NHS Employers is responsible for promotion, advice and guidance on international recruitment.
International recruitment has made a valuable contribution to workplace expansion in the NHS over recent years. Given the current increased availability of qualified healthcare professionals in the UK resident labour market, NHS organisations are now less reliant on overseas recruits and as such are unlikely to use international recruitment to fill vacancies. This change in the resident labour market has been recognised by the Home Office.
The Home Office has introduced a number of changes to the immigration system governing the way individuals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland can work, train or study in the UK. Many of the changes are now in place, affecting all organisations that recruit migrant workers. They include tough measures to prevent illegal working and a limit on the number of migrants that organisations can employ under Tier 2 of the points-based system.
NHS Jobs facilitates the majority of recruitment from overseas. The service includes features that enable employers to screen out inappropriate applicants and ask additional questions to automatically identify the most suitable candidates from the applications received.