Immigration laws and work permits are as you can imagine quite complicated. In short the essence of the decision is “are there others who can do the same job or better who would not require a permit?” As I say, it’s more complicated than that but it’s why there’s a panel who would make the decision based on the ‘job’ the applicant would be taking and the merits of the application. For example the right back Celtic signed didn’t meet the automatic criteria, but it’s well documented that they are