Skilled Sponsorship Licence
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Skilled Sponsorship Licence
What Is A Sponsorship Licence?
A sponsor licence allows a UK business to employ workers from outside the country to work for them, in their business. Employers will need a sponsor licence to employ most overseas workers, including both non-EU nationals and most citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who arrived in the UK after 31st December 2020.
Employer will not need a sponsor licence to employ an Irish citizen, a person with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, a person with indefinite leave to remain in the UK or a foreign national who otherwise has permission to work in the UK
What Documents Do We Need To Apply For A Sponsorship Licence?
Sponsors will need to provide at least four mandatory documents as set out in Appendix A of the Home Office sponsor guidance. The exact documents they need to provide will vary depending on the circumstances of their application.
In addition to information about their organisation, the proposed job role, and the candidate in mind, sponsors will also need to explain to the Home Office why they are applying for a sponsor licence.
How Much Does It Cost To Apply For A Sponsorship Licence?
The fee for submitting a sponsor licence application will vary depending on the size of the organisation. A small company or charity will be charged £536, and a medium or large company will be charged £1,476
What Are The Processing Times For A Sponsorship Licence?
Sponsor licence applications usually take up to 6-8 weeks to be decided by the Home Office. There is also a priority service that costs £500, which will return a decision within 10 working days.
How Long Is A Sponsorship Licence Valid For?
A sponsor licence is valid for 4 years. If a sponsor wants to continue to sponsor workers after the end of the 4 year period, they will need to apply to renew your sponsor licence before it expires.
It is not possible to renew a UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence because the sponsor will normally be expected to have established a UK trading presence within 2 years from the date when the licence was granted. However, once the sponsor has established a UK trading presence, they will be able to apply to add other routes to their licence.
There will be no right of appeal if your sponsor licence application is refused and there will be a six-month cooling off period.
What Are The Ratings For A Sponsorship Licence?
If successful, the sponsors will usually be rated ‘A’ on the published register of licenced sponsors. UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence applicants may be given a ‘Provisional’ rating instead if their Authorising Officer (and Level 1 User) is an employee of the overseas business.
If a sponsor fails to meet their sponsorship licence duties, including conducting appropriate right to work checks, they could lose their licence.
What Happens When My Sponsorship Licence Is Successful?
Once a sponsor has been granted a sponsor licence, they will be able to start assigning Certificates of Sponsorship to migrants who want to work for them.
Sponsors will be given access to the Sponsor Management System (SMS). This is an online portal where they can manage their sponsor licence. They must also use the system to report certain events, such as if a migrant fails to report to work.
What Happens If My Sponsorship Licence Is Refused?
There is no right of appeal against the refusal of an application for a sponsor licence.
If the Sponsor Licence Refusal decision was the result of either a caseworker error or because supporting evidence sent as part of the application was not considered by UKVI then our immigration lawyers can assist requesting that the error be corrected and, if appropriate, submit a new online sponsor licence application.
What happens if a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is rejected?
A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) will be rejected if the job code used is incorrect, the salary specified does not match the job code and the sponsor fails to respond to the Home Office request.
The sponsor will be required to re-apply for another Certificate request if the first one is rejected. The CoS fees are paid upon issuing the Certificate of Sponsorship.
What happens when a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is issued?
Upon approval a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) will be issued by the Home Office. All issued CoS can then be assigned to the relevant candidate the Sponsor is willing to issue a Skilled Visa, International Sportsperson visa or a Temp Visa.
What Are The Compliance Duties For A Sponsorship Licence?
- Monitoring immigration status and preventing illegal employment
- Maintaining migrant contact details and other records
- Monitoring and reporting migrant activity
- Ensuring that relevant professional registrations and accreditations have been obtained
- Reporting various changes of circumstances to the sponsor
- Complying with the law, including employment law and having relevant planning permission
- Cooperating with the Home Office
How To Upgrade Sponsorship Licence Application?
A sponsorship licence application once submitted can be upgraded to a Priority service. Our team of Lawyers can request your standard Licence application to a Priority one. The expedited processing of the application will cost £500 extra on top of the initial Licence fees paid.
If your licence application is accepted for the Priority Service option, you should expect the outcome with in 10 working days.
Start your Application for your Sponsorship Licence now with Award winning Immigration Lawyers.
What are the different routes under the temporary worker?
- Charity Worker
- Creative and Sporting Worker
- Government Authorised Exchange Worker
- International Agreement Worker
- Religious Worker
- Seasonal Worker
Who are the key personnel involved with your Licence?
When the company applies for the Sponsorship Licence must appoint personnel to carried out some administrative duties while holding the licence.
- Authorising Officer
- Key Contact
- Level 1 User
- Level 2 User
Who is a Sponsorship Licence Authorising Officer?
The Authorising officer should be the most senior person responsible for the recruitment of all migrant workers and to ensure all sponsor duties are met.
The authorising officer does not have automatic access to the management system, they will need to request access as a level 1 or 2 users.
Who can be a Key Contact on a Sponsorship Licence?
A Key contact is the person who acts as the main contact between the Home Office and the sponsored company. The Home Office will contact the key contact if they have any questions about the licence application, documents, or the payment. The Key contact does not have automatic access to the Management system, they will need to request access as a level 1 or 2 users.
What is a Level 1 User on the Sponsorship Licence?
A level 1 user can be the authorising officer or any other person in your organisation. When you first apply for the licence, you can appoint a level 1 user and they must be on the payroll of the company.
Who can be a level 1 user on the Sponsorship Licence?
- An employed staff member or officeholder within your organisation
- A UK based legal representative
- An employee of a third-party organisation engaged by you to deliver all or part of your HR function.
Our Award-Winning lawyers will assist you with your Organisations Compliance requirements, Get help now!
Who cannot be a level 1 user on the Sponsorship Licence?
- Contractor
- A consultant who is contracted for a specific project.
- A Temporary staff member supplied to you by an agency.
- An undischarged bankrupt individual
What is the role of a Level 1 user on the Sponsorship Licence?
- Assign Certificates of sponsorship to workers.
- Ask for an increase in the number of COS you can assign.
- Any changes within the organisation
- Any changes to your details
- Report any activity related to the Sponsored migrant.
- Withdraw a Certificate of sponsorship
- Change to work addresses, user details.
- View information about the licence
What is a level 2 user on the Sponsorship Licence?
A Level 2 user has fewer permissions when handling the Sponsorship Licence system also known as Sponsorship Management System.
Who can be a level 2 user on the Sponsorship Licence?
- A paid staff member within your organisation
- An employee of a third-party organisation engaged by you to deliver all or part of your HR function.
- A temporary staff member supplied by an agency.
- A UK-based representative
Who cannot be a level 2 user on the Sponsorship Licence?
- Contractor
- Consultant
- An undischarged bankrupt
What is the role of a Level 2 user on the Sponsorship Licence?
- Assign Certificate to workers
- Report Activities related to the Sponsored Worker
