Applicants need:
- a sponsor (the overarching body); and
- a valid certificate of sponsorship.
The sponsor must be an overarching body who manages the government authorised exchange scheme and has the support of a UK government department.
Individual employers and organisationsare not allowed to sponsor migrants in this category, even if they are licensed as sponsors under other tiers or other categories of Tier 5. The only exceptions to this are for people going to the UK:
- as a sponsored researcher, where the higher education institution in the UK can be the sponsor
- to work for a government department or agency.
The applicant’s work must be skilled (equivalent to the UK’s NVQ or SVQ level 3 or above). unless he/she is taking part in the scheme set up as part of the European Union’s lifelong learning programme, which allows vocational education and training at a lower skill level.
Successful applicants may stay in the UK for up to 12 or 24 months, depending on the scheme and the length of time shown on the certificate of sponsorship.