This article provides a brief description on applying for a Sponsor Licence and the immigration routes on which you can sponsor workers in the United Kingdom.

What is Sponsorship?

If you wish to employ a foreign worker who does not otherwise have immigration permission to work for you in the UK, you will need to be authorised by the Home Office. This authorisation is known as a Sponsor Licence.

Applying for Sponsor Licence

You can apply for your licence by completing the online application form and submitting your supporting documents. You must pay the fee, which depends on the type of licence you are applying for, the size of your organisation, or whether you have charitable status.

Immigration Routes for Sponsored Workers

When you apply for a licence, you will be asked which immigration route, or routes, you wish to sponsor workers on. These routes can be classified as either ‘Worker’ or ‘Temporary Worker’.

Worker route includes Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker, T2 Minister of Religion, and International Sportsperson.

Temporary Worker route includes Charity Worker, Creative Worker, Graduate Trainee, UK Expansion Worker, Service Supplier, Secondment Worker, Government Authorised Exchange, International Agreement, Religious Worker, Scale-up, and Seasonal Worker.

Before You Apply

You should familiarize yourself with:

• responsibilities as a licensed Sponsor;
• UK Employment law, such as payment of National Minimum Wage, holiday and sickness pay, maximum working hours, health and safety, and trade union and worker rights;
• Preventing illegal working; and
• Safeguarding children.

You will have to ensure that you discharge these responsibilities otherwise the Home Office may take compliance action when it is considered that a Sponsor has failed to do so, or otherwise poses a risk to immigration control.

Sponsorship Management Roles

You will need to appoint people within your business to manage the sponsorship process when you apply for the licence.

These roles are:

• Authorising Officer – a senior and competent person responsible for recruitment of all migrant worker and ensuring that you meet all of your Sponsor duties;
• Key Contact – the person who acts as the main contact between the Home Office and the Sponsor; and
• Level 1 User – the person responsible for carrying out the day to day sponsorship activities using the Sponsor Management System.

These roles must be taken up by Settled persons or British citizens in the UK.

Additionally, the person you appoint on these roles must be suitable. You will not get the licence or your licence will be revoked if any of the above mentioned positions are occupied by a person who:

• Has an unspent conviction for offence listed in the guidance;
• Been fined by the UKVI in the past 12 months;
• Been reported to UKVI;
• Broken the law;
• Been a ‘key person’ at a sponsor that had its licence revoked in the last 12 months; or
• Failed to pay VAT or other excise duty.

Certificate of Sponsorship allocation

In the online application, you will be required to provide an estimate of the number of Certificates of Sponsorship you may wish to assign in your first year in each of the routes for which you are applying for a licence.

You must be able to justify your request as well.

After you apply

Once the online application has been submitted, you must send the following documents (by email) within 5 working days to validate it:

• All pages of the submission sheet, signed and dated by your Authorising Officer; and
• All mandatory supporting documents.

If any mandatory supporting documents are missing or incorrect, your application will be rejected as invalid. At RPK Solicitors, we can advice you on the relevant mandatory supporting documents based on your particular circumstances to ensure that your application is successful.

How Can RPK Solicitors Help?

Our team at RPK Solicitors is experienced in all aspects of UK private and business immigration law, including applications for Sponsor Licence and the specific supporting documents required in your case.

With our extensive experience and expertise in this area of law, we provide our clients with in-depth legal advice and guidance throughout the process and create a robust application that aims to maximise your chances of a successful outcome.

If  you  require  legal  assistance  in  this  regard,  please  contact  us  today  via  email  at legal@rpksolicitors.com or give us a call on +44 (0)20 39319820.