Labour market test -- what if it's impractical for company

[lontocph]

Hi,

I have a UK work permit issued in October 2006. My company is thinking about temporarily posting me abroad, to help on consultancy work with a client in EU country. My company doesn't have a branch there, but the client has requested that someone from our team visit them for 2-3 days a week (so not continuously work there 5 days/ wk). The purpose of the visits/ meetings with client is to understand various project requirements, while the projects themselves will be run by a team from the UK.

This new assignment may or may not warrant a change of employment -- WP is yet to decide. But if it is considered as a change of employment, then normally my company will be asked to advertise the role in a resident labour market test.

However, my company is reluctant to do this -- because any alternative other than me will be costly and/or impractical.

What makes it impractical:
-- no other employee from my team in UK is eligible for the position AND willing to travel that much: those who are senior enough don't want to travel that often (family obligations etc), while others who are willing to travel are not senior enough
-- hiring a brand new person will require long training, and our client wouldn't agree to a new hire anyway
-- hiring resident worker with similar expertise via intra-company transfer involves relocation cost
-- sending an employee every week to overseas client is not cheap (think hotel, airfare), but in my case it won't be as bad because I can stay with my boyfriend during visits

The last point is also the reason why I'd be happy to take up the assignment, where other people cringe at the frequent travel prospect - so it's a win-win situation between me and my employer.

Given the circumstances above, do you think my employer can make a case to WP not to advertise -- because it will be too impractical/ requiring substantial time & monetary cost for the company? Thanks much!

[mrlookforward]

NO.

[kiwigirl25]

I'm confused. At first you state your company does not have a presence in the UK, then you make a reference to existing UK-based staff. Could you clarify exactly what your company's status in the UK is?

Look at this link, it may help answer your questions, if your company doesn't have a presence here:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/worki ... entatives/