As you may know, the new routes that came into force on 11 April and all applications under the existing UK sponsorship visa require the sponsoring company to be licensed. The criteria that previously made it very difficult for applicants when a UK company sought a licence to employ migrant workers have been removed. Thanks to the revised licensing rules, even newly established companies, and even companies still in the process of being set up, can be licensed. As a result, companies looking for chefs, software developers, managers or engineers from anywhere in the world, as well as companies looking for secretaries and even companies looking for vets, can obtain a licence and become sponsoring companies in the UK.
In this article, we have brought together everything you need to know about the UK sponsor licence. We will explain the steps required to employ a worker through the various visa routes under the UK sponsorship visa.
We would like to point out that licensing and sponsorship is a process that is carried out systematically, with defined stages and rules, and in which results are easy to achieve. If you have a company in the UK and intend to employ a worker who does not hold permission to stay, you should begin by getting your company licensed. Just as every visa route under the UK sponsorship visa has important application details, the licensing and sponsorship process also involves very important details.
UK sponsor licence types
At the first stage, there are two different categories for sponsorship: the long-term Worker category and the short-term Temporary Worker category. Which sponsor licence you apply for will be directly linked to the route through which your employees will apply for their visas. With a Worker licence, a company offering sponsorship in the UK can sponsor workers coming to the UK under the Skilled Worker visa and the Senior or Specialist Worker visa routes. With a Temporary Worker licence, on the other hand, it is possible to sponsor professionals coming to the UK under the Graduate Trainee visa, the Service Supplier visa, the UK Expansion Worker visa and the Temporary Worker visas. The article and table we have prepared on these different categories will help you decide. You can access our article and table through the following link: Licensing Services
UK sponsor licence ratings
In licensing and sponsorship, there are two sponsor licence ratings: “A” and “B”. When your licence application is approved, you will hold an A-rated licence. This allows you to assign Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) numbers and provide sponsorship for the staff you wish to employ. However, you will be subject to various compliance checks throughout the period in which your licence is valid. If you fail to meet the necessary requirements in these checks, your licence may be downgraded to a “B rating”. While holding a B-rated licence, you can continue to employ the existing staff you sponsor, but you cannot employ new staff. From this point, to upgrade your licence back to an A rating, you need to request an action plan from the Home Office at a cost of £1,476. If you fail to complete the required steps, your licence may be revoked.
Sponsor Licence Application Form
Once you have decided which licence type to proceed with, you are expected to be able to meet the requirements of the route for which you are applying for a licence. The requirements we refer to here may vary depending on the licence you apply for. Essentially, however, you are expected to have an active company in the UK and not to have had a sponsor licence revoked in the last 12 months. If you meet these two conditions, we begin completing the sponsor licence application form, which can be accessed online. When managing the licensing process, you will use a system called the SMS (Sponsor Management System). To use the system effectively, you need to appoint authorised people who will use the system on behalf of your company. First, a senior person within your company must be appointed as the “Authorising Officer”. The most senior person in your company should be the Authorising Officer, because this person is expected to be responsible for the whole team. In addition, there needs to be a “Key Contact” who will handle communication about the process between the Home Office and your company. You may appoint an immigration adviser authorised at OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) Level 1 as the Key Contact. We provide this service when needed. After making the necessary appointments through the system, you can pay the application fee and we can begin preparing the documents you will need to submit to the Home Office at the next stage. Throughout licensing and sponsorship, your documents must be prepared with great care and precision. To put it plainly, achieving a positive outcome at the end of the application depends on how carefully you manage the process and whether you follow the right steps.
Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) number required for the UK sponsorship visa
Once your company has obtained its licence, you can easily sponsor your employees and start the formal process by assigning them a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). This document can be issued by a company that holds a sponsor licence. A Certificate of Sponsorship is an electronic certificate; it is not a physical document you will receive. Each certificate has a unique number that a worker can use for their visa application. Once you assign a certificate to a worker, your worker must use it to apply for their visa within 3 months.
As we mentioned earlier, licensing and sponsorship is an application type that can deliver effective results when carried out systematically, and it allows you to take important steps for your business.
For more detailed and reliable information about the licensing and sponsorship process, you can contact us.