skills more like your artist friend who can look at a flower and replicate it but in silk, I would be looking at art students or people who visit the craft shops and have the arrangers to do that and the makers to make the flowers,

But i may well have go totally the wrong end of the stick in which case i am sorry

Can you break the jobs down to different levels whilst they train so you have a production line each adding a bit using their higher skills level whilst they train