Sponsorship Licence Revoked - What you need to do?

All Non-EEA nationals looking to come to the UK to study or work must be sponsored by an organization in the UK. The sponsoring organization needs to obtain a sponsorship license from the UKVI (Home Office). Once they obtain a sponsorship license, they can offer a certificate of sponsorship to the individuals who come to join them for study or work. Organizations having obtained sponsor licenses must comply with the rules otherwise their license may be revoked. It is better to meet compliance because once it is revoked it becomes a daunting task for the organization to regain it. Also, the migrant employees on Tier 2 visa whose sponsors have sponsor license revoked will face a curtailment of leave on their Tier 2 Visa and they will no longer be able to work for the company. What does it mean for the organization? Once your organization’s Tier 2 sponsor license is at risk you need to determine the impact of it on your business. After revoked sponsor license, your organization cannot lawfully employ sponsored workers across all visa categories. This can be quite damaging which can impact overall business especially if your organization has a good number of foreign employees. It will impact your organization’s operations. After the sponsor license revocation, your organization will also be denied to make an application a new license for a specified cooling-off period, which is usually 12 months from the date the sponsor license was revoked.  What an organization needs to do after revocation? License revocations can be a daunting challenge for your organization and so you must handle your license and maintain it to hold your status as a license holder and avoiding further punitive action. Judicial Review However, if your organization fails to meet the duties and your sponsor license is revoked you have no right of appeal against such a decision; however, there may be grounds for Judicial Review of the revocation decision. You must seek an expert’s advice for a judicial review.  Accept the revocation, let the cooling-off period pass, apply for a new sponsor license Though going for a judicial review is an option but in some circumstances, it may be a better financial and commercial decision to accept the revocation and address the issue that led to revocation during the cooling-off period given to your organization. Addressing the issues may include:

• Developing and implementing HR processes and procedures to ensure compliant practices are in place.
• Training all relevant internal personnel

After the cooling period, you can apply for a new sponsor license and when doing so you will need to evidence that the previous revocation grounds have been corrected and any new license would be compliant and managed as required by the rules. As there may be severe implications of revocation of sponsor license, it will be important to seek immediate legal advice on the further actions you need to take. Impact on employees In the case of an organization’s sponsor license revocation, Tier 2 employee’s ability to stay in the UK is directly impacted. This means that if UKVI has issued a letter to your employer revoking their sponsor license, you are at risk of being your leave curtailed and shortened to 60 days. This means you may have to leave the UK along with your dependents. What do employees need to do?  You have the following options in such a situation:

• Continue working with your current employer if it has challenged the UKVI decision until the final decision comes up.
• Leave the UK along with your dependents.
• Find another job with another company that will sponsor you and then apply for a new visa.

If you are looking for professional assistance or immigration advice related to UK Sponsorship license, you can contact Visa and Migration Ltd on 02034111261      ...