Sponsor Licence Application

There are several Sponsorship Licence requirements that you need to meet if you are an employer looking to find out how to get a Sponsor Licence and employ foreign workers.

How to get a Sponsor Licence for your business:

• Check that your business is eligible: to be eligible staff members must not have any history of immigration offences, crimes or past failure to meet sponsorship duties
• Decide the type of licence you require: this is determined by the type of worker you want to sponsor (this includes skilled workers & relgious workers and temporary workers in creative, sport, youth mobility and governmental exchange)
• Nominate the employees that will be responsible for managing your business’ sponsorship: these can’t be shareholders and they must be senior members of the company. You will need to choose at least two members to use the Sponsorship Management System (SMS)
• Apply online and pay the Home Office fee: this varies depending on the type of visa you want to sponsor and the size of your business — £536- £1,476 for Skilled Worker only, £536 for Temporary Worker only, and £536 – £1,476 for both.

The Home Office Sponsor Licence application fees are as follows:

For small businesses & charities:

• Skilled Worker – £536
• Temporary Worker – £536
• Skilled Worker & Temporary Worker– £536
• Adding Skilled Worker to an existing Temporary Worker – free
• Adding Temporary Worker to an existing Skilled Worker – free

For medium & large businesses

• Skilled Worker – £1476
• Temporary Worker – £536
• Skilled Worker & Temporary Worker – £1476
• Adding Skilled Worker to an existing Temporary Worker £940
• Adding Temporary Worker to an existing Skilled Worker – free

To qualify as a small business, you must:

• Have an annual turnover of £10.2 million maximum
• Employ 50 employees maximum

A Sponsor Licence number is a unique reference number or code which is issued to Sponsor Licence holders.

If you are a Skilled Worker or Temporary Worker employee, you can find your employer’s Sponsor Licence number on your Certificate of Sponsorship.

You need a Sponsor Licence before you can make a job offer to anyone from outside of the UK.

To be eligible you must meet the following criteria:

• You can prove you are a legitimate business
• You can ensure your sponsored employee(s) passes a personality test
• You can prove a skilled worker from outside the UK is needed for the position
• You do not have any unspent criminal convictions
• You do not have a history of failing to carry out sponsorship duties
• You can pay the appropriate rate of pay for the job(s) you are conducting.

You will need to prove that you have a legitimate business or organisation and that you have a genuine need for the migrant worker(s) you intend to employ. The Home Office may validate this by visiting your company during your application.

You will need a Sponsor Licence if you want to employ anyone from outside of the United Kingdom who is working in the UK using:

• a Skilled Worker Visa; or
• a Temporary Work Visa.

Depending on which type of worker you wish to employ, you need to make a Sponsor Licence application which is relevant to them.

The Skilled Work Visa is also the required route for ministers of religion and elite sportspeople.

If you are intending on transferring an employee from a foreign office to the UK, you will also need a Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence.

You do not need to apply for a Sponsorship Licence if you are intending to employ someone on a business visa, for example, an Exceptional Talent Visa.

Please note that Tier 3 Unskilled Worker Visas have been suspended. This means that you cannot apply for a Sponsor Licence for non-EEA nationals taking on unskilled roles.

To make an application for a Sponsor Licence, you need to meet the requirements for sponsorship as an employer.

Below are the employer Sponsor Licence requirements at a glance:

• You need to be a genuine organisation or business, or a sole-trader
• You need to be legally operating from within the UK
• Your company or any of its key personell cannot pose any sort of threat to UK immigration control and there must be no evidence of this (for example, if any staff member has a history of immigration violations)
• You must be able to nominate at least three members of your staff to fulfill the roles laid out on the SMS
• You must be able to keep up-to-date and organised HR systems and records
• You must be able to produce all the documents required for your Sponsor Licence application
• You must meet other Sponsorship Licence requirements according to the specific category which you intend to employ foreign workers under

If your application is successful, you will be awarded a licence rating by the Home Office and placed on the UK Sponsorship Licence register.

After this, you will be able to issue Certificates of Sponsorship to any non-EEA or Swiss nationals if you have jobs that are suitable for sponsorship.

Upon the date of issue, your licence will be valid for four years. If you do not adhere to your duties as a sponsor, you could face Sponsor Licence suspension, Sponsor Licence revocation, or the possibility of receiving a Civil Penalty from the Home Office.

There are number of reasons why the Home Office refuse Sponsor Licence applications and Sponsor Licence renewals each year. The most common reasons include:

• the business’ failure to pass the Home Office’s Compliance Audit;
• the business’ failure to retain sufficient documentation on sponsored migrant workers;
• the business has not informed the Home Office of significant changes to their migrant workforce;
• the business has not responded to the Home Office’s enquiries on time;
• the business does not pass its ‘genuineness test’; or
• the business does not comply with the Home Office’s security standards.

If there are any significant changes to your organisation, you must inform the UKVI within 20 working days. Your sponsor licence could be affected if you fail to inform the UKVI of changes to your organisation.

Significant changes might include:

• Business has become insolvent or stopped trading
• Nature of business has changed substantially
• Involved in a merger or take-over

If your business moves premises or allocated roles change, you must also inform the UKVI. These changes can be amended on the SMS system.

A Sponsor Licence lasts for 4 years and it is possible to extend the licence if the sponsor meets the eligibility requirements. After four years, the sponsor must renew their licence if they wish to continue employing non-UK workers.

The Home Office will issue automatic notifications to organisations to remind them that the licence needs to be renewed. However, it is the responsibility of the business to ensure that they comply with all deadlines.

Sponsors can access all the information relating to the length of their licence in their sponsorship management system (SMS) account.

To renew a Sponsor Licence after four years, the sponsor should submit an application via the SMS and pay the required fee. Organisations can apply to renew their Sponsor Licence no sooner than three months in advance of the expiry date.

It is not recommended to let your Sponsor Licence expire without renewing it. The immigration status of your employees will be at risk, and there be disruption to your business’s operations if the licence expires and you continue to employ non-UK workers. The Home Office may take enforcement action against individuals who do not hold the correct immigration permission.

It is crucial that an appropriate person in the business regularly monitors the SMS to ensure that the organisation is meeting all its regulatory requirements.

IAS have some of the best immigration lawyers in the UK who are happy to assist you through the process of making a Sponsor Licence application. We will:

• ensure that your business is eligible to obtain a Sponsor Licence;
• ensure that you have all the required up-to-date employee records and HR documents;
• ensure that all time-frames are met;
• correspond with the Home Office on your behalf;
• prepare you for a visit with Home Office officials;
• make sure your business is compliant with all Home Office standards; and
• complete your application to the highest standard before submitting.

At IAS, we offer a tailor-made Sponsor Licence Application Package which encompasses these services. We also offer general Immigration Consultancy services, which are designed to assess and improve a UK company’s HR methods. With this, we provide an Immigration Audit, which allows our advisers to locate and resolve any issues or gaps in your records of sponsored employees. Contact us now by using our online form or calling 0333 363 8577 for more information.

• GOV.UK: Sponsor Licence Application