Sponsor Licence Application

Sponsor Licence Application

Today’s global market means that sometimes the essential skills you need for your business come from abroad. This means you’ll need a Sponsor Licence before you can hire a foreign worker as your employee in the UK.

What is a Sponsor Licence?

This is known as a Tier 2 Sponsor Licence. Tier 1s are for investors and entrepreneurs rather than employees.

Any employer intending to employ a worker from abroad must apply for a Sponsor Licence in order to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship to eligible foreign workers who enter the UK on a work visa.

Applying for and maintaining your Sponsor Licence requires strict adherence to the Home Office compliance regime. Provided that all conditions continue to be met, the licence is valid for 4 years. After that, the employer must apply for renewal.

Eligibility

Their work visa covers the employee’s right to work. The eligibility requirements for a Sponsor Licence are a matter for the employer. To qualify, the employer must:

–         be a genuine business which trades according to UK law

–         be headquartered in the UK

–         present no threat to immigration control

–         be run by honest and dependable officers

–         operate an HR system which enables compliance with a sponsor’s obligations

Sponsorship Management

This is a condition worth looking at in more detail. You must satisfy the Home Office that sponsored workers have the qualifying skills and the right to work in the UK. You must demonstrate understanding of and competence in the sponsorship management system, which includes keeping accurate documentation regarding the recruitment of sponsored workers and a duty to inform the Home Office of any material changes in circumstances.

Types of Sponsor Licences

When you apply, you need to specify whether you require a worker licence or a temporary worker licence.

Worker Licence

This authorises employers to employ skilled overseas workers on short-term, long-term or permanent bases. There are several specific categories of skilled workers, the most important of which are those who meet the skills and salary requirements of the job and those who are existing employees at an overseas location of the business, which the employer wishes to transfer to the UK operation. The relevant categories must be specified in the application.

Temporary Worker Licence

This allows only short-term employment and includes volunteers. Again there are specific categories which must be stated in the application. These include people in the creative industries, such as artists and entertainers, graduate trainees and service suppliers coming to the UK on a contract.

How to Apply

An employer needs to decide which categories of the worker to include, verify their company’s eligibility and audit their HR system to ensure it meets the Home Office criteria. In addition, they must appoint appropriate key personnel as the authorising officer and the level 1 and 2 users of the Sponsor Management System. Several documents are required to accompany the application, and it may be necessary to enable a site visit by Home Office personnel to verify the information supplied.

Fees

There are two sponsor levels: small or charitable and medium or large. For the first category, all licences attract a fee of £536. For the second category, the same sum applies to a Temporary Worker. Still, for the broader Worker licence, the amount payable is £1,476, while upgrading from Temporary to Worker costs an additional £940.

Refusals

Even if an employer believes that they have fulfilled the criteria and submitted the relevant documentation, there’s no guarantee that a Sponsor Licence will be granted. The Home Office retains the discretion to refuse on several grounds, chief amongst which are that the employer:

–         has not met all the compliance requirements

–         has taken too long to respond to enquiries

–         has been judged not to have made a genuine application

–         has unspent criminal convictions

–         has supplied false or incorrect information

–         is still in the cooling-off period following a previous refusal

Appeals

There is no right to appeal against a decision to refuse a Sponsor Licence. If the employer believes the refusal is based upon a clerical error within the Home Office, they can ask for the error to be corrected, but this does not constitute a full reconsideration of the decision, only an amendment of the specific mistake.

How We Can Help

Stellar Immigration Services offers flexible consulting and legal advice on all issues regarding the UK’s immigration laws and procedures. Instead of taking a chance, why not ensure your application is professionally prepared?

Please contact us today..