Are you worried about losing your Sponsor Licence? Non-compliance can cost your business its licence and the ability to hire international talent. Don’t let complicated regulations put your operations at risk. Our immigration experts are here to help you stay compliant and stress-free.
With our expert guidance, you can ensure your business meets every requirement, avoids penalties, and stays compliant with UK immigration laws. Call us now at 02033939272 for tailored support with Sponsor Licence Compliance.
Sponsor Licence Compliance refers to the process by which UK employers holding a sponsor licence ensure they meet the requirements and obligations set by the UK Home Office. These obligations allow employers to sponsor foreign workers legally under the Skilled Worker or other visa routes. Failing to comply can lead to penalties, including licence suspension or revocation.
Sponsor licence holders are subject to stringent requirements for continuous compliance with UK immigration regulations.
Demands that provide more strategic value to the organisation may take precedence over sponsor licence compliance, which is a resource-intensive task for already-stretched HR personnel.
However, businesses frequently fail to comply with this aspect of immigration law, and the Home Office is cracking down hard on companies that do.
Home Office compliance visits are frequent, and sponsors face fines, license downgrades, and, more and more often, suspensions and revocations if they fail to adhere to or satisfy the necessary Home Office requirements.
Reputation problems arise. Access to the global job market should not be limited or taken away because it does a lot of damage to businesses.
For more details about visa compliance services UK dial 02033939272.
The Home Office checks your HR procedures to see if you can carry out your responsibilities. This is accomplished by verifying that your company complies with the requirements of your sponsor licence.
At least one representative from the Home Office will show up during an on-site inspection to interrogate any sponsored employees or important personnel. The interrogation will likely go on for a long time.
It is possible to have a few weeks’ notice before an on-site inspection (known as an “announced” inspection) or receive no notice at all (known as an “unannounced” examination). Unannounced visits are not common in our experience. If the Home Office has information that something very fishy is going on, we think these things would only happen.
Digital compliance inspections have become far more prevalent, particularly after January 2022. These typically occur throughout the sponsor licensing application review process, according to our experience.
A letter from the Home Office to businesses is usually sent via email about eight weeks following the submission of an application. In order to fulfil its sponsor licence obligations, the company is being asked to provide specific information regarding its human resources processes in a detailed letter.
A sponsor licence is defined as a “privilege, not a right” in the Home Office’s sponsor guidelines. Sponsors are given a lot of trust, and the Home Office wants them to follow immigration and UK law, as well as behave in ways that benefit the public as a whole.
Below is a summary of the fundamental responsibilities that every sponsor must fulfil.
When it comes to immigration compliance, one of the most common concerns for sponsor license holders is record-keeping. This includes making sure that certain documents are available to UKVI upon request and that they are retained for appropriate periods in specific forms.
Each sponsored worker employed under Tier 2 (and Tier 5) is required to preserve certain documentation, as outlined in Part 1 of the Sponsor Licence Guidance Appendix D. They need to be accessible to UKVI upon request and can be stored in either paper or digital form.
Please ensure that you retain all of the supporting documents submitted with your application to become a licensed sponsor for the entire term of your licence.
For sponsored workers, you should retain the shorter of the following two dates: one year from when you stop sponsoring the migrant, or the date when a compliance officer reviews and approves the documents.
In order to keep tabs on all PBS employees, record their attendance, and make sure they’re following the rules of their visa, your company needs HR systems and processes.
The Home Office requires sponsors to report specific actions and developments in their migrant workers and their organization’s conditions. Reports are subject to stringent deadlines as well.
For example, you must report migrant workers’ regular absences, noncompliance, or disappearances. Whenever there is a change in your organisation, be it a merger, an acquisition, or just a change in contact information, be sure to update the Sponsorship Management System (SMS).
Licensed sponsors must appoint candidates to the following positions:
Rules related to the appointment of external agents apply, and the positions can be filled by current employees, such as members of the HR team. These roles have certain responsibilities that the bearer must understand and follow.
Please ensure that the sponsor licensing application includes the names of appointed persons and that their details are maintained up to date on the SMS.
At all times, there must be the Authorising Officer and a Level 1 user present. If one of the key persons quits the organisation and is not replaced in their licence function, UKVI has power to take enforcement action such as lowering the licence.
