Sponsor Licence
Prime Immigration Consultants
Sponsor Licence Information
A sponsor licence grants permission to a UK business to employ workers from outside the UK to work for them, in their business. This includes citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland who arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020.
You will not need a licence to sponsor certain groups, such as, Irish citizens, those with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, and those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
REQUIREMENTS FOR A SPONSOR LICENCE
You must be able to prove one of the following:
- Unspent criminal convictions for immigration offences or certain other crimes, such as fraud or money laundering.
- Had a sponsor licence revoked in the last 12 months
- You’ll need appropriate systems in place to monitor sponsored employees and people to manage sponsorship in your business.
You must prove that you are capable of carrying out your sponsor duties and evidencing your compliance in a timeframe and manner set out in sponsor guidance.
TYPES OF LICENCES
- Workers’ – for skilled or long-term employment.
- Temporary workers’ – for specific types of temporary employment.
You can apply for a licence covering one or both types of workers.
- Skilled Worker – the role must meet the job suitability requirements.
- Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility) – for multinational companies which need to transfer established employees to the UK, previously the Intra-company Transfer visa.
- Minister of Religion – for people coming to work for a religious organization.
- International Sportsperson – for elite sportspeople and coaches who will be based in the UK.
A ‘Temporary Worker’ licence will let you sponsor people on a temporary basis, including for volunteering and job shadowing. You can only get a Temporary Worker licence for specific types of employment and visas.
- Scale-up Worker – for people coming to work for a fast-growing UK business.
- Creative Worker – to work in the creative industry, for example as an entertainer or artist (up to 2 years).
- Charity Worker – for unpaid workers at a charity (up to 1 year).
- Religious Worker – for those working in a religious order or organisation (2 years).
- Government Authorised Exchange – work experience (1 year), research projects or training, for example practical medical or scientific training (2 years) to enable a short-term exchange of knowledge.
- International Agreement – where the worker is coming to do a job which is covered by international law, for example employees of overseas governments.
- Graduate Trainee (Global Business Mobility) – for workers transferring to their employer’s UK branch as part of a graduate training programme.
- Service Supplier (Global Business Mobility) – for workers with a contract to provide services for a UK company (6 or 12 months).
- UK Expansion Worker (Global Business Mobility) – for workers sent to the UK to set up a new branch or subsidiary of an overseas business.
- Secondment Worker (Global Business Mobility) – for workers transferring from overseas to work for a different UK business as part of a high-value contract.
- Seasonal Worker – allows people to come to the UK and work in horticulture (for example, picking fruit and vegetables) for up to 6 months, or poultry from 18 October to 31 December each year.
Your sponsorship responsibilities as a sponsor for a scale-up worker will end 6 months after they get permission to come to or stay in the UK.
- Continue working for you without getting a new certificate of sponsorship.
- Change jobs without getting a new sponsor.
You will need to submit at least four mandatory pieces of evidence with the application:
- Corporate bank account statement for the last six months;
- Long-term lease or purchase and sale agreement for an office space;
- Registration with the HMRC;
- Audited financial accounts for the last year.
For your application to be approved in the UK, you must have people in your business taking required management roles.
To manage the sponsorship system, the following specialists are required:
- Authorising officer – is responsible for the work of personnel, key contact and representatives.
- Key contact – is an employee of the company who liaises with the Home Office.
- Level 1 user – manages the issued licence directly. They can grant or withdraw sponsorship certificates. If necessary, the company can have several level 1 users. There can also be level 2 users who have restricted access to the sponsorship management system.
You will need to apply for your Sponsor Licence by completing an online application form, paying an application fee, and submitting all relevant supporting documents within 5 working days of submitting your sponsor licence application.
The fee depends on the type of licence you’re applying for and what type of organisation you are.
Most applications are dealt with in less than 8 weeks. UKVI may need to visit your business.
You may be able to pay an extra £500 to get a decision within 10 working days.
You’ll get an A-rated licence if your application is approved.
An A-rated licence lets you start assigning certificates of sponsorship.
Your business will be listed in the register of sponsors.
You’ll get a ‘provisional’ rating instead of an A-rating if your authorising officer is based outside the UK.
You’ll only be able to assign one certificate of sponsorship, which must be assigned to the authorising officer so they can enter the UK.
Once they’ve got their visa, you can upgrade your licence to an A-rating and request additional certificates of sponsorship using the sponsorship management system (SMS).
Your A-rated licence may be downgraded to a B-rating at a later stage if you do not continue to meet your sponsor responsibilities.
If this happens, you will not be able to issue new certificates of sponsorship until you’ve made improvements and upgraded back to an A-rating.
You’ll still be able to issue certificates to workers you already employ who want to extend their permission to stay.
