Tier 2 (General) visa has been replaced by a Skilled Worker Visa. This has been done with the purpose to bring more skilled workers to the UK labour force. However, for a UK organization, it is still required to get a valid sponsor license to hire overseas workers. Getting a sponsor license requires the applicant company to meet the required conditions and then apply for it correctly.
There are 2 types of sponsor license. One is the Skilled worker visa license and the second is an intra-company transfer sponsor license. An organization can apply for both licenses at once or choose to apply for them separately at different times also.
How to get a sponsor licence
If you are looking to sponsor overseas workers you need to be first on the register of licensed sponsors with a UK visa and immigration. You can apply online form and submit necessary documents with the application as evidence to prove your trading presence in the UK. In some circumstances, the Home Office may ask you to submit additional documents as well to check if your company meets the compliance requirements and sponsorship duties or not. Home Office may also plan a compliance visit to your business premises.
Eligibility for Sponsor Licence
There are some simple conditions that a company looking to apply for a sponsor license need to meet before making the application. They are the followings:
- Your business must have a presence in the UK.
- Your business must be operating or trading in the UK lawfully.
- You must be able to prove that you are offering jobs to overseas workers in a skilled occupation and you are offering the appropriate salary as specified by the Home Office.
- You must accept all the duties associated with a sponsor license holder as part of your application and fail to this you will be held liable for consequences.
Cost of an application
The cost of application for a sponsor license depends upon the size and type of your organization being small costs you £536 and large organisation costs you £1476
You also need to pay the same fee at the time of renewal of your sponsor license which you need to apply for every 4 years.
Any organization where at least 2 of the followings is applicable is considered a small company.
- Company's annual turnover of £10.2 million or less
- Company has 50 employees in total or less
- Company's total value of its assets is £5.1 million less
Sponsoring a worker
Just as an organization you need to get a sponsor license, once you have it you can offer a certificate of sponsorship to eligible overseas workers to join your company in an occupation where their skill level matches the requirement of the job position. After getting a sponsor license you get registered with the Home Office as a sponsor which then enables you to issue a certificate of sponsorship. An overseas worker needs to earn at least 70 points as per the new point-based system introduced in the UK. Here certificate of sponsorship gives an overseas 20 points and a job offer at an appropriate skill level gives them 20 more points. These two conditions are also mandatory that means each overseas worker applying for a skilled worker visa must have these two conditions covered thus earning 40 mandatory points to come to the UK to work. The salary that you offer also adds up to the total tally of points earned by overseas employees. The salary offered is tradeable and points earned work like this.
- If your offer salary is at least between £20,480 and £23,039 employee gets 0 points
- If you offer a salary is between £22,040 and £25,599 employee gets 10 points
- If you offer a salary of £25,600 or above employee gets 20 points
Also if you offer a job in the occupation of shortage as designated by the Migration advisory committee an employee gets 20 tradeable points.
If you are looking for professional assistance for making a sponsorship license application, please contact Visa and Migration Ltd on 02034111261
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