There needs to be prompt and thorough compliance with any requests made by the Home Office for paperwork or access to inspect the location. If you work with the Home Office, you must also be honest and give full information.
Employers in the UK are subject to the same regulations on the prevention of illegal work, including sponsor licence holders. In order to prevent civil penalties for unlawful employment, it is important to conduct right to work checks on all current and potential employees on a regular basis.
You need to keep records that show you’ve checked and are checking an employee’s immigration status. This will be taken into account by UKVI when deciding whether your organisation is meeting its record-keeping responsibilities.
It is important to verify an employee’s immigration status prior to hiring them. Notably, this duty is applicable to all workers, not only those based in the UK or the EEA.
Then, every twelve months after the hire date, employers should verify that non-EEA employees with limited work permits are still legally able to work.
Businesses and organisations that hire foreign nationals have a responsibility to fulfil all immigration requirements; failing to do so might result in serious legal consequences. If you are concerned about your company’s compliance with applicable rules and regulations, you may rely on the Rees Clayton Immigration sponsor license and audit services.
Before the home office comes to inspect your property, our skilled employees can point out any issues and make sure everything is in order. To know about sponsor licence audit process in detail, contact 02033939272.
To ensure you are keeping accurate records and fulfilling all legal requirements, our individualised service will conduct a comprehensive audit of your foreign worker’s records. The Rees Clayton Immigration Solicitors team will spend a whole day at your location to give you pointers on better record-keeping and make sure you notify the Home Office of practises to your employees.
Given the many changes brought about by Brexit, the mock compliance audit is more important than ever for revealing any loopholes in the company’s procedures and hiring policies. Additionally, our audit team can help you with yearly Right to Work checks and make sure you are following the rules for hiring people from other countries and meeting minimum wage standards.
To ensure adherence to immigration regulations, holders of sponsorship licences should conduct a compliance audit every three years. In particular, companies that just got a sponsor licence or are renewing one will benefit a lot from mock checks.
Additionally, certain sectors should guarantee they have strong compliance processes in place. Businesses in the food and catering industries, in particular, should be ready for an inspection by an immigration officer.
You may ensure that your company is in compliance with Home Office laws and avoid any financial or reputational harm by conducting a mock compliance audit.
If you or your company are an employer looking to be ready for a visit from the Home Office or UK Visas and Immigration, contact Rees Clayton to learn more about our tailored Sponsor Licence Compliance and how our skilled team can assist.
Ensuring that you keep your present procedures up-to-date and compliant is crucial. This is especially important because an increasing number of firms are facing fines for not fulfilling their duties as sponsor licence holders. The need to ensure that your present procedures are up-to-date and compliant cannot be overstated, especially considering the growing number of firms that are being fined for failing to satisfy their duties as sponsor licence holders.
Call us 02033939272 for more information about our business license compliance services, sponsor responsibilities, and the consequences of hiring illegal immigrants.
UK immigration regulations mandate compliance for all employers, irrespective of whether they possess sponsor licences.
An immigration officer’s duties may include conducting visa and nationality checks at passport control points, investigating and tracking down criminal organisations that facilitate illegal immigration, and keeping tabs on criminals from other countries.
Officers authorised by the Immigration Act of 1971 may search, find, arrest, and detain anyone suspected of being unlawful migrant workers or criminals, as stated in Schedule 2. Additionally, interviewers assess workers to determine their eligibility to work in the UK.
During a compliance inspection, the Home Office will review the HR policies and practices of your company. They will check your books to make sure you’re keeping track of migrant workers and following standard standards, so they can determine whether your firm is legal to operate in the UK. They may also want to see you if you are asking for a sponsor licence or if they have specific concerns.
As part of their compliance audit, the Home Office will visit your company and look at five different areas: identification, prevention, monitoring and detection, resolution, and advise. If your company raises doubts about its ability to follow the rules, authorities might temporarily suspend your sponsor licence, and they will closely monitor your group. The company could alternatively stop or take away its sponsorship.
Any business that wishes to hire foreign nationals in the United Kingdom requires a sponsor licence. Doing physical tests and security checks can take up to eight weeks. You may sponsor an unlimited number of foreign workers with a sponsor licence, which is good for four years.
