Migration Officer 

Job description
Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the complete online application form including the employment, educational details, behavioural and technical/ professional skills questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the application forms only with all the required details and the shortlisting is not basis CV/ cover letter. Forms that are incomplete in any respect will not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.

Main Purpose Of Job

An opportunity has arisen within the Home Office International Operations Team (HOIO) to join us as a Migration Officer at the British High Commission Colombo, with responsibility for assisting with the development, implementation and administration of the UK’s migration objectives in Sri Lanka.

The Migration Officer will work within the Home Office International Operations team in Colombo, with the team reporting to the International Liaison & Migration Manager based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The primary focus of this activity will be working with our Returns Logistics teams in the UK to support the redocumentation of Sri Lankan nationals through the verification of nationality and identity documents in both Sinhala and Tamil language.

In addition to this the role will also require engagement with key stakeholders in Sri Lanka including Government of Sri Lanka officials; likeminded embassies and High Commissions; law enforcement and migration focussed NGOs; to gain a better understanding of migration risks and trends in Sri Lanka and help support improvements to process and further develop our migration partnership.

The job holder will also be expected to help develop and manage capacity building programmes to promote legal migration pathways; develop returns and reintegration and disruption of Organised Immigration Crime objectives.

Additionally, the role will support the wider objectives of the Home Office International Operations team in Sri Lanka, supporting a cross Home Office and FCDO on tackling illegal migration in Sri Lanka and assisting the wider team with the disruption of organised immigration crime. The job holder will additionally be expected to assist with training of key stakeholders.

We reserve the right to review, revise or amend the roles and responsibilities from time to time reflecting the changing needs of business.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve:

Engagement (30%)
• Working with the International Liaison & Migration Manager and International Liaison Officer to establish, develop and maintain a network of key contacts within Government of Sri Lanka and suitable host authorities in order to ensure a collaborative working relationship to promote the Home Office International Operations team and to ensure the achievement of UK migration and the returns agenda.
• Working with a cross-Home Office and FCDO team based between Sri Lanka and the UK, providing support and insights on key engagement activity both verbally and through accurate minutes of meetings.
• Engagement with other interested groups and organisations on the migration agenda including other Embassies in Sri Lanka, Migration Officers at other British missions overseas, NGOs and other organisations who have an overall impact on the general success of the migration work in Sri Lanka.
• Act as point of contact for UK Returns Logistics teams, Immigration Enforcement teams and other agencies, along with the wider team at the High Commission on returns and migration issues.
• Support with engagement with law enforcement partners who support the tackling of Organised Immigration Crime and the return of Sri Lankan nationals.

Verification (30%)
• Work with Returns Logistics teams in the UK, to verify nationality and identity documentation to aid establishment of Sri Lankan nationality for those to be returned to Sri Lanka.
• Ability to translate nationality and identity documents in both Sinhala and Tamil language to English.
• Building a network of contacts across Sri Lanka with various officials to enable verification in a timely manner.
• Ability to communicate with wide range stakeholders in Tamil, Sinhalese and English language.
• Conducting family tracing visits across Sri Lanka where necessary to aid with confirmation of Sri Lankan nationality.
• Support to the British Indian Overseas Territories (BIOT) team to support the redocumentation of Sri Lankan nationals.

Project Work (10%)
• Development of opportunities for future migration capacity building projects and preparing bid paperwork.
• Support any future reintegration programmes in Sri Lanka.
• Implementation, oversight and management of any projects supported and funded from Irregular Migration & Returns Fund (IMRF) to ensure successful delivery against objectives; the project is delivered within budget and all reporting criteria is met.

Wider HOIO Objectives (20%)
• Support to the Home Office International Operations (HOIO) teams core objective of disrupting organised immigration crime. Working with key internal and external stakeholders to reduce immigration harm to the UK border.
• Supporting the x-Home Office and FCDO team on tackling visa abuse in Sri Lanka.
• Assisting with the training of airline staff and immigration officers in Sri Lanka.
• Assisting with the investigation of organised immigration crime groups and supporting colleagues within the wider team with enquiries.
• Contributing to reports and analysis required by HOIO stakeholders.
• Attending Field Visits for Returns and HOIO purposes.

Administration (10%)
• Producing reporting for Returns Logistics / Immigration Enforcement on Returns and Migration activity undertaken in Sri Lanka
• Maintaining overview of Migration & Returns Budgets
• Arrangements for inbound and outbound visits
• Logging the number of returns to Sri Lanka

What Do We Want From You

We need candidates to have excellent interpersonal skills that they can use strategically to build relationships with key partners to assist HOIO in delivering our objectives. Face-to-face work is a fundamental part of the job, as is the delivery of training, so the successful candidate should be prepared to undertake and display confidence in public speaking.

We need you to have a good level of written, spoken and reading abilities in order to engage with Sinhalese and Tamil speakers, and be able to translate nationality documents from Sinhala and Tamil language into English for UK officials.

The Migration Officer role is extremely varied. Migration Officers need to be able to manage very challenging workloads, deliver at pace to tight deadlines and be flexible in support of business aims. Once trained, the successful candidate should be able to work towards objectives with minimal supervision. Prioritisation skills will be key, deliver at pace to tight deadlines and be flexible in support of business aims and be able to provide full, accurate and concise updates to ILM.

The role requires analytical thinking and analysis therefore a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office, especially Excel to an advanced level is desirable, although training can be provided.

Although the priority for this role is to support returns and migration objectives, the successful applicant will be expected to support all HOIO operations and work streams, given the cross-over in work.

This role may require field visits within Sri Lanka to rural locations. The successful applicant must be able to conduct these field visits and be comfortable to travel to all parts of Sri Lanka for up to one week at a time.

Home Office International Operations offers staff the opportunity to work towards and achieve the Intelligence Professionalisation Programme (IPP) to demonstrate a range of skills required for the role, and to renew this in line with guidance to ensure operational effectiveness is maintained.

Given the sensitive nature of our work, an ability to follow strict guidelines and processes is essential as all work is subject to audit.

Resources Managed (staff And Expenditure)

Potential line management of Administrative Officer (AO) staff member within HOIO team.

Working Patterns

Monday – Thursday 08:30 – 16:30, Friday 08:30 – 13:30 (including 30min lunch break)

Flexibility can be provided within High Commission building opening hours. This is an office- based role. Full time office attendance is required.

This role necessitates some travel for partner engagement, training, field visits and meetings, for which some overnight stays for up to a week and weekend duties will be required.

Travel to providing in-person support to the wider HOIO South Asia Regional teams in India and Bangladesh may also be required.

The role may require the job holder to work flexibly, starting early or working late, when required. It offers the candidate flexible working to suit their needs, subject to agreement with the line manager and business needs.

Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

The British High Commission and Home Office is committed to being a learning and development organisation and encourages all staff to pursue continued learning and development in the workplace. We offer a supportive and friendly working environment where staff work to the values of: integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Everyone is encouraged to take responsibility, be innovative and work together.

The FCDO offers a wide range of learning opportunities both electronically and in person.

Important Information

ALL applicants must have permission / right to live & work in Sri Lanka at the point of application. The British High Commission will not be able to support applications for local work visas. No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position.

Evidence of your nationality and permission to work in Sri Lanka must be included with your application form, for example, photocopies of the details page of your passport and/or visa. Employment will be offered only after appropriate level of UK standard security clearance is received.

This post is offered on a yearly rolling contract and subject to continued business need and funding.

The role will involve access to and handling of classified or sensitive commercial information. Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks.

Any applications that do not meet the nationality, language criteria or the security requirements will not be considered.