Sponsor Licence and Compliance
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) are responsible for the issuing of sponsorship licences, rating sponsors as A or B and conducting site visits and audits to monitor and enforce immigration regulations. It is the responsibility of the sponsor to ensure that the conditions of the UK immigration sponsorship licence are continously met.
Sponsorship is based on two key principles: (1) UK institutions who benefit most from skilled migration should share the responsibility for helping to prevent abuse of the system and (2) the system aims to ensure that those coming to the UK are eligible to do so.
In the first instance, a prospective sponsor will apply to the UK Border Agency in order to be granted a licence. When successfully registered, a sponsor can apply for a number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS), which they can then use for the applicants whom they intend to sponsor.
By submitting an application to become a licensed sponsor, an employer agrees to fulfil a number of contractual obligations and duties.
A Certificate of Sponsorship is only an assurance that a potential employee will be able to come to the UK to take up employment with your organisation. As a sponsor it is essential, therefore, that you establish whether a potential sponsored migrant meets the minimum threshold, as well as the general requirements for Entry Clearance/Leave to Remain set out in the Immigration Rules.
In addition, all employers should retain, and make available to the UKBA officials, all documents relating to sponsored migrants, which could be deemed relevant. This should include all documentation used in assessing a potential employee’s qualification for a Certificate of Sponsorship, such as evidence of the salary being offered, evidence of the employee’s qualifications, evidence of the employee’s previous employment at an overseas branch of your company and if applicable evidence that the Resident Labour Market Test has been conducted.
To comply with the immigration laws, sponsors must fulfil the following duties:
- Ensure that a sponsored migrant is legally entitled to do the job offered and has the appropriate registration and/or professional accreditation. Note that all registration/accreditation documents must be retained by the sponsor and provided to UKBA on request
- Not to employ a migrant if the conditions on the migrant’s leave, or lack of leave, mean that they are not allowed to undertake the work in question, and to stop employing any migrant who ceases, for any reason, to be entitled to undertake the work
- Only issue Certificates of Sponsorship to a migrant who meets the Points- Based Scheme, and is likely to comply with the conditions of their leave.
UKBA may carry out checks before or after the licence is issued to ensure that the information provided on the sponsor licence application is an accurate description of the organisation.
Penalties for non-compliance will be issued where appropriate and cases will be treated as civil or criminal depending on the circumstances. Civil penalties will be imposed in situations where the law is broken through negligence or inferior employment practices.
Our team is experienced and highly versatile in dealing with Tier 2 applications and assisting with complex applications to register as a sponsor. Contact us today to discuss your ability to recruit foreign workers whilst avoiding penalties by remaining fully compliant with the current legislation.
