Sponsor Licence for a Recruitment Agency: a Guide

1. Preparation of Supporting Documents

There must be a clear demonstration of ownership of genuine employment operating legally in the UK. This is to prevent illegal working by ensuring that all UK employers offer genuine employment to migrant workers. Also, the documentation required here depends on your application route and the company type. However, most employment agencies supply documents such as:

• The latest financial report or audited annual report;
• The most recent set of fully audited accounts;
• Certificate of current VAT return and VAT registration;
• Evidence of ownership or hire of the business premises;
• Proof of employers’ liability insurance (with a minimum of £5 million);
• Proof of registration with the Customs and HM Revenue for national insurance functions and PAYE.

If there is a need for an affidavit or any statutory declaration, this must be done in the presence of a solicitor or any other qualified person. All the supporting documents must also be supplied within 5 working days from the date of application for the sponsor licence. Therefore, we advise that you prepare all the necessary information before the completion of the online form.

2. Designation of Key Personnel to Key Roles

There are certain offices that you need to nominate some key personnel to fill. The aim is to ensure that there is a smooth relationship between the Home Office, other parties involved, and your employment agency during and after the application to sponsor foreign workers.

A. Authorising Officer
The authorising officer is the senior person responsible for strictly adhering to all the sponsor duties an employment agency must meet. This same person shall also be responsible for selecting workers with full access to the sponsorship management system.

B. Key Contact
This officer serves as the nexus or intermediary between the Home Office and your business enterprise. Hence, this officer plays a vital role in making your employment agency a certified sponsor licence holder.

Depending on your organisation’s size, it may be wise to nominate one person to occupy more than one role. You can also appoint a Level 1 user to help coordinate the sponsor management system. However, you need to evaluate their suitability for your agency, including whether they reside in the UK, or if they are free of any bankruptcy declaration or criminal convictions.

3. Completion of the Online Application

Your application for a sponsor licence is not successful until you complete the online application and the type of details required to fill out the form depends on the type of sponsor licence you’re aiming at. That is, whether you’re hiring temporary workers or skilled workers. However, every applicant has to give the following information:

• The number of certificates of sponsorship needed and the rationale for the number. If granted, you’ll be provided that specific number of certificates for the financial year;
• Which officers are designated to the key roles.

You are also expected to provide full information on the type of employment agency you’re running and its mode of operations, such as:

• Its category of organisation and size;
• Its location and areas of operation (if it has branches or subsidiaries); and
• The number of years it has been operating in the UK economy.

Further information may also be required of any individuals earmarked for sponsorship as skilled workers. For example, whether they have a valid skilled worker visa, their job description, hierarchical structure, occupation code, qualifications and experience, and how they were chosen.

1. Eligibility Test

• Genuine and Legal Operation in the UK

It is not enough that your organisations offer genuine employment; it must also be proven that they are operating legally in the UK economy. Hence, it must be a bona fide business entity duly registered by the appropriate body.

• Fully Based in the United Kingdom

If there is no evidence of physical or trading presence in the UK, your application will end up rejected. In order to be successful in your sponsor licence application, you must demonstrate that your organisation operates legally and genuinely in the UK. To do this, you need to make sure that the business premises used are owned or leased by the organisation itself. This ownership or lease should also be evidenced through documents such as tenancy agreements, title deeds or other similar forms of proof.

If your organisation operates online with no physical presence in the UK, you can still meet the Home Office requirements. You need to show that the organisation operates lawfully by adhering to relevant laws and regulations. This includes being compliant with any tax obligations or other requirements for conducting business in the UK. Furthermore, you should also ensure that the organisation has a legal presence in the UK and is operating lawfully by adhering to relevant laws and regulations. This includes being compliant with any tax obligations or other requirements for conducting business in the UK.

2. Suitability Test

The Department of UK Visas and Immigration of the Home Office will also vet a potential sponsor of foreign workers by determining if they adhere to the following requirements:

• They Must Offer the Skilled Worker a Genuine Contractual Arrangement

The arrangement must also fit into the description or criteria of foreign workers, and the Home Office may confirm this by requesting more information to ensure that the role truly exists. Similarly, job descriptions that are overblown in a desperate attempt to meet the skill level requirements may raise suspicions.

• They Must Have a Higher Rate of Sponsorship Compliance Success

The Home Office may investigate if the applicant has highly-qualified HR managers, recruitment personnel, and other measures in place to ensure that the duties and responsibilities revolving around the award of a sponsor licence are observed. This can be done by physical inspection of the site, both before and after the sponsor license is approved.

• They Must Be of Good Conduct and Moral Standings

This means that the business owner, directors, and other essential personnel must be dependable, honest, and reliable. For example, they must all be free of any unspent criminal convictions. The Home Office would also ensure that none of these workers poses a threat to immigration control or the UK economy at large.

3. Genuineness Test

Here, the Home Office Guidance requires that you provide reasons why you need a sponsor licence and foreign workers for the vacancies. If this could be done convincingly, you would fulfil the genuineness test. The genuineness test can be conducted at any point during the lifespan of your sponsor licence – while making the application, during an inspection for compliance, or when you put in for a Certificate of Sponsorship.

If the Home Office is not convinced of the genuine contractual arrangement, you may be requested to provide more information. The visa applicant can also be directed to further scrutiny, such as a physical interview or provision of additional details, often within a range of 28 days.

1. Record Keeping

Any entity seeking to sponsor migrant workers must keep a proper record of the workers alongside their right-to-work status in the UK. According to Appendix D, the employment agency must retain copies of the Biometric Residence Permit, Passport, Contract of Employment, and other documents associated with immigration status. Failure to observe this duty can lead to enforcement action and monetary penalty.

2. Monitoring and Reporting

All the concerned employment agencies should have reliable processes and systems to check the sponsored workers within 10 days, especially when the migrant worker:

• Is absent from work for 10 consecutive days;
• Terminates the contract of employment earlier than expected;
• Fails to show up at work as and when due.

3. Absence Monitoring

The sponsor must ensure that all the sponsored workers are allowed and recorded to be absent from work. This could be due to annual leave, sickness, overseas trips, or study leave.

4. Informing the Home Office of Sudden Changes

To sponsor workers in the UK, you must ensure that all workers covered by your sponsor licence remain under your watch, and any change must be reported to the UKVI through SMS. If your employment agency changes its premises, you must inform the Home Office of the changes.