Turned away because I don't reside in UK

kevinmcc

I applied for a job online a few days ago in the UK. On the application form it asked me Did I have the right to work in the UK to which I ticked Yes, then it asked me Did I reside in the UK, I ticked No and it would not let me proceed.

So I went back and tried it again, selecting Yes to residing in the UK. Today I get an email to say I did not meet the criteria in order to be considered.

Is this legal for an employer not to consider me, just because I reside in Ireland, even though I would of course be relocating to the UK if I was successful?!!

maggy_thatcher

kevinmcc wrote: »

I applied for a job online a few days ago in the UK. On the application form it asked me Did I have the right to work in the UK to which I ticked Yes, then it asked me Did I reside in the UK, I ticked No and it would not let me proceed.

So I went back and tried it again, selecting Yes to residing in the UK. Today I get an email to say I did not meet the criteria in order to be considered.

Is this legal for an employer not to consider me, just because I reside in Ireland, even though I would of course be relocating to the UK if I was successful?!!

The only one I've seen that for is the British police force - they have a 3-year minimum residency requirement:

met wrote:

You must have been resident in the UK for at least the three years immediately prior to applying.[1]

I would imagine this is for things like security clearance. What kind of job were you applying for?

kevinmcc

It was for an airline, but I would not accept security clearance as an answer. Especially when I've worked for two different airlines at US airports and it was no problem being cleared.

Also it's a requirement of the employer, definitely not the British Airport Authority.

pow wow

It's a standard tick box thing right? I don't think it's illegal, they aren't discriminating on the basis of your nationality, rather that you don't live in the country in which you are applying to work (and if they wanted to follow that line out...could not reasonably be expected to perform the job if you physically don't live in the country in which the job is located).

Did you have to give your address? If so that coupled with the 'yes I live in the UK' might have added up to being dishonest in the application process, negating the usual 'I declare the information on this form is true and correct' guff they put in at the end of the forms.

There are loads of jobs with minimum residency requirements, not just the police force. Also, perhaps they just don't want the hassle of arranging interviews with people outside the country, or they've had a lot of timewasters applying. It's fairly normal not to consider people who are still residing abroad.

monkeypants

[quote=[Deleted User];67134643]Also, perhaps they just don't want the hassle of arranging interviews with people outside the country, or they've had a lot of timewasters applying. It's fairly normal not to consider people who are still residing abroad.[/QUOTE]
There shouldn't be any hassle in arranging an interview with someone outside the country. When I was looking for work in England, they interviewed me in the same office that they interviewed local candidates in, I had to turn up same as everyone else, nothing special. However, in England they do seem to count on some kind of ties to the area; did you go to Uni there? Do you have family there? That kind of thing.

Berty

Sounds to me like a system generated "the computer says no" on the basis of pre set criteria.

Call up the HR department and explain your case and that you have a natural right to work in the UK with whatever the UK/Ireland agreement is called.

Im sure it will change it all around, subject to you actually being suitable for the position of course.

Alun

Berty wrote: »

Call up the HR department and explain your case and that you have a natural right to work in the UK with whatever the UK/Ireland agreement is called.

Regardless of any agreement the UK and Ireland may have (and I don't think they do in this regard) as an EU citizen he has a right to reside and work anywhere in the EU, no questions asked.

Nody

Alun wrote: »

Regardless of any agreement the UK and Ireland may have (and I don't think they do in this regard) as an EU citizen he has a right to reside and work anywhere in the EU, no questions asked.

And no matter of the agreement a private company can decide not to hire someone who's not living in the UK with out any legal implications.

monkeypants

monkeypants wrote: »

There shouldn't be any hassle in arranging an interview with someone outside the country. When I was looking for work in England, they interviewed me in the same office that they interviewed local candidates in, I had to turn up same as everyone else, nothing special. However, in England they do seem to count on some kind of ties to the area; did you go to Uni there? Do you have family there? That kind of thing.

It's just more hassle for them. There's a lot more chance of someone who doesn't reside in the UK messing them around. For example, they get an offer and then something happens that means they can't move. For almost every job I've ever applied for, I was expected to be resident in that country in order for my CV to be considered, with the exception of internships and my J1. This isn't just the UK, I had exactly the same thing in Ireland and other countries.

Nody wrote: »

And no matter of the agreement a private company can decide not to hire someone who's not living in the UK with out any legal implications.

I'm pretty sure that's correct. Nobody is saying he doesn't have the right to live there, they're saying if he doesn't live there now, he's not eligible for the job. There is a chance that there's a residency requirement - I found out I was ineligible for a whole pile of the airline/airport jobs I applied for - but perhaps it's just that they don't want the hassle. I don't see what's so unreasonable about that. My sister is looking for a job now and she's putting my London address instead of her NI address on her CV, because nobody is going to hire someone based in NI when they have their choice of local candidates.