When an organization in the UK receives Sponsor License it authorizes them to recruit foreign nationals outside of EEA area. They can employ skilled workers to work for their organization. However, along with rights, there are some duties or responsibilities upon sponsor license holders as well. If you are an organization in the UK applying for sponsor license, it is better you know the duties that you need to perform as sponsor license holder because if you fail to do so then you may face a downgrade in user rating, your license may be suspended or withdraw and you are putting the jobs of existing migrant workers at risk.
There are a number of duties you have as a sponsor licence holder. These include:
1. Carry out checks of sponsored workers
You need to carry out following duties to make sure you are complying completely as an organization.
- You must check that foreign national employees working in your organization have the necessary skills, qualifications or professional accreditations to do their jobs. You must keep copies of documents showing this as well;
- You must only offer certificates of sponsorship to people when the job you are offering them is suitable for sponsorship; and
- You must inform UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) if workers you sponsored are not complying with the conditions of their visa.
2. Monitor your employees
When you have done due diligence while assigning a sponsored license to workers suitable for the job, the next duty you have is to monitor your employees. You must have a strong HR system in place that performs following duties:
- They must monitor the immigration status of your employees;
- They must check and maintain relevant documents for each worker which includes their passport and right to work information;
- They must always track and record attendance of workers;
- Worker’s contact details must be always updated; and
- If there is a problem, for example, any worker is not coming to work then it must be reported to UKVI.
3. Report changes in your own business
If there are any significant changes in your own business circumstances then you must report it to UKVI within 10 working days. Changes can be the following:
- If you stop trading or become insolvent.
- If you changing the nature of business substantially.
- If you are doing a merger or take-over.
Apart from the above changes if you are making any changes in business details like your address, Key personnel or allocated roles then you must report this to UKVI.
You can register a change of circumstances by using the sponsorship management system (SMS).
It can take up to 18 weeks to process your requests. You can also use priority service to register a change within 5 working days. It costs you £200.
4. Other Sponsor License duties
You must perform other duties failing which you may face the consequences. These are:
- You must be a running a genuine organization.
- You must be operating legally in the UK.
- If you are sponsoring workers under 18 years of age, you must ensure that these workers receive suitable care arrangements for travelling to the UK, arrival in UK and living arrangements in the UK. You must get a letter of consent to the care arrangements from parents of workers under 18.
- You must get a Disclosure and Barring Service to checkon those of your workers who need it – Tier 2 rote provides a list of individuals to need a police record check before they submit an application.
If you are looking in order for assistance in meeting the compliance requirements or wish to discuss on submitting an application for sponsorship licence, please do not hesitate to contact Visa and Migration Ltd....
