Employers will have to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship (COS) from the UK Border Agency for a specific role should they wish to bring someone to the UK.

Under new rules announced today, as part of the government’s new annual limit on non-EU workers, effective on 6 April, employers filling a vacancy that attracts a salary of £150,000 or more will not be subject to the limit on the number of COS that may be allocated.

At the end of last year, the Home Office announced that 20,700 visas are set to be made available to skilled workers applying through Tier 2 of the points based system, along with 1,000 visas under a new exceptional talent route.

The annual limit of 20,700 COS is to be split into 12 monthly allocations. Initially, 4,200 COS will be made available in April and 1,500 places per month thereafter. Any unused places that month will be rolled over to the following month.

Should a monthly allocation be over subscribed, COS applications will be ranked using a points system designed to favour jobs on the shortage occupation list, scientific researchers and those with a higher salary. Once a COS has then been granted to an employer it must be assigned to the prospective employee within three months.

Non-EU workers who want to come to Britain will need to have a graduate level job, speak an intermediate level of English, and meet specific salary and employment requirements.

The Intra Company Transfer (ICT) route, not part of the annual limit, is also to be changed in three ways:

• roles will have to be in an occupation on the graduate occupation list
• only those paid £40,000 or more will be allowed to stay for longer than a year. They will be granted for three years with the possibility of a further two-year extension

Those paid between £24,000 and £40,000 will be permitted to enter the UK for no longer than 12 months, at which point they must leave and will not be able to re-apply for 12 months.

Immigration minister Damian Green says: “Britain needs to attract the brightest and the best to fill jobs gaps but this should never be at the expense of workers already here.

“We have worked closely with businesses while designing this system, and made it clear employers should look first to people who are out of work and who are already in this country.

“And those who do come here to work must know that we intend to make the route to settlement tougher. It can not be right that people coming to fill temporary skills gaps have open access to permanent settlement.”

Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, says: “Business said loud and clear that any new immigration rules must still let companies access the right talent, at the right time, when domestic workers are unable to fill skills gaps.

“The new rules show that after a period of great uncertainty, the government is listening harder to business concerns. The changes to the Tier 2 arrangements mean that companies will have a better chance of getting much-needed international talent and growing their business. This in turn will benefit UK plc.

“However, we will continue to monitor whether the latest immigration rules hamper businesses seeking to recruit the skilled personnel they need. If problems do surface, the government must remain flexible, and make changes once again.”