Sponsorship Licences - What Are the Common Mistakes Employers Make?

A company always wants to hire the best people. Sponsorship licence makes provisions for hiring people from foreign countries or people already in the UK – provided they are allowed to switch their immigration category. The company is required to obtain a sponsor license first before they can sponsor a proposed employee. In making applications for sponsorship licenses we have observed that companies do make some common mistakes are the following:

1. They fail to pass the genuineness test

In 2015 Genuineness test was added by the UK Government. This test is also applicable to sponsor license applications. The test is for evaluation purpose of the fact that why you want a sponsor license and whether your reasons to obtain this are valid or not. In order to pass the Genuineness test you must show in your application the following:

• You have or will have an important position for skilled people to fill.
• The role you are offering is legitimate and listed within the skilled occupation list in the Standard Occupation Codes.
• If you have identified someone for the vacancy, they will fill it in the same manner as a local worker. Also, their salary will be appropriate as per the Standard Occupation Codes.
• You have full knowledge and ability to conduct and/or be compliant with the Resident Labour Market Tests (RLMT).

If as an employer you fail to show these points then you fail the test and your chance to obtain a sponsor license.

2. Not supplying documents required

Missing documents is a common mistake made by employers. Though it can be fixed easily but that does not mean you should make this mistake in the first place. Do check all documents required are included in full before you send your application, because if your licence is refused the company will be banned from making a new application for 6 months.

3. Not prepared for compliance visit

In most cases the Home Office compliant officer visits your place of business. If you are not prepared for it then you should forget about getting the sponsor license. Compliant Officer will check the following:

• Business is legitimate.
• No illegal workers are there at the site of work.
• You maintain proper reporting and recordkeeping policy and procedure in place.
• HR system is robust and meeting all Home Office rules for being a Tier 2 Sponsor and all records are available.

As a company looking to obtain a sponsor license you should have these things in place and before a compliance visit you must have proper plan in place. If the officer finds anything wrong during the compliance visit then you may suffer a chance of acquiring a sponsor license in the future as well.

4. Improper choice of support staff

When you apply for a sponsor license then you need to list people in your application that will be authorized to have access to the Sponsor Management System also known as SMS (an online reporting system used for most sponsor license reporting and issues certificate of sponsorships). So, you must make sure that the people you include in the list must be:

• Of good character and have no criminal records.
• They are legitimate employees of your company.

You should choose these people carefully so that you have good chances of acquiring sponsor license.

5. Not meeting requirements beyond the application

If you thought that you meet all requirements for making a successful application and now you must obtain a sponsor license then you are making a mistake. Application is only the beginning. You must comply with all the rules and requirements mandated by the government failing which may have a devastating impact on your company and result in loss of licence and loss of employees you hired